Filling the empty wells

I recently got into a discussion with colleagues about inspiration, and where we find it.

As a designer it’s my job to try and create things, and absent that at least remix enough until the solution works.

Our jobs as product designers require matching up against metrics that we need to move, aligning with user expectations, and making things that actually ship.

There’s a lot of pieces we juggle on a daily basis, and in the middle of all the work it’s easy to give and give of ourselves until we come up empty.

When that happens—and it will—it’s all too easy to just keep pushing. We’re used to finding magic, and digging deep into our creativity. Surely we’ll win out one more time, and come up with a solution.

But you can’t keep pushing forward if you’ve emptied all your sources of inspiration. That’s what we chatted about in our discussion, what we each do when we’re feeling used up. Several folks shared some great ideas.

Here are some of the ways I handle feeling empty.

First, I make it a habit of looking for tiny ideas on a daily basis. That way no single project feels overly precious or perfect. Each day I’m digging a little, poking around at things, and seeing how things are made by other creatives. For even the smallest design problem I’ll spend a few minutes looking around to see how ofter designers—in any vertical or horizontal—have found solutions.

I don’t try to brute force anything—to will my mind into creating life. Instead I constantly sift and look at what else is out there. Mobbin is of particular value for this.

Second, I allow myself to step away. Just staring at a screen for hours on end is unhealthy. If we keep going without breaks or allowing our body to move we’ll just end up hurting ourselves in the long run.

Sometimes a short walk is enough to spur ideas again. Other times a run in the woods is all I need to feel reinvigorated and fired up with ideas. Often I’ll wrap up work at the end of the day, only to come back with fresh eyes in the morning and immediately resolve issues that felt overwhelming the night before.

Third, I find that playing around with entirely different things, in the real world and digital, help fill my creative well.

A few years ago I was working on an augmented reality screen, which would interface with the real world. The problem area was new for me, so none of my typical design solutions were working. Halfway through the project I realized I’d been playing with a whole field of design adjacent to this. Each night I’d been going to bed and spending a little time playing video games. At the time I was on an Assasin's Creed Odyssey kick. But I’d also been playing Breath of the Wild, Witcher III, and a handful of similar games with buttons and menus build around a virtual world.

I started going back to the games I’d played in the previous year and analyzed how they’d used Heads-Up Displays. It worked. I got unblocked and pushed forward with these concepts that were similar enough.

An activity I’d been doing purely for the fun of it ended up giving me some really fun ideas.

So much of design is looking at someting sideways and imagining how it could be done in a different way.

So all that said, I still find myself feeling empty on occasion.

If all my tricks fail it’s probably because I’m worn out physically as well as mentally. Sometimes the best solution all of us is to find time for rest.

At the end of the day, I’m more interested in being someone who is creative for years to come. Spending time in nature, a good book, or hanging out with friends can be the recipe for coming back refreshed and continuing to do great work.