We all always get tons of new ideas as designers. Which’s great – don’t get me wrong – but sometimes we get more ideas than we can in one sitting. Or even in one lifetime.
Often, designers simply jot down those redundant ideas in a notebook and file them somewhere, but that’s boring and unhelpful.
The truth is, there are far better ways to deal with your spare thoughts. Here are some suggestions on what to do with them.
Give Yourself a Deadline
If you want to finish something, force yourself to make time for it.
We often have more time than we think we do, so if you really have the idea of burning a hole in your desktop drawer or hard drive, it’s time to pull it off and make time to do it. finish. It may be necessary to reorganize your to-do list, and allow for other less important things.
Ultimately, it is up to you to decide if this project is really worth the sacrifices you have to make to complete it. Sometimes it’s and sometimes it’s not, but you only know for sure if you schedule time to analyze your priorities.
Combine Them With Other Ideas
If you are like me at all, you come across about one million ideas every day. Over a number of years this can add to… well, lots of ideas.
Often, these ideas may be compatible with each other, in ways you would not expect. You can always come up with ideas if you do not have the time to do them all. Sometimes this leads to an even better idea.
Combining ideas is, in fact, a well-known brainstorming technique, as the compositions can open up new creative pathways in your brain and put you on the path to your best idea yet. Or at least something you will want to finish.
Give them to Your Friend
Ideas are free; you cannot copyright an idea. But you can still give some of your extra ideas that you know you are not going to realize soon to someone else who could use them in the near future. They may know exactly what to do with the idea, and will be grateful that you helped them develop their creativity a little more.
By the way, if you’re worried about your idea being ripped off or stolen, don’t. Your friend will not apply the idea the same way you would, so no worries.
Also, think about this: if stealing is not a good enough idea, it’s probably not worth doing in the first place.
Meet them
Sometimes it’s better to admit that you will never use thinking and move on. Sticking to old ideas can help you hold back creatively. You want to foster the development of new ideas, not to rely on old waste that will never go unnoticed.
You might be surprised to find out that, after the last few years and you managed to release an idea, it was not so good to think in the first place.
This has happened to me many times, and I think that it is a good sign. As your taste develops, you learn to detect bad thoughts in an easier way, and you will never be stifled by those thoughts that you are not completely sold on.
Sketch Ideas logo by Ian Barnard
Whatever You Do, Take Action
Ideas are useless if you do not act on them. Don’t forget to check your backlog of ideas frequently to make sure you are not just stockpiling for your “rainy day”.
Whether you assemble them, power through them, give them away, or release them, always make sure you keep things rotating in your creative process.
It’s a great way to shake things up, stir up ideas, set up jigsaw puzzles like your creative juices, even if you never do anything with the idea.
