Why You Should Start a Personal Design Project!

There are numerous reasons why a designer would want to start a personal project. They could include gaining relevant experience (see my earlier article on gaining experience), raising awareness, or possibly even making money. In reality it is almost impossible to not have a personal project give you all of these things. This is the reason that I highly suggest that designers, developers, and writers alike either contribute to a personal project or start one of their own.

Take this blog for example, by starting it I am able to raise awareness for my design services, gain revenue through Adsense (along with the referrals it generates), and I have learned how to design and develop around the WordPress blogging platform. This is does not even take into consideration the potential networking opportunities that Positive Space has created for me. Blogs however are not the only personal projects that can give you similar results. Any project that allows you to apply your skills as a designer towards it and potentially learn something new along the way is a great option. Even if you never earn a dollar from the project, by learning something new you will help develop as a designer and gain skills you can use in the future for other ventures.

How do you know if a project is worth starting?
Unfortunately the answer I have is not one of my own, but one that I learned from Jim Coudal at the SEED Conference. In order for Jim and the creatives over at Coudal Partners to determine what projects are worth pursuing they must meet the following 3 criteria:

1. Can we make money?
2. Can we do work that we are proud of?
3. Can we learn something new along the way?

These are intended for commercial projects of course, however if your project idea is not commercial in nature then you only have 2 criteria to meet! As I have talked about before, Coudal Partners are insanely successful and creative people whose projects have gained a ton of fame. If they believe in this method then I would bet that it is a safe model to follow.

How do you know if a project is worth maintaining?
At this point your objective should be to put as much effort as possible into the project while still being able to enjoy the time you spend doing it. Even if you are not making any money on a project, or are not seeing any results there is no reason to stop as long as you enjoy doing it. Unless it is taking you away from better, more successful ideas that are just as enjoyable. However the opposite side of the spectrum exists, where your idea is really successful but you no longer enjoy it. In this situation I would suggest either selling or passing the project along to someone who has a passion for it.

What are you waiting for?
So I suggest that the next time you have a great idea, jump right in and get started. As long as you don’t make any huge investments you basically have nothing to lose and at the least gain some great experience as a result. If you have started a personal project and would like to share it with the community, please feel free to post it in the comments below (Just don’t spam or I will delete it and ban you!). That being said, I look forward to seeing what projects you have started in the past!