In this week’s episode we talk discuss how often the work of design becomes just work. Are you losing the initial passion for you design work because other stuff is taking over? Is it starting to feel like just a job? If so, then this is the episode for you.

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Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] In today’s episode we talk about how design can become work
[1:30] The hosts believe this is inevitable
[2:10] At some point the honeymoon phase will be over
[3:00] Even if you do something you love, doing it every day will eventually become laborious
[3:50] Pull back and try to remember why you loved this in the first place
[4:20] The non-design work will mostly kill the joy
[4:50] Why do people lose the joy of creative work
[5:30] Clients turn designing into work
[6:40] Revisions killing the joy out of design
[7:20] All the external things surrounding the design work are affecting your passion
[7:40] “Design without purpose is art” – Tom Ross
[8:10] “Design itself is a cog in the wheel of capitalism” – Dustin Lee
[8:40] Design was born to create desire for products
[9:10] The role of a commercial artist is to create demand
[9:40] Choosing jobs based on your moral values
[10:20] Lisa lists the reasons that put her off designing
[11:10] The external factors that are out of your control will mostly kill the joy
[12:20] The world revolves around money and this will influence your design work
[13:00] Your audience will know when you create just for making money
[13:30] Feeling constraint is the main issue: time, taxes, legal etc.
[14:15] Lisa felt trapped towards the end of her graphic designer job
[15:15] Some designers love engaging with people and making them happy
[16:00] Work is still work, even if you love what you’re doing
[16:40] The misconception of thinking you’ll love every minute of what you’re doing
[17:40] Form is made out of shadow and light
[18:40] People having a go at Dustin for being down on his Instagram feed
[19:10] Tom’s example of John Donne and his obsession with his own mortality
[20:15] Dustin’s example of war soldiers being constantly told they will die someday
[20:45] Being a designer won’t be awesome every day
[21:20] There are ways to mitigate the less joyful times
[22:00] Feed your creativity in other ways and find things that make you happy
[22:40] Surrounding yourself with good things will bring a positive outcome on your work
[23:30] You have the ability of not working with a client that you don’t like working with
[24:10] Ask yourself what can you do to remove the things that drain your energy
[25:00] Please have a listen to one our previous podcast – Episode 54: Respecting Yourself and Your Clients
[25:45] Tom’s idea of creating a questionnaire to assess how you feel about a project and a client upon project completion
[27:30] Not witnessing the signs and knowing what brings you down
[28:20] This exercise will keep you in check and help you make changes
[29:45] Becoming a prisoner of your own mind
[30:25] There’s a multitude of ways to make money as a designer
[31:15] Limiting your options, when there are so many other options
[32:15] Freelance affords you a lot of freedom
[33:30] Lisa’s believes that we are in control of our own future, but Dustin is not so sure
[34:00] Quick fire of solutions to things killing the joy
[34:15] Fire a client that makes you unhappy
[34:40] Find an external thing to make you happy, if there’s no joy in your current work
[35:50] Don’t expect your work to fill yourself with joy – find the joy in yourself
[37:20] Ian found out what he wasn’t enjoying and removed that
[38:00] He realised he loves everything that has to do with lettering, and removed the web designs and brochures that didn’t bring any joy
[39:00] It’s never too late to make a change
[39:40] Play and experiment with other things
[40:30] Adults loving being children again – Tom’s example of playing in the sand at the beach
[41:20] Audit what’s making you miserable
[42:00] The type of work that you’re commissioned for might not be what you enjoy
[42:30] Tom gives a teaser of our upcoming episode on branding yourself
[43:00] Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode


“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!”AG_GD