Busy! Busy! Busy!

To most, a bank holiday is an extra long weekend, a chance to get away and have a short break (normally shorter than intended, thanks to the ultra-heavy caravan laden traffic jams). To us however, they mean an extra day of, um, work.

This weekend, I'm building a website today, we've sold stuff at a craft fair yesterday, I've got a creative shoot tomorrow (now postponed due to model illness), I'm also planning for a week of solid creative shoots (ranging from the simple to the downright bizarre and outrageous)...

The site I'm working on is into it's third complete redesign, and as with all design projects, most of the project will be completed in literally two days, with the other countless days and weeks being creative blocks and misdemeanours.

I'm not saying that projects are padded out, but quite the opposite, that often there isn't enough time for them. A big proportion of a design project is ruling out the wrong things, the bad design elements and the truly horrific concepts. Once the perfect design is hit upon, the sheer adrenaline rush is enough to have a massive proportion of the project sewn together in days.

If a project is dragging, then frankly, that's the sign you're doing it wrong. A good design should inspire it's designer to finish it. If it stalls, trash it and move onto the next idea. You know when you've hit upon the right design, it's the one that makes you feel giddy and excited - not the countless ones that make you feel a little uneasy, disappointed and make you overly interested in any subject matter other than that in hand.

I had the excited feeling this morning (it happened last night, but frankly I was too shattered, and just sat starring at my screen for too long), so today I'm scribbling notes, strange looking diagrams... And actually making inroads...

A little trick I found to keep things going smoothly, I let my attention wander every now and then - I indulge a little refresh for 10 or 15 minutes - then slip straight back into the work solidly. I find I'm exponentially more productive doing this, and can work for 10, 20, 30 hours straight then, versus just a few hours solid.

Anyway, I'm reaching the end of this little wandering indulgence, and need to get some done!