Every designer knows the feeling. You are sitting at your desk, staring at a blank screen, and the ideas just are not coming. The cursor blinks. The coffee gets cold. The deadline creeps closer. Creative block is real, and it affects even the most experienced professionals in the industry.
At Life By Designs, we have faced this wall more times than we can count. Over the years, we have developed a toolkit of strategies for breaking through creative blocks and finding fresh inspiration. Some of these are well-known techniques; others are less conventional. All of them work.
Step Away From the Screen
This might seem counterintuitive when you have a deadline looming, but one of the most effective things you can do when you are stuck is to stop designing. Close the laptop. Walk away from the desk. Go outside.
There is solid science behind this. When you stop actively trying to solve a creative problem, your brain continues working on it in the background. This is called "incubation," and it is a well-documented phenomenon in creativity research. Some of the best ideas come in the shower, on a walk, or while doing something completely unrelated to design.
We are not suggesting you take a vacation every time you hit a wall. Even fifteen minutes away from the screen can make a significant difference. Walk around the block. Do some stretching. Make a fresh cup of coffee. The distance gives your brain the space it needs to make unexpected connections.
Look Outside Your Industry
When web designers look for inspiration, they typically visit web design galleries. Dribbble, Behance, Awwwards, and similar sites are fantastic resources, but they can also lead to a kind of creative echo chamber. Everyone is looking at the same trends, the same styles, the same techniques. The result is websites that all start to look the same.
Some of the most original web designs we have created at Life By Designs were inspired by things that have nothing to do with the internet. Architecture, for example, is a rich source of inspiration. The way an architect plays with space, light, and materials can suggest entirely new approaches to layout and visual hierarchy.
Other unexpected sources of inspiration:
- Fashion design — color palettes, texture combinations, and the balance of boldness and restraint
- Film and cinematography — composition, mood lighting, and visual storytelling
- Print design — magazine layouts, book covers, and poster design often push boundaries that web designers rarely explore
- Nature — organic shapes, natural color gradients, and patterns found in plants, animals, and landscapes
- Music — rhythm, contrast, and the emotional impact of different tempos and tones
The point is not to directly copy what you see in these fields. It is to expose your brain to different visual vocabularies and creative approaches, which then filter into your web design work in subtle and original ways.
Constrain Yourself
This is one of the most powerful creativity techniques we know, and it seems paradoxical: give yourself fewer options, not more. When everything is possible, nothing feels quite right. But when you impose specific constraints on a project, your brain is forced to think more creatively within those boundaries.
Try these constraints on your next project:
- Limit your color palette to three colors. How do you create visual interest and hierarchy with just three hues?
- Use only one typeface. Can you create the entire design using a single font family, relying only on weight, size, and spacing for variation?
- Design without images. What happens when you strip away photography and rely solely on typography, color, and white space?
- Set a time limit. Give yourself 30 minutes to create a rough concept. The time pressure forces you to trust your instincts instead of second-guessing every decision.
Some of our most creative work at Life By Designs has come from projects with tight constraints. A limited budget, an unusual brand identity, or a highly specific audience can all push us in directions we would never have explored otherwise.
Study the Classics
In the fast-paced world of web design, it is easy to focus exclusively on what is new. But there is enormous value in studying the work of designers who came before the internet existed. The principles of good design have not changed; only the medium has.
Spend some time with the work of graphic designers like Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Massimo Vignelli, and Josef Muller-Brockmann. Study the Bauhaus movement. Explore Swiss typography. Look at how these designers solved visual problems with elegance and clarity using nothing more than type, color, and composition.
These historical works are a masterclass in the fundamentals: balance, contrast, alignment, hierarchy, and white space. When you deeply understand these principles, you can apply them in fresh and modern ways to your web designs.
Redesign Something You Hate
This is a fun exercise that almost always produces interesting results. Find a website that you think is poorly designed, and redesign it. Not for the client, not for your portfolio, just for practice and exploration.
The act of analyzing what is wrong with an existing design forces you to think critically about design decisions. Why does this layout not work? What is wrong with this color scheme? Why is this navigation confusing? Answering these questions and then solving them with your own design is one of the best ways to sharpen your skills and generate new ideas.
Keep an Inspiration Archive
Do not wait until you need inspiration to start looking for it. Build a habit of collecting things that catch your eye. Screenshots of websites you admire. Photos of interesting signage, packaging, or architecture. Color combinations you encounter in daily life. Textures, patterns, typefaces, layouts, anything that sparks something in your brain.
Tools like Pinterest, Evernote, or even a simple folder on your desktop can serve as your inspiration archive. At Life By Designs, we maintain a shared inspiration board where we save anything that excites us visually. When we start a new project, we browse through this collection to prime our creative thinking.
The key is consistency. Add something to your archive every day, even if it is just one image or one screenshot. Over time, you will build a rich personal library of visual ideas that reflects your unique aesthetic sensibility.
Talk to Real People
Design is ultimately about solving problems for people. When you are stuck, talk to the people you are designing for. Ask your client about their customers. Read reviews of their business. Visit their physical location if possible. Understanding the real humans who will use your website can spark ideas that no design gallery ever could.
Some of our best design decisions at Life By Designs have come from casual conversations with our clients' customers. A single comment about what frustrates someone about a website can lead to a design solution that feels obvious in hindsight but would never have occurred to us otherwise.
Embrace the Block
Finally, it is worth acknowledging that creative blocks are not the enemy. They are a natural part of the creative process. Every artist, designer, writer, and musician experiences them. The block is often a sign that your brain is processing something complex, preparing to make a leap to a new level of understanding.
Do not fight it. Do not panic. Use the strategies above to gently nudge your brain in new directions, but also give yourself permission to sit with the discomfort. The breakthrough will come. It always does.
At Life By Designs, we believe that great design is born from curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to look at the world with fresh eyes. If you are looking for a design partner who brings that spirit to every project, we would love to hear from you.