Top New Year's Resolutions for Designers

A new year comes with new New Year resolutions – even though to some these are goals that they push to strive during the year and later make routine, and to many others these are simply ideal goals that only last until a few weeks into January.

After interviewing some leading designers on how they plan to make their fresh start in 2018, Creative Bloq released the top 10 New Year’s goals and ambitions popular in the creative fields:

1. WIDEN YOUR SKILLSET
This is a great time to start thinking about learning a new skill. Why not push yourself into learning that new technique or software that you have been wanting to master?

2. BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
Do you find yourself going home and tuning into Netflix although you have deadlines coming up? Everyone seems to be familiar with procrastination, so why not try to improve productivity this year.

3. STRIKE A BETTER WORK-LIFE BALANCE
You want to become more productive but to what extent can you do this without sacrificing your work-life balance? It’s very easy to become completely consumed by the job at hand especially when you enjoy what you do. “When design is your job, it’s also your hobby. You’re always on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest looking at other designers’ and animators’ work, and that’s fine, but you do need to disconnect every now and again and see something of the world, away from the screens. Or just make some time to see friends and family,” says Karl Doran, creative director at Flow Creative.

4. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Try to encourage more work that makes you feel uncomfortable. Try new techniques, new designs, and experiment with new tools. Work outside your comfort zone and you never know where it might lead you and your talent.

5. GET AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER
This is not an easy one for 2018 but try to be less digital. With creativity, you can do so much without having to look at a screen. To achieve this, Shay Hamias of NERD Productions says, “I'll divide my studio into two tables, one where I can use materials and paints and see how it feeds back into my design work, and the other table will have my laptop to paint on digitally.” 

6. SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Getting back into writing a blog or creating online tutorials to share one’s creative processes and knowledge seemed to also be a common resolution for 2018 among designers. These are good ways to do what you enjoy and at the same time communicate with others and educate them, and in occasions you can make money doing so too!

7. REFRESH YOUR DRAWING SKILLS
A lot of designers plan to pick up a pencil more often in 2018, reports Creative Bloq. “Keeping a sketch pad is always a good way to keep your illustration skills sharp and top of your game,” says Mitchell Nelson, lead creative at Jazzbones Creative.

8. BROADEN YOUR CREATIVE HORIZON
Don’t be afraid to explore more. Try new forms of creative and check what other designers and industry professionals are doing. Go out to art exhibitions, read more, try a new hobby to broaden your horizons and improve creativity.

9. SAY NO
Saying no professionally is never easy. As designers you want to help and create stunning work, but it’s important to realize that not every task that comes your way will be the right one for you and your skillsets.

10. LISTEN AND EMPATHISE BETTER
If you believe in making a difference and want your work to help reach groups of people, the best way to do this is by listening and seeing from the audience’s point of view. “To do that, we need to listen better to those around us, especially to those we know less about,” said Fanny Krivoy, founder & creative director at Studio Analogous.

What's your New Year's Resolution for 2018?

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