Shay Bocks was our special guest in our most recent office hours. Shay is a designer, WordPress developer, and creative entrepreneur.

We discussed our creative processes and how you can apply your creativity to solve problems not only in design, but in development and business, too.

You can watch a full replay below:

What we talked about:

• What our creative process looks like step by step.
• Why you need to be as creative as a web developer, too.
• How to use your creativity in business.
• How to apply your creative process to everything you do.

Key takeaways from our discussion:

1. Start your creative process with proper research. Look for existing solutions and well-established UI/UX patterns (search Dribbble) that you can reuse in your own work.
   
2. Gather as much information as possible by interviewing and asking your clients detailed questions. Try to understand their needs and their clients’ needs and problems.
   
3. Use tools like Pinterest, Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, Notion, or Figma (see also my Getting Started in Figma video tutorial) to collect visual inspiration and create mood boards for your projects. Use it to define the style and art direction.
   
4. Use your creativity to help you visualize the final product. Let yourself be more flexible and skip steps if that helps you validate the idea before running it through your work process.
   
5. Use your idea visualizations to motivate yourself and others in your team.
   
6. Don’t try to be too creative in areas that could disturb the user’s expectations and block them from completing the task. Use design conventions and standards whenever possible. You can still be creative in the visual representation of these patterns and use different typography, colors, or illustrations.
   
7. Admire and be inspired by another designer’s work, but don’t compare yourself too much. Your work is better than you think. Stay focused and keep working on improving your skills and remember that there are a ton of people that are a few steps behind you and admire your work as well.

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