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How do you overcome the "Designer Block" ?

Hello Indie Hackers,

In the last month I've been working on a little project.
The part in which I spent the most of the time is the design of the UI.
I keep switching between font , colors, layout, etc..

Is it something common or is it me?

Every time I found a new design that I like and I'm ok with it I encounter a new combination that I like more.

Should I be less perfectionist?

How do you overcome what I call the "designer block"?

thank you !

Marco

  1. 2

    Hey there, Marco 👋

    I work as a Product Designer and feel that early on in projects if can be quite normal to chop and change like you described. I think too that because it’s your project you want it to be perfect. I would, if possible, try and overcome that feeling and be comfortable that design is always iterative and never really perfect. As in, no design will be great straight On first try and that it does take time and many versions to bring things to a place that feels “right”.

    I’m not sure how much experience you’ve had with design in general but as an overarching tip, try and develop your “taste” more. Spend time gathering good design that you like, usually from multiple sources, and list what you like and what you don’t like. Over time you’ll get a more natural feel of what feels right for you, which will get you to your happy place faster.

    Also, design can very subjective. When it comes to your project think of keywords that fit what you what your project to feel like. “Happy”, “bright”, “serious”, or “friendly”. If the designs you are doing are ticking the right boxes then you’re already half way there.

    How that helps!

    1. 1

      thank you very much! it's very helpful :)
      As you said my experience in design is not so vast ! I will do as you suggested :)

  2. 2

    I can totally relate, especially when something doesn't "feel" right but I cannot identify the specific things that aren't fitting for me.

    Generally, I try to resolve this in a couple different ways:

    1. Taking a break. For me, powering through sometimes works, but more often I need some time away from it and come back with fresh eyes to identify the specific things that weren't working.
    2. Make sure I'm focusing on the right things. Similar to the above, but it is important to remind myself what is important and what isn't at that particular time. If I'm pretty early into a project, then doing that extra level of polish is actually bad (in my opinion) since you'll likely learn more from getting something less perfect in front of customers and making changes from there.
    3. Copying something I like. When I find something I like on Dribbble/Instagram/etc., I'll sometimes copy it directly and then iterate on it. By knowing what I liked with my first example, it can help me see better what is and isn't working. Usually I end up iterating enough that it shares little with the original design, so it was useful more for inspiration.

    Now, with all that said, a few nights ago I was up until about 2AM fighting with a design. In the end, I realized my direction was wrong, and I just dropped that part of the project.

    1. 1

      Thank you very much Darren! I will try those strategies!

      It happens also to me to drop all the design on which I've worked and just restart over ( again and again :) )

  3. 1

    Worst part is when somehow you change the design so much that now it would be close to impossible to implement e.g change a simple search / results page into a 3D browsable view of the world

    1. 1

      Yes!! that's exactly how I would describe what happens every time !
      Because in my mind I will not launch my product if I don't like it! but maybe we should just launch and get some feedback.

      I'm very confused sometime!

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