Why DIY Design Feels Hard

The Roadblocks that make it harder to create graphics

Does opening up Canva lead to hours passing by and a lot of frustration and leaving you wondering why design feels so hard when surely it shouldn’t be this difficult?

I know myself I have had design projects that just seem to come together smoothly and beautifully and make me feel confident as a designer, and then there are those projects that leave me frustrated and questioning my skills.

What Ive realised is there are actually certain roadblocks that can make the difference between a frustrating getting no where design and a smooth sailing gorgeous design that comes together with ease.

Quit Overthinking it

Firstly overthinking. I mean isn’t overthinking what causes a lot of problems in our lives? When it comes to design however overthinking gets us stuck because you are trying too hard to make it the best and most perfect thing, and you get caught up in tiny details. This is when its better to keep things simple. You do not have to wow everyone with the best design ever, you don’t need to be sure that every design rule was covered and its all as perfect as possible. You don’t even need to create the exact thing that will go viral. All your design needs to do is clearly communicate and resonate with the right audience.

Start with simple guidelines or a grid, lay out the required elements neatly, like your text and CTA. Now make sure you have your brand fonts and colours. You can then grab a few various images or graphic elements. These are your ‘ingredients’ which you can now play around with to create a design.
Sometimes duplicating and trying a few variations can help because you aren’t caught up perfecting one design and overthinking it but rather freeing yourself to try a few options then decide which is most effective.

Once you have a design that’s heading the right direction, ask yourself is the heirarchy correct and is the design balanced? Don’t over think, keep it simple, experiment then check those key things are working for a good design.

You can also set up experiment playgrounds. Have a design in Canva where you play with different styles or ideas without commitment, so you can try new things without the overthinking of it needing to be perfect in the moment.

And if you get in a spiral where you are stuck, walk away and come back later, a fresh look at something can shift your perspective just enough to get out of the overthinking and come back with confidence and new ideas that just let it flow as you finish it off. This is something I do all the time, as soon as I feel stuck, I do something else and come back to it later.

You need Boundaries

If you are DIYing your own brand graphics, then you will know just how challenging it can feel designing for yourself. Even professional designers say designing for themselves is so much harder then clients. I think its because there are less boundaries.

We feel the need to express so much of who we are and what we like that the look and feel we want becomes complicated. So like a client we need to create a clear set of boundaries and define what we want to say about ourselves.

Remember no one needs to understand every part of your personality and interests to buy from you. Consider your customer for a moment. What parts of who you are, do they actually care about or connect with.? They don’t need your life story, they need to know if they align with you and if you offer something that will solve a problem they have.

So take the time to get clear on what your brand should communicate, remember its not your diary its your business, curate just the relevant parts of you into it. Then designing gets easier because your have a clear style and feel you are working with and not trying to express your entire soul in one flyer.

Creativity Thrives on Limitation

Too many possibilities just gets you stuck. When there are so many directions you could go, you actually end up going no where. More limitations means better design.
Limitations make better design better because there isn’t the overwhelm of possibilities and various directions, instead you have to be creative within the boundaries of the limitations. So if you feel overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of what you could create, write yourself a breif, make it clear the objectives and limitations.

Your brief can include things like:

• What brand style must it align with

• What text needs to go on it

• What size should it be (what platform is it for?)

• How should it make someone feel?

  The clearer your brief the easier it makes it for you to design without overwhelm.

Don’t try to be Somebody Else

Another thing that can become a big roadblock in design is trying to replicate a style that isn’t naturally you. Maybe its something you admire, something thats popular or trending and you want to try create a similar style. However it’s very different to your natural design style and not really ‘you’.

I get it, you may want to stretch yourself try new things and explore new styles but if it is getting you hung up and stuck, it might just not be you. You are trying too hard to step into a style that just isn’t you or you can’t connect with in any way. When it isn’t you its harder to get that style beyond imitation and copying because you cant embody it or truely feel it.

Not to say you cant design something that is different to your personality and style but unless you can get into that style and really have a sense for it, which is something the pros are good at, you might just be trying to get on the shoe that doesn’t fit and it’ll only lead to frustration.

Getting into Flow State

The starting is the hardest part. Getting into a design flow state is the goal for confidently designing. So if you feel totally stuck, every time you put something on the page it feels off or silly, try these:

• Get clear inspo. If you are just going off instinct or a vague memory, go make a mood board get some clear inspiration that sets the direction and style. You’ll feel more inspired and have a better visual direction to get you started. This also applies if you just have a single reference source. You want to be inspired by it but of course you don’t want to copy it, so bringing in a full mood board of reference it makes it easier to be inspired without copying.

• Experiment and make terrible designs. I call this the ‘pancake method’ (just like the first pancake is often a dud, to get to the good designs and get in a flow with designing sometimes you just have to get something on the page a create some bad designs first. It takes away the pressure to get it right the first time and gets your mind into a more creative state that’ll lead to better work.

• Use a template as a starting point. You might end up deviating a lot from the original but it gives you a start point so you have momentum, you can start making decisions about what is and isn’t working and refine rather then be stuck at ‘where do I even start?’. A well designed template can get you thinking like a designer as you notice things the designer did and bring some of that into your future designs.

  
  It’s just about getting past the starting and getting yourself into a flow state so you get in the zone, once your in the zone design flows and gets easier.

So next time design feels hard try some of these tips to get unstuck and find your flow.