Design Time Management - Learn it or die trying!

Design Time Management – Learn it or die trying!

Being a freelance designer all while being a father and student on top of a full time gig can really wear some designers down. I want to write about how I manage to keep my sanity while managing so many separate tasks in my life. After all its hard hitting the print shop up to pick up some proofs with a 1 and 1/2 year old daughter in your arms while your boss is wondering why some of the images on the website have tearing going through them. Lets take a gander shall we?

Rule 1 – Prioritize!

Each day when I sit down at my desk, whether it be my at-home-office desk or my desk at my full time gig, I will make a list of current tasks that I want to accomplish. I usually have some left over from the day before so don’t forget to throw those bad boys onto your list as well. After my list has been completed, I will then go through my list and find the most important item. It may be the logo redesign for a client, or it may be some motion graphics for a commercial, whatever it is I will put a #1 next to that list item. From there I find the second most important task that I want and will put a #2 next that item, from there just continue going through your list until each item has a number. The idea here is first to get all the items down on your list, don’t worry about ordering them while creating your initial list, you may get carried away and forget some of the not so important tasks.

Another nice idea of having lists of your tasks or goals you get the gratification of crossing off items once they are completed. This puts a little more steam into your engine and it is also nice to see how productive you are. I notice my Monday lists are always the longest and have things that get pushed to lists of the next day. By Wednesday my lists are shrinking and looking back at all I have accomplished that week makes me feels all warm and fuzzy inside, well not literally, but you get the idea.

Rule 2 – Kill 2 stones with 1 bird?

Once you have all your tasks and goals down and prioritized you can group similar tasks, or certain tasks that may in close proximity to each other. For instance if rendering that 2 minute clip to get out the client is a high priority task and there that pesky call to the insurance company to figure out what stupid chrages have infiltrated your account is sitting somewhere near the bottom, I may draw a line linking that render job to that phone call with a little side note. This way while my render process begins I will remember to call the insurance company. Then when times comes to cross off the items I get to double the ante and knock off two of them and my list is that much shorter for the day.

You can also do it when your out running errands, if the print shop you work with is on the way to your daughter’s day care and you have them on your list and linked together you are less likely to space one (hopefully not your daughter) and the visual reference will keep your mind in check, and hopefully your time as well.

Rule 3 – Don’t Lie To Yourself!

One thing some designers do that can really kill them bite off more than they can chew, especially in these economic times (I hate it when poeple relate anything to the economy… but here I am doing it). Don’t get me wrong its not a bad feeling to have work lined up, some designers see lined up work as money in the bank, but remember a rooster doesn’t lay an egg only the hen, and that hen babies the sh*t out off that egg until it blossoms into a nice little chicklet. If you can’t say no to new clients your will most likely find yourself with way too much work than you have time, and your quality of work WILL SUFFER once you start getting stressed from projects. Efficiency is the key to being a successful freelancer. Be real with yourself and know your limits.

Do not be afraid to say no to clients. Be real with them. Tell them you are swamped for the next few weeks, but would love to get to their logo as soon as you finish a couple of clients that you have at the moment, be polite and let them know that its not just because you don’t want the work, its the fact that you strive to the best work you can, and though I do work well under pressure, I don’t work well when the pressure of work has be pinned to the ground. I sweat and can’t sleep at night and have nightmares of clients dog piling on me to the point I explode. Ask them if you can call them about that logo or web design once you have cleared up some breathing room in a couple of weeks. If the client isn’t in a huge rush and aren’t complete jack holes they will most likely rather work with an honest designer that knows his workload than someone who is chop shopping his stuff meet the deadline.

Rule 4 – Find Your Power Band

Another way to help you get your work done and get it done right is identifying your power band! If you know anything about engines (I don’t, that is why I got into computers) there is a point when spinning and creating torque that they become the most efficient. If you can find this point in your day and load most of your core workload into this time you will be able to crank out projects quicker without sacrificing quality. Is there a time of day you feel more creative then others? Are you a night person or a day person? When during the day do you have the most engery and the most drive? I am kind of a night owl. I find my power band is about 45 minutes after I put my daughter down to sleep. I have less distractions and I can crank my headphones up and let my creative juices flow for a few hours. I find during this time I can design faster and stronger then right as I wake up, or right as I get finished with my day job. Try to figure out your bodies power band and bust work out during it.

I hope these ideas will help you get through your deadlines with less headaches and let you embrace the beast of the designer that sits inside waiting to attack challenges and destroy time restraints. Here are a few other good links to check out.

Enjoy!

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