1. Allow for the bad ideas – in the conceptual stage, write down anything that comes to mind, even the bad ideas, as parts of them may form the basis of a great idea.
2. Do not rush the conceptual stage – The computer is just a tool, a very sophisticated tool. It does not dictate your creativity, you do. The most time on a project should be spent researching the brand/product/service, writing down thoughts and ideas, and sketching down concepts freely and in an explorative manner, so that all creative options and solutions may be viewed without the constraints of the computer.
3. Experience life – Get out and enjoy life. Whether you are a designer or not, experiences outside of your normal realm will make you a more creative person and more knowledgeable as well, and can be brought to the table for any project. You only live once. Enjoy it!
4. Be passionate – Anything you do in life, especially something like a job, should be something you love and are passionate about. In a field such as graphic design, being passionate about your work and the profession is essential to producing good work and finding the ambition to put in countless hours of work on a project. Great ideas come from people who are passionate about their work.
5. Think about constraints later – although design may be created in response to constraints, it is important to not let them cloud your creativity in the conceptual stage. Think of all your ideas, push them as far as you can, and be free of constraints in this earliest stage. After you have generated several awesome ideas, pull them back and make them work within these constraints.
6. Work around others – People make design what it is. It is a response to their needs. Working in a confined area all the time with no outside interaction limits your insperation and ignores the very people you are designing for. Even if it is not other designers you work around, dialogue between you and them will open your mind to what they want to see, and will allow for feedback and open, fresh thought.
7. Beware the computer – We love our macs, but they can be the worst thing for us as designers and thinkers. All those fancy effects and tools that seduce us into designing solely for the asthetic, and can force us into using the same styles and visual solutions over and over again, making them old and boring. Think on paper with a pencil first, as their are no limits to what you can do or create, then use that sophisticated tool to make it all slick and mass-producable.
8. Theres no such thing as a stupid question – If there was, mankind would not be where it is today. Ask anything and get answers. Learning is one of our greatest tools and we can never expand our knowledge if we don't ask questions.
9. Do not fear failure – We learn from making mistakes, from childhood to death. Do not be afraid of mistakes, embrace them. A grade is symbol that does not necessarily help us. Our mistakes force us to learn and become educated, therefore school is about learning from mistakes and not grades, as is life in the professional world.
10. Indulge into Typography – As graphic designers, words are essential to how we communicate and so is the type we choose to set those words in. Allow yourself to become addicted to it. Take the time to select an appropriate typeface and apply the typography in a way that gives meaning to the word. Type is ever-changable. Manipulate it in creative ways, draw your own, look at other designers type use, look at typographic art, and study the history of type and its current trends to better understand the fonts you are working with and why you chose them.
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