Design With Confidence: Boost Your Creative Confidence

March 30, 2022

Creative work is probably some of the most complex work of all. When someone designs something, they’re revealing a part of themselves, subjecting themselves to a sort of popular judgment. That’s why it’s vital to be able to develop strong self-confidence so that you can tolerate the inevitable frustration that comes when you receive “negative” feedback. It goes without saying that this is often easier said than done. In this article, we offer you some tips on how to increase your confidence when designing.

Confidence 1

Find Your Style

Careful, we don’t mean limiting yourself to doing just one thing. Stagnating and pigeonholing yourself won’t help you stand out and grow. However, being able to recognize your strengths and what styles you are most comfortable with will allow you to be more comfortable and confident when presenting projects. Facing new challenges from the terrain you are more familiar with is a great strategy to manage that anxiety everyone starts with.

We also recommend this article to help you find your own ‘voice’.

Another point to keep in mind is that normally, we tend to focus on what we don’t know how to do yet; leaving this bad habit behind is vital.

Don’t Compare Yourself, Learn

Confidence 3

As we said in the previous point, it is always advisable to keep adding strings to your bow, and for that, there is nothing better than looking at the work of other great designers to see what they are doing and how they do it.

However, one of the most common mistakes is to look at those creations and then compare yourself. This can be a big problem as it can generate a lot of frustration, especially if you are comparing yourself with the world’s best. You have to understand that to get to the point they are at, they also had to work hard for a long time. So, rather than comparing yourself, it is advisable to see what lessons you can learn from them and their designs.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Do you feel you still have room for improvement? Then go ahead and get down to it. You know what they say: practice makes perfect.

There is always room for further development, and the only way to achieve this is by building new skills and capabilities. There are many tricks to help you achieve this. Books, courses, and tutorials. In fact, we recommend this article sharing some of the best YouTube channels for designers.

Get Feedback

Confidence 4

This is perhaps one of the most important points and in fact, it is related in some ways to the previous ones. Every time you do a project, share it. Ask for opinions from different people who you think might contribute a new point of view.

But it’s also important to recognize what is and isn’t useful. Never forget that certain aspects of design are subjective, so the opinions you receive will be subjective too. The important thing is that with each piece of feedback, you’ll be able to improve your work.

Develop a Work Process

A good way to improve your confidence is to implement a process in your approach to work that you can repeat over and over again. For example, start by analyzing the brief, what else you need to ask for. Then look for references before you even start drafting.

This series of steps will allow you to start from a point where you feel comfortable, helping you to start your projects with more confidence. Especially since you will be doing so with full information, which will give you a good frame of reference.

Set Clear Objectives

Confidence 2

Why are you doing this job? Why do you do what you do?

Before tackling any project, you should ask yourself these simple questions. Being able to define clear objectives will allow you to realize how much you have grown and to take measure of everything you achieve.

The key to doing this is to set goals that are both achievable and challenging. If they are too basic, your work will lose meaning, and they won’t serve to motivate you very much.

Being able to achieve them will give you more confidence. Being able to look back and see what you have achieved will give you the impetus you need to keep growing.

Confidence is essential when working, especially if you are a freelancer. And confidence is something that you must nurture every day. The best way to do it is by putting all these tips into practice.

By Freepik