: My works are boring with the same layout all the time I'm a 2nd year graphic design student. The thing is I always do my works in the same style, same layout, all the time. Like placing

@Shelley591

What should I do?


Try something different.

That could be forcing yourself to try different layouts, or it could be just choosing an entirely different career.

Either way, you have to mix things up.

On a simple level, if you're always putting the main focus in the center: don't. Next time you design something, force yourself to not put the primary focus in the center.

Challenge yourself.

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@Radia289

try using the image below to come up with a different lay out style. It is an example of the Golden Ratio which can be applied to design. I believe alot of Web designers, Magazine and newspaper layouts use it to come up with different layout. Any Professional Designers out there please correct me if I am wrong, because I have no Professional experience. I taught myself nearly everything i know by doing research and playing with Illustrator and Photoshop. Only and any education or knowledge I in the field is again self Taught.

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@Eichhorn212

Yes, this is a problem.

If you aren't pushing yourself to try new ideas and find interesting solutions, you aren't going to grow as a designer.

Look up some of your favorite graphic designers, try to find 8-10 different pieces of their work. Spend some time identifying similarities between their pieces, and then spend time focusing on the differences. There will be more differences than similarities, because every design challenge requires a unique solution.

Your role as a designer is to solve problems. If you pursue design as a profession when you're done with school, you will absolutely one day have a client with a project where your favorite go-to layouts will not solve their particular design problem. Additionally, one client isn't going to want the work you do for them to look like the work you did for that other guy.

Something to try:

The next time you get an assignment, try filling up a page or two of 10-second thumbnails.

Grab a pencil, set a timer for 10 seconds, and sketch out different layout possibilities for your headers, images, and body text (or whatever elements you may have to manage for that assignment). When the timer goes off, move to the next thumbnail and start again. For you, I'd make a rule for yourself that you are NOT allowed to center anything in the middle of the page, and see what you can come up with. Push yourself!

(I kept a stack of these pre-printed thumbnail sheets next to my desk all through college and well into my professional career).

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@Harper654

Do not look for or at things you like. Look at stuff you do not like at first. Then make things that are deliberately "wrong".

Take – say – half an hour to do a designers' version of Croquis - design fast, do not think too much. Five minutes max for each and over to the next one. Pen and paper will be the fastest and most flexible, so you do not get bogged down in choosing tools. Do not critique yourself, just go fast. When you have made a big pile, leave them for a while. When you go through them, you might find something you did not expect. My guess is, that out of say 20 you might find 3-4 that will surprise you (there is a reason why artists do croquis :)

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