Everyone, at least every now and then gets stuck for ideas…designers get stuck for creative ideas, and the same can be said for many professionals where creativity and ideas are needed on a regular basis.

Constantly churning out fresh new ideas and concepts can drain the old creative juices, but there are things you can do to help revive them;

1. Always looking at the same four walls in the same old office? Change your visual environment, even if that means taking a walk outside during a mental block to give your mind something fresh to look at and allow yourself to think about the challenge whilst being somewhere different.

2. Brainstorm…. don’t try to come up with the exact solution or the specific winning idea; instead simply throw random ideas, thoughts and images into the mix, keep a record of them and come back to them a day later. I often compile a ‘mood board’ the day before I aim to start work on a design, which is a set of visual impressions that I link to what I would like to create, once I’ve created the mood board I come back to it a day later with a fresh mind.
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I’ve been doing a lot of home decorating this month - well when I say that, I mean paying other people to decorate for me ….however there has been lots of time invested in planning, colour schemes, furniture shuffling and what not.

Hence the lack of much blogging this month - I’ve been seriously time stretched trying to plan these renovations whilst cover my workload and still blog at the same time.

I’m sitting here blogging in my newly decorated bedroom of my Victorian home (you know I like to blog in bed at night :)) and it’s just gorgeous. Imagine Phantom of the Opera meets The National Trust.
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A niche market is a specific portion of the market that you can focus your marketing efforts on. Often by targeting a niche like this the business that does so is addressing a need that hasn’t been fully serviced by existing providers.

A niche can be indentified by seeking out a smaller customer base that are not currently having their needs fully met, or by discovering a new type of customer and a new type of need that has yet to be catered to. New needs can arise by changes to technology or society for example.
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Illustration is absolutely everywhere, on packaging, in company branding, on books, literally everywhere.

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You know you’ve become a professional designer who loves their work when;

1. You have developed a shiny patch on your mouse hand where you hand rubs over the desk about a zillion times a day.

2. The corresponding patch below your mouse is worn away on the desk.
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Are you ready to put your logo design and website url everywhere? Do you put it everywhere?
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Eighty One Graphic Design recently blogged about being inspired by a foray into the retail world (shopping), and I commented that indeed I too am extremely inspired by what I see when out and about and often take photos with my new super fab mobile phone camera.

So talking of retail inspiration, I was wowed when in Boots on Saturday and saw this beautiful bit of product packaging by No.17 cosmetics brand. Called ‘The Vintage Collection’, apparently for the 40th anniversary of the 17 brand.

Now what is really interesting though is how this design relates to a beauty brand design I created in July last year…..
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As the credit crunch forces businesses to tighten their belts across the country, ask yourself before you tighten your own belt if what your business needs right now is less marketing and less promotion?

During a downturn it’s common for marketing budgets to be cut, however there are other ways of reducing your spending during a difficult time than cutting your spending where you actually need it the most.

It’s also not uncommon for businesses to fold during a downturn - don’t become one of those businesses, you can tough it out and when the other firms are folding around you, watch your own brand become stronger as you gain an even greater share of the market!

Here are some tips to keep your head above the water…
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The OGC (Office of Government Commerce) rebranded and launched their new £14,000 identity to staff by plastering it all over office mousemats, pens and more, only to face ridicule when within seconds staff spotted a rather innuendos ’slant’ to the design when viewed on it’s side.
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I opened my fridge the other day searching for things I shouldn’t be eating, and saw these beauties above inside - I actually gasped in joy at their design when I set eyes on them.

These cans where purchased by my husband and when quizzed on his purchase motives he replied;
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