Try the opposite
With Liv Strawbridge
Try the opposite
When you're stuck and can't think of any ideas, it can be useful to look at a design problem from a different angle. Instead of going with what you always do or sticking to your usual ideas, trying something unconventional could help you get unstuck. You may not end up using the ‘opposite’ idea, but it may just give you what you need to push your work further and make your designs more unique.
For example, instead of:
- Bold and vibrant colours, use a muted and subtle colour palette
- Complex details/lots of content, make it as minimal as possible
- Symmetry and balance, try asymmetrical and go wonky
- Instead of literal representations, go abstract and use symbolism
So next time you're feeling stuck and struggling to come up with ideas, try the opposite and see what happens!
Do you like what you do?
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it” – Maya Angelou
I recently came across this quote, and it made me reflect on myself and my work. When it comes to feeling successful, it feels really empowering.
As a brand designer, I genuinely enjoy my work and take pride in continuously improving. So when I think about success in this context, it feels great. It's a wonderful boost of confidence that reminds me that I'm already doing well, right here and now – not just at some future point when I reach a certain goalpost that keeps moving.
I hope Maya’s quote gives you a little boost today too :).
New tool: Pigment
Pigment is a website that gives you inspiration for colour combinations. You might be thinking, "Oh great, another one of these." But let me tell you why I find this one in particular great…
- It starts with two nicely paired colours. If you’re less experienced with matching colours or if you’re needing some inspiration, starting from this point makes the process much quicker (and more fun!).
- You can adjust the pigment and lighting to get brighter or more subdued combinations. This is something that I haven’t seen other colour swatch sites do.
- Once you’ve found a combination you like, you can download the combination as an SVG file and then open it in Illustrator so you can add the colours to your swatch panel (without a whole lot of copying and pasting).
- It’s is completely free and easy to use (no signup or login required).
