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Personal Projects

Personal Projects

What are they? Why should you do them? How to get started?

What are personal projects?

We are designers simply because we love to design, to make things beautiful, useful, and memorable.
Personal projects are design projects that you do for yourself, in this case you are the art director, the client, and the designer. That is something we won’t get in our everyday work whether working with a client as a freelancer or working in a design agency.

Why are personal projects important?

Personal projects can be useful for a number of reasons, they can be used to improve skills, learn something new, take control and build confidence, and just to have fun.

Improve skills

You can improve skills you already have by creating a project that uses that skill. For example if you enjoy illustrating and want to improve your illustrating skills create a project where you can do a lot of illustrations, like creating illustrations based on characters from your favorite movie or show.

Learn something new

We don’t always have the opportunity to try new things while working with clients, a personal project creates the perfect opportunity to learn something new. Want to learn how to hand letter? create a project for it.

Take control

As designers we very rarely have absolute control, we are always working for someone whether it’s a client or an art director. A personal project allows you to be the art director, the client, and the designer. A personal project is a great way to take control and build your confidence in your skills.

Have fun

As I said in the beginning, we are designers because we love to design. Create a personal project just because you want to. Design something you don’t normally get to design, design something you need, design something new.

How to get started

Personal projects don’t need to be complicated or extravagant, the key is to create something that benefits you in some way. Here is a quick list of questions to get you thinking about your personal project.
  1. What are you trying to accomplish?
    2. Before you pick a personal project you first need to determine what you want to get out of your personal project. Are you trying to improve a skill, learn a new skill, take control, or are you just having fun? Depending on what you are trying to accomplish , consider the following.
    • Improving a skill
      • What skill are you trying to improve? What can you do to improve that skill?
    • Learn a new skill
      • What skill do you want to learn? What do you need to learn that skill?
    • Take control
      • What do you want to take control of? What part of the process do you have the least amount of control in?
    • Having fun
      • What is your favorite thing to design? What is your favorite part of the process?
  2. What are you interested in?
    3. Personal projects are fun because they can be anything you want them to be, you are the client. Personal projects are most successful when the topic is something you are interested in, so when considering what to do for your personal project think about your hobbies, movies you like to watch, bands you like, and places you like to go.
  3. How much time can you put into your personal project?
    4. Personal projects can be as big or small as you like, but when planning your project you should consider how much time you can put into your project. If you don’t have a lot of extra time short simple projects may be the best option for you.
Tell me about your personal projects in the comments!

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