Design Sanity Tip: Let yourself enjoy something

A couple of days ago, a client approached me who was a friend of a friend. As opposed to being cynical and snarky at the idea of helping them with their design needs, and having a small phone chat, I allowed myself to actually get extied about the work. The job is for a local non-profit called the AMSI Foundation.

You see, if you never take any joy in any of this, there’s no point right? So I jumped on my computer when I got home and started whipping up a refresh of her logo. Not because she had asked for it, but I thought it would be a nice thing to do, and heck, I would have some fun in Illustrator, which I’m not getting use as much as I like to the past couple weeks.

So, I do, and I did. And what do you know? I had some fun, and the client loved it. That’s right kids, you can actually design something for fun! Now let’s be real, this simply isn’t going to suit a lot of clients, and a lot of our “moods” on a day to day basis. But as a general rule of thumb, remember to try to let yourself enjoy design. It’s why you do this in the first place. Even if it’s a drop shadow, or a logo for a company that doesn’t exist. A mockup for something, or even just a random doodle — Work can be fun if you let it.

Here’s what I whipped up. Who know’s it may be approved too!?