Productivity Versus Creativity

Freelancers and designers are obsessed with productivity, and rightly so. When your earnings are based upon time, being more productive means more profit. Anyone who runs a business wants to be profitable, but at what cost? I have realized something as of late, slowing down has its benefits. Productivity software such as Basecamp has helped me shave down some of the things like project management that I don’t really like to do, but that doesn’t mean that I should be extremely productive in everything I do. Not if productivity implies a loss in creativity that is.

Replacing productivity with effectiveness

The problem I have found with being productive is what it implies. Productivity implies that all end solutions are of equal quality. Once a task has been completed it is successful, so completing it in less time would mean being more productive. While somewhat true, I find a number of problems with judging one’s success based on productivity.

No two solutions are the same

Two designers with the exact same set of guidelines and limitations will reach completely different solutions every time. It is highly probable that one designer’s solution may be more effective at solving the problem at hand. However, this solution may also take more time to achieve, if based on productivity alone this approach would not be explored.

It just isn’t sustainable

We all go through periods of creative bliss and frustration. No one individual can hope to be at the top of his/her game at all times.

It burns you out

Not only is it impossible to sustain top productivity, but if you become overly frustrated when you aren’t productive then you may quickly find yourself hating what you do.

Basing your performance on effectiveness

What I ultimately find to be a more appropriate way to judge one’s own work, is its effectiveness. However, the key to judging a projects effectiveness is knowing what will make it a success. It is important however that you determine this in the beginning. For designers this will most likely mean having a couple of personal goals sprinkled in along with the clients.

For example, if I were creating a new blog for a client I may have the following goals:

• Better search engine placement (client goal)
• Portray the identity in an interesting manner (client goal)
• Increase the number of newsletter sign-ups by 10% (client goal)
• Visually push the established identity to a more refined and consistent use (personal)
• Produce a case-study worthy deliverable (personal)

I find that my by using this method for judging success and moving productivity out of the equation, I am able to concentrate more on the creative side of design. Additionally it helps me see the larger picture and avoid the day to day frustrations that can appear. In the end I believe that the amount of fun you have as a designer directly reflects your creativity. When I become obsessed with being productive I don’t have the most fun…

For this reason, I have always preferred to work on a contract basis. If you work on a hourly rate basis with your clients, what things do you do to maintain your creativity?