I’m building a world
Five lessons from developing my design skills
“It feels like I’m building a world,” I told my husband as I shared the progress of my brand style guide.
“That’s how I feel when I’m designing, too,” he responded.
I’ve focused on cultivating creativity over the past year by redesigning my bedroom, painting, republishing a Langston Hughes book from the public domain, making paper, and, more recently, designing Inner Workout’s rebrand myself.
During some parts of the design process, I felt the sweet nectar of hyperfocus. In other moments, I wanted to drop my computer off our back stairwell and onto the concrete below.
My husband, a designer by trade, assured me that this was my initiation into the designer fold.
I don’t intend to change careers to become a designer. I did the rebrand myself to cultivate self-trust, stretch my creative muscles, and deepen my connection to the next iteration of Inner Workout.
In a past report, I outlined the process I’ve used to DIY a visual brand in the past. I’ll use this report to share five lessons I’ve learned as I dabble in design.
1. Have a defined point-of-view.
With words, you can speak out of both sides of your mouth, leaving people to wonder where you actually stand. You can’t do that with design. You’re playing with concepts and elements for a reason, and you need to be able to communicate your perspective to your potential client.
I noticed my skills as a podcast guest sharpening as I’ve worked on the rebrand process. Developing the refreshed visual brand, voice, and brand strategy has made Inner Workout’s POV clear in my mind, which makes it easier for me to communicate it.
2. Inspiration is everywhere.
This is one of those sayings that sounds cliche but is 1000% true. I’ve learned so much about finding inspiration from
, a gem of a human being and a consummate creative.The Pinterest board for the rebrand has everything from vintage library cards to mathematical fractal models to Japandi interiors.
In fact, these interior photos inspired some of the final touches of the visual brand.
All of those disparate pieces of inspiration came together to form the design elements that will show up in Inner Workout’s refreshed visual brand.
3. Iterate without expectation.
The biggest difference between this project and other projects I’ve done in the past is the number of concepts I iterated on.
I kept trying new themes and different variations on a theme. I wasn’t in a rush to find the final logo mark. Instead, I tried to learn something with each iteration. Things like:
This concept doesn’t translate when it’s scaled down to icon size.
This iteration feels too stiff and doesn’t represent the feeling we want the brand to evoke.
The busyness of this concept is distracting.
The lessons learned from my iterative graveyard allowed me to create a logo mark that felt like a full-body yes.
4. Design is an embodied process.
Even though digital design involves hours of staring at a screen, the process can deepen your connection to your body—if you allow it.
I alluded to this in the point above, but I kept tuning in to how concepts made me feel in my body. Then I cross-referenced that feeling with what I wanted the brand to evoke.
My body was also my partner in sifting through feedback. It helped me notice when I was tempted to make a change from a place of people-pleasing versus when feedback spoke to a larger truth.
5. It is personal. Don’t take it personally.
Speaking of feedback, design reminds me that our tastes are subjective. Everyone offers feedback filtered through the lens of their own experience.
There’s no need to take feedback, offered constructively, as a personal attack. I appreciate customer interviews because they allow me to look at feedback in aggregate rather than taking one person’s personal opinion personally. (Try saying that 10x fast!)
everywhere!!!!! love this ❤️