Think beyond your cubicle
Do designers like collaborating? and Do designers need collaboration?
My students often remark that they they prefer to work on their own. They display a slight frown when it comes time to take a required class where they have to work together as a team on a single project. They see it as not owning the work in the end, not being able to promote their skills - individually.
While developing one’s own unique style is of course a worthy goal, shying away from working with others does not benefit that goal. With design, there is a fine line between developing a style and repurposing the same solution/style over and over again. You probably don’t even know you are doing it!
Learning to develop your style separately from acknowledging when you should be reaching for new inspiration and/or new directions, is a difficult task for young designers. In any event in the real world no designer works in isolation. Whether they have to work with their client or an associate, learning the skill of collaboration is essential.
Perfection is not something one can attain in all fields no matter what tools you spend hours on YouTube learning. Perfection does not exist within non mathematical situations… and design is not math (but it is logical).
Reviewing and refining is what a designer does to achieve a completed successful design. With experience, this can come more quickly.
The skill of learning to collaborate with fellow creatives will not get lost on its’ translation to how one collaborates with your client. Within this skill, comes a honing in on how to listen. You can imagine how this would benefit interactions with your client and those a part of their ‘outside’ team. Often asking my client more questions and helping lead them this way, opens up broader discussions and I find that they have more to offer than they even realized they had at the beginning of our woking relationship.
Sometimes the solution actually lies within their direction, you just have to be patient, listen and analyze what they are NOT saying - to take the next iteration of the process to the next level.
Connecting with a colleague becomes both a helpful experience as well as a way to break the strain of your singular focus on your job. It allows you to hear and experiment with alternative options you had not considered.
Work with a fellow designer, an illustrator, social media content provider. Enjoy the process and the creative output together you can produce. Meet on line or at a coffeeshop in a different neighbourhood, chat with the person next to you while you’re waiting for your friend. Start a new conversation with a new person in a new place. Kickstart your yourself and therefore your way of thinking and designing. Freelance, but also collaborate! It is really enjoyable as well as broadening.