Years ago I was enthralled in the world of Sport Trading Cards. In grade school, I would take my coolest cards to school and at lunch I would show my friends my newest haul. Even though I was finding, what I considered to be, cool cards, I was torn because I couldn’t ever get a pack that had the old sport legends in it, like John Stockton, Michael and Thurl Bailey.

My first design project on Photoshop

Lucky for me, my mom had photoshop. So, with my dad’s sports knowledge and my mom’s photoshop knowledge, I was able to make 3 different 1/1 cards of my favorite basketball legends.

As I look back, this was the earliest design project I ever worked on. This is one of my earliest memories of doing something closely related to the design work I do every day. I still have these cards and they serve as a reminder that I get to do something that I enjoy every day. Which is important when the dreaded “burnout” approaches.

When the Work Stops Working

Like many creatives, I have the chance to work on quite a few projects week to week. I love any opportunity to be creative and really push myself to find solutions to seemingly difficult client briefs. However, for every couple good design/creative weeks that I have there is always a few days or few weeks that follow a creative slump.

Does this happen to you or just me? During my junior year of college, I had the opportunity to hear the Legendary type designer, Kevin Cantrell, speak. He has worked on a plethora of projects, such as: The Chateau Grande Hotel, The Fitzroy, and Cotton House Hotel. If you haven’t seen his work you should check out the Kevin Cantrell Studio Page.

Design, the Kev Way

During his lecture, he spoke about designing things that are out of the ordinary. He talked specifically about finding solutions that on the surface level, shouldn’t work or seem complicated to solve. He showed us two projects that he deemed fit this description: the first being a baseball bat with very intricate typographic design all around it and the second being a singular poster design that had three words, Faith, Hope, and Trust, written basically on top of each other.

He shared that projects like this help him to consistently think outside of the box. Simple solutions or, maybe better put, expected solutions don’t help you to keep the creative juices flowing. To finish his lecture, Kevin asked if there were any questions. Luckily for us, our topic of “Burnout” was brought up. His response caught me off guard, he said:

I don’t feel like I’ve ever had burnout. I don’t say that to sound braggadocios. I say it that way in particular because I don’t let myself get to that point. If I’m stuck on one of my work projects, I’ll jump over to a personal project and visa versa if necessary. I find something that really gets me out of bed in the morning, something I’m passionate about and because of that, I’m always excited about what I’m doing.

Remember Why You Started

I’m not going to say that everyone has a mindset like Kevin, however since hearing his lecture, I have tried to find projects that push me in new creative ways. Momentum is one of those projects for me. I’m so grateful to the people in my life, both supporters and haters, for pushing me to find things outside of work and school assignments because those are the projects that really helped me become more creative and driven.

So, what’s your reminder of your creativity? What projects are pushing you? If you don’t have an answer to either of these questions, I challenge you to find answers to these questions. Remember why you started and where you’re going.