Staying Creative in a Corporate Environment
Repeat after me: “I am a creative person, and I want to stay that way.”
Good, admitting you have a problem is the first step to healing. For those of us who work as creatives in the corporate world, this is something we have to tell ourselves almost everyday. It is easy to find yourself pumping out design after design that are pretty much identical. You forget how to use more colors than our corporately accepted palette. You find yourself using the same image sources over and over and over. You ask yourself how other designers can use anything other than your corporate font (luckily I get to use Helvetica Neue... I love that font). What happens is you get stuck. But how do you get “un-stuck?” Hopefully I can give you some insight from my experiences.
To begin with, I need to lay down some guidelines. While working in the corporate environment, there are certain things that are sacred and need to stay exactly the way they are forever and ever. Number one is your mark and the way it is used. More importantly, the way it is not used. Number two: you also have to work within the guidelines of your corporate color palette. Just because your spiffy Apple Cinema Display can render millions of colors doesn’t mean you need to use all of them. Number three is to remember that template pieces have their place. I know there are some of you wanting to hunt me down for ignoring the individuality of each piece, but hear me out. There are some pieces that you create many different versions of that all say the same thing or type of thing. For example, a white paper with pages and pages of technical information targeted at a specific audience. Why do you want to recreate the wheel with this type of piece? You want to develop a consistent look that works for the nature of these pieces and it will allow you to punch these out so you can focus more on your ground up designs.
With these guidelines in mind, I have come up with three tips that help to keep me focused and the creative juices flowing.
Stay in touch
How can you stay creative if the corporate work is all you see? It is crucial that you keep a finger on the pulse of the design world around you. Even better is to find friends who are designers in a completely different spectrum. Create a creativity support group-Creatives Anonymous or something. Get some design magazines, look at some blogs, get out of your own box. If all you see of the design world is your corporate colors and font, how can you avoid getting stuck?
It’s a game!
This one may sound a little out there, but follow me for a minute. There are certain elements that you are stuck with. We’ve already established that. It’s time for you to look at this as a challenge. How can you find the new way to use Pantone 485 and some white space to add a whole new look to a ground up creative piece? What can you do with some fancy printing technique your company hasn’t used in twenty years because the budgets got tight? What this boils down to is how can you bend the rules without breaking them. It’s a challenge that is just waiting for your unique creative touch.
Freelance
This one gets touchy because a lot of firms have a non-compete clause, which can greatly limit what you can do with your talents outside of the office. However, I find this to be one of the most helpful ways to keep you on top of your creative game. If freelancing is not an option, volunteer. There are plenty of churches or non-profits that are always looking for freebies. Plus, you’re helping out the community. A tip when your doing these freelance projects is to remove your corporate guidelines, color palette, and even fonts from your toolbox. Don’t go anywhere near what you work with all day if you can help it. Be crazy! Try new stuff! Be artistic!
These are some of the ways that I make it work. It is not an end all list of how to keep your creative spirit alive in the corporate world, but it’s a few ways that work for me.
So here’s to you staying un-stuck and creative!
As a lifeguard and all-around fun loving guy, Matt spreads enthusiasm everywhere he goes. Having graduated from Asbury College's acclaimed Media Communications department, he is just as much a videographer as he is a designer, pushing the envelope and always asking, "Why?"