graphic design, freelancing, illustration, advertising, web design

Designing for yourself is horrid.
After a year of freelancing with a pretty good looking website I found it time for a bit more serious approach and that I needed a logo and business cards. (I’m freelancing part time next to my studies, so it’s not a full time job, which is why I went without decent logo for so long).

As soon as you think you have the perfect design, someone makes a comment about it and damn, it’s not perfect anymore. It really sucks, but in the end I learned that if I would go for a perfect everything I would never be pleased, so I went for almost perfect.

What also is an idea is to get a friend who also does some design to help you with the logo. Send him the file and let him work on it if he has some free time and when you receive his version you can work on that again.. That way you get a different view on the work you’re doing.

I just wrote an article on this subject of naming your company. I think designing for yourself should come from the heart. Meaning, whatever comes to your mind first should be put down on paper. You think about your own image a lot subconsciously, so all the work is done. You just need to trust your instincts in this case.

I have trouble like Jorge does with designing for myself. My design always ends up at the back of the queue of things to do, I have been meaning to redesign my website for about 1.5 years now. I am currently working on some exhibition panels for myself for an exhibition of my character designs and it has taken me so much longer than if I was doing it for someone else as I just keep changing my mind. Like Chris suggests I think its a good idea to get someone else to give their opinions on the design, sometimes you just can’t see the wood for the trees.

It certainly isn’t just you, Jorge.

I spent a good year re-working my own personal logo before arriving at where I am now!

I’d guess it’s because you know every detail about yourself, or at least how you want yourself to be represented. You know everything about your business, your clients, your style of work, your this, your that.

Frankly, you care about yourself, more than you care about your clients.

The point being that we know ourselves TOO well. We have no objectivity and, as designers, we try too hard because our designer-side doesn’t really know our client-side too well.

And, let’s not forget that our client-side isn’t that different from that last painful real client you had. We don’t really know what we want when we start. I know that I don’t sit down and write up a brief for myself, or even organise my thoughts to any great degree. I just jump in and figure I’ll find my way because, hey, I’m supposed to know myself pretty well!

Obviously, my two halves don’t see eye to eye and we have friction!

It’s an interesting question for another reason as well. When you’re designing for yourself, your trying to please your-client-self and, as discussed, it’s really hard.

Now, put the shoe on the foot. All the reasons that make it hard are generally quite similar to why a client finds it so hard to bite on your work easily. They know every detail about their business, company, product, etc., or at least more so than the designer they’ve hired for that new label, ad, whatever.

So, they find it difficult to buy in to our semi-informed theories and judgements on why a particular design is the best thing for them.

I’m never as critical of my work for clients as I am for my own site. For me, it’s ALWAYS easier to do a client’s site. I’m like you Jorge - after about a month I want to scrap everything and start with something new. It’s a bane, isn’t it?!

Hi Jorge
It’s definitely a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot. Trying to find the time to look after your own designs is certainly difficult.

The other problem I find is that we’re exposed to so many different types of design, that I think it can be difficult to just choose one style for yourself. One week I want my website to look grungy, the next I want it clean and simple and the next I want it to look like it’s made from paper.

I agree that it’s definitely a good idea to run it past a few people first. I tend to really only show designs to my husband, who is not in the design industry and he can be fairly blunt (I think it’s a Saggitarian thing) and that can be quite helpful (after I dry my tears) because he looks at things in a practical “layperson” way.

I show my wife and she tries to be sweet. It still hurts.

She’s excellent at cutting down my copy though.

She generally likes my designs for clients.

You know, the other thing is deciding on doing something gimmickey for myself or not. Usually my wife has opinions on that too.

It’s nice reading these comments. I’m so glad it’s not just me.

jorge

[…] wonder if it was just me, but after reading the guest post on Tara’s blog this morning about designing for yourself, I don’t feel so […]

Jorge, first of all, kudos on an excellent and very pertinent post!

Chris, I really think you offer a great and practical suggestion in letting a friend put their spin on your work, and then offering a reciprocal service in exchange; what can be better than a fresh set of eyes, and, better yet, another creative mind?

Ahsan, I found your analysis very interesting and insightful!

What a timely article! I was thinking about precisely this topic recently, and looked at my current company logo design like it was meat gone bad. I like to think that clients are looking to me to create for them the ultimate in creative design that will propel their product or service to super success, and yet I find my own business cards look only so-so. People who seek my work seem to trust me more for my creative design and consulting than I trust myself for my own work. How un-nerving!

The truth is, I believe, as a perfectionist (as I’m sure many of us are), my own logo/design work/business cards/web site/blog is never quite perfect enough! I think I have to cut myself some slack and realize that when I’m truly ready and feel genuinely inspired, I will re-design my logo, web site, blog, business cards, etc. (again), and they will evolve with the new-found skills, wisdom, and experience that I have been gathering since the last “upgrade.” That’s been happening all along, so why wouldn’t it continue that way?

There is definitely some food for thought in this post. Thank you Jorge and Tara!

I guess I can’t answer your questions exactly because I don’t have clients. I tend to just play with shapes until something is right, or if I’ve already done something I might go back and take bits of it, which is where my current logo comes from (which probably won’t show up as my avatar, for some reason my old one is still showing up everywhere). I guess in a way that’s like making a bunch of different ones and choosing, just a bit less formal.

Maybe you saw Veerle’s article on the topic, it was pretty cool.

I must admit when I saw Jorge’s post I thought “why didn’t I think of that?” its something that most designers struggle with. Great post Jorge

What timing. It feels like I’ve been here for hours, weeks, even months.. hang on, it HAS been months and I still cannot decide on a design. I have tons of sites in my ‘inspiration’ folder. I see something I want to replicate -ish then I realise… hmmm too artsy so I look at other web design firms in the area… hmmm.. I should go corporate…. few more hours… too boring, not me. Am I wasting time? well I AM learning I guess, developing skills etc but if only I could come up with something I’m happy with!!!!
Something I have noticed lately is instead of aiming for something in particular.. get back to what sucked me into Photoshop in the first place, and that is… just muck around! Forget you’re ‘designing’ and just blurt some paint on the canvas. Even if you don’t find the end result, makes for a fun night.

This is very true. Being a designer myself i have faced issues like that, but i never though over it. I thought a lot to get my house painted, but nothing seemed right, no ideas cracked. Same happened with a portfolio site i wanted to come up… :(.. It really discourages one, but then if you can come up with something really great, there is nothing like it for yourself

[…] prepare for it. I designed my stand a few weeks ago, but as Jorge Goyco said in a post a while ago (Why is it so difficult to design for yourself) I found it took far longer to design for myself than it would for another […]

Well it is not so easy to design a new logo (and a good one) like it seems to be.

I’m in the middle of designing a charitable event poster in return for a logo credit at the bottom…so I’m forced to finally design a presentable logo…something I’ve been putting it off for 14 years. For me, sometimes it takes a forced deadline to make things happen.

[…] After reading David Airey’s article Are freelance designers really suckers? I have been thinking a lot about how I should brand my own design services. I have been postponing the inevitable rebranding of myself for ages as designing for yourself is always so difficult. […]

[…] After reading David Airey’s article Are freelance designers really suckers? I have been thinking a lot about how I should brand my own design services. I have been postponing the inevitable rebranding of myself for ages as designing for yourself is always so difficult. […]