Posted by Julio
Most people tend to think that being a graphic designer is a solitary job. You hide out in a room and work on your computer. You magically create these designs and sending them off to clients. While this may be true, it does not have to be. One of the best parts of being a graphic designer is being able to collaborate with other designers.
Every designer has a different vision and a different set of skills. Being able to collaborate to gain insight and knowledge from other designers is essential. It offers constructive feedback and can even offer guidance when needed. Even those who do not particularly enjoy working with others would benefit from collaboration. It forces them to get out of their comfort zones, which in turn can inspire creativity and new ideas.
Collaboration is key for a successful creative team. Here are some tips on how to increase creativity and collaboration within a creative team.
Team Collaboration at the Start of Projects
Collaboration at the start of a new project can be beneficial for the overall outcome of the project. Having different perspectives and ideas during the concept phase may help weed out the bad ones and guide the path to finding the best direction. It is good for designers to collaborate and have a voice in the direction of a project even if all designers will not be working on the project to completion. This gives each designer a sense of contribution to the project even if they did not work on it.
Multiple Designers on the Same Project
Having multiple designers work on the same project is a great way to get designers to collaborate. They must figure out the direction together and delegate each of the tasks to each designer. Each designer gets certain parts of a project to work on, but must maintain the same look and feel so the overall project looks like it came from the same hand. This gives the design team the same goal and they must work together to achieve it and figure out to make it successful.
Group Critiques
While at times it may be difficult, pull the whole creative team away from projects, small group critiques can be very beneficial to the team. This is an opportunity for the creative team members and anyone else involved to showcase projects they are currently working on to receive feedback and other’s thoughts. Having a collaborative discussion on designs and projects benefits the whole team because other people may have a different perspective that was not taken into consideration prior and can ultimately benefit a design. Others may find issues that the designer may have overlooked. It can also work as a quick discussion about what aspects of the project or design is currently working and what could use some more attention. Receiving the input of others and making it more of a collaborative effort will help everyone learn and grow from each other.