I recently found myself having one of those days. My internet went down for a while. I hit a creative wall on a project. A client moved a deadline up. Although tempted to throw up my hands and write the day off as a loss, I decided to go with the flow instead. I rearranged my work schedule to accommodate the new timeline, solved my design dilemma by trying a different approach, and ended up getting a lot done without the usual online distractions. By being flexible, I was able to turn a lemon of a day into lemonade.
I’m sure you’ve also experienced days when things don’t go exactly as planned. And whether you manage a creative team or you are the creative team, chances are there are times your graphic design projects don’t either. Which is why you want to work with a flexible designer—someone who can quickly adapt to changing needs and circumstances and provide solutions when problems arise.
Flexibility is a designer’s hidden superpower.
There have been projects I’ve worked on where you could say flexibility helped save the day. Like the time when a featured speaker dropped out of a conference that my client was hosting a few days before the event. After shifting the schedules of some lower-priority projects, I jumped into action, updated everything from the program to posters to social media graphics, and then worked with the printer to make sure all printed pieces were ready the day of the event.
Or when a frantic client called to tell me that a critical component of her major giving campaign would not print in time to meet the kickoff date. After conferring with the printer, I suggested reconfiguring the existing design from a brochure with a pocket and multiple inserts into a booklet, thereby shortening the printing time. After putting in some overtime, I sent the printer revised files the next morning, and the booklets ended up arriving a day early.
Sometimes life is going to throw you a curveball. That’s why you want a flexible designer who can:
Easily switch gears when deadlines or priorities change
Deal with unexpected challenges quickly, calmly, and efficiently
Come up with creative solutions to unanticipated situations
Collaborate with other partners to find appropriate workarounds
Be resourceful to keep a project on track
Are you ready if (when) things go sideways?
If you want to successfully manage the unexpected on your next project, hire a designer who is as flexible as they are creative. And if you need mission-driven, engaging print and digital design that inspires action and delivers results—let's connect!
Infinite Blue Creative provides creative design services to busy education, nonprofit, and small business marketing communication professionals.
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