Homepage Sliding Banners

These striking banners seemed like a great idea once upon a time. They’re brightly colored, show visitors a wealth of information and have the appearance of being interactive. Most people, however, find them more distracting and annoying than anything else, so they’re falling quickly in favor of more truly interactive and less gaudy design, like single-page scrolling and simple drop-down menus.

Extensive Fill-Out Forms

Getting a user’s information is essential for certain aspects of running an online business, whether it’s an e-commerce site or a simple blog that has a contact form. But the days of seeing a full page of questions, extending into optional areas that visitors now intentionally skip for fear of offering information that is used purely for marketing is on the wane. Asking tons of questions only serves to alienate possible customers, and fortunately websites seem to be realizing that.

Circular Script Logos

Using a script font within a circle, either outlined or filled in, monogram or full title, used to be the height of cool logo design, but so many people used this look, including individuals on their personal websites as well as professional companies, people became completely burned out by it. There may be a resurgence of this style some day, but it’s safe to say most are steering clear of this overused badge.

Flash Intros

Remember these attention grabbers? Flash intros can still be found here and there on ostentatious and out of touch websites that haven’t updated their look, but for the most part people have moved on to simple design and limited features. Videos are great, and flash paved the way for them, but the music and animation just seem to annoy visitors now, who want more control when they’re surfing and fewer surprises.

Too Many Fonts

Everyone knows typography is important, and it’s a lot of fun to play with, but it’s necessary that you show command when using typefaces on logos, websites and business cards. It’s mainly obvious when someone without graphic design experience develops a site, as they tend to complicate the look with a stunning array of various fonts. Fortunately, even amateurs are learning to scale back and use no more than two, maybe three fonts at the most.

Complex Design

If you thought having lots of icons, design elements, fonts and features means you have an exciting and interactive site, you might be right, but the overall look is overwrought and overwhelming. As design trends move forward, they’re moving away from complex to simple for a more enjoyable browsing experience. You don’t want visitors confused or lost; you just want them to think your work is beautiful. You’re unlikely to see complicated successful websites in 2014.

Discovering the highly anticipated trends of the New Year has everyone buzzing, but it’s just as important to see from where the styles are moving. Though some of these features were once incredibly popular, they’ve suffered the ultimate fate of rising to the top: total saturation. And that means fatigue. Watch out for overly popular and overly hyped designs in 2014, or they may end up in a list just like this a year from now.

As a creative professional there are absolutely some related fields to your occupation. Being a graphic designer with a level, I could swear that college burned out my creativity. Then I discovered that I enjoyed photography as a hobby. I also like to sit at my drafting table and sketch. Both of these hobbies are related to the field of design, and both help me get creative.

The Solution

Every day you should meeting point on a different job. For me it’s illustration on the first day, photography on the second day, and design on the third day.

Never let your work spill over into your personal time unless it is absolutely necessary. When 5 p.m. rolls around on a photography day you should get away from the computer and go take some photos. If it’s a design day then I may let my work flow over into my “spice” time, but that’s alright – it suits the day I’m on.

First Day – Illustration

Being able to draw is beneficial to almost everyone, and almost anyone can sketch. Graphic designers are frequently creating logo thumbs, layout sketches, or figuring out how in the hell to fit EVERYTHING on that business card. The designer’s sketchbook comes in handy – and it’s obvious that illustration is related to design.

Try to hone your skills as an illustrator. Make sure to challenge yourself, but don’t set yourself up for failure. Do something different on each illustration day. Browse deviatart.com if you’re lacking inspiration.

Second Day – Photography

It’s always nice to have photography on-hand for that random catalog or web design project, so why don’t designers take more photos themselves? I know that I get tired of flipping through stock photography, and I have to resort to telling my clients that it’s time to move to a paid stock site when the free sites run out of good photos.

Photography is also a fantastic hobby that lets you keep memoirs of your daily life. Building your own library of various images also gives you a better chance of having the perfect photo for a design project in the future. It’s a win-win situation. Just make sure to challenge yourself with your photos the same way you would with illustration.

Third Day – Design

On Design days I enjoy trying out new tutorials. It’s always good to build on existing information, as it nurtures creativity. Sometimes I’ll create something for a friend if I’m not feeling up to doing a full tutorial. I don’t think of doing free work for friends as spec work, just a nice surprise when somebody close to me ends up getting a new set of business cards.

Another great side-effect of doing design in my spare time is a better portfolio. Doing some brochure designs for a fake company, a logo design for a family member, or a business card for my neighbor – it all ends up being potential portfolio material.

Just like illustration days and photo days, it’s important to challenge yourself on design days. Do something that you wouldn’t normally do. If you’re stuck doing logos all the time, try to do some web or print designs. Even better – do a set of print and web designs. Try to create a magazine cover and a web site to match the fake “corporate identity”.

Salt and Pepper – Add to Taste

Once a week, I like to meditate on the events of my Creative Days and write. Finding some great nature sounds and closing my eyes really gets thoughts flowing. Sometimes I come up with new ideas for the coming week – then I write them down. Other times I reflect on what I’ve done for the past week and decide which projects are showing promise.

This is entirely optional. I know some artistic people don’t enjoy writing, and some people can’t sit still for 5 minutes. Still, I would highly recommend a relaxing meditation day once a week to avoid being burned out on your projects.