365 Logo Project – review

Many people asked why i stopped 365 logo project that i`ve started on January 1st last year. Unfortunately, i did “only” 115 days/logos, but i`ve also learned a lot of stuff. Stuff about myself, stuff about creativity and how it actually works, stuff about marketing, etc, which i`m gonna share bellow..

Why and how it started?

Every year around its end (November, December) i have tremendous amounts of creative energy boosts that usually last couple of months when i simply have to create stuff on daily bases. Every single year, same period. Last year i felt i should do, well, something creative with it. So i decided to start 365 logo project. Some liked the idea, some didn`t. I loved it, but i`ve kinda forgot that such periods don`t usually last forever. I knew it was gonna be tough to pull it off and to display and maintain the same level of creativity and originality. And it was.

This is how it started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lpxmvuClcM

How was the ride?

It was awesome. At the beginning. People started to follow daily posts via twitter and facebook, started to share links around and in no time the buzz was created. I`ve really enjoyed the process and was super excited to brainstorm and design daily. After a month i`ve started to feel the burn. Each next creative block was harder to overcome.

These two are showing creative flow of the project. Literally.

I had times when i had to design 5, 6 designs to catch up.. I`ve even tried to stop the time. Twice.

Why and how it stopped?

This one`s easy. The buzz and exposure were great. New projects started to come my way and at one point it simply became near to impossible to cope with everything. The project created a tension and stress which became such a pain in the ass, that, even tho i`ve tried to fight it for a month or so, at the end i simply had to get rid of it in order to focus on life and more important stuff.

However, it wasn`t all that bad. I had some bright days as well..

Benefits.

Many. Daily designs uploaded to Logopond helped me to get featured for a month on the site which was a big and needed spark.  I`ve become much quicker in transforming my ideas and thoughts into visuals, which later on helped a lot in dealing with real projects and with decoding creative briefs. A couple of logo designs were published in some Logo Lounge books and many of them were featured all around the web. Some of designs have been viewed over 70k times! I`ve learned how to generate ideas, how to deal with creative moments, how to channel that powerful energy, how to fail, get up and move on. I`ve learned where my limits are and how to overcome them. I`ve confirmed to myself how badly i hate daily routine. Even the creative one. I`ve also met some remarkably creative people along the way. And lets not forget 115 designs that i`m still trying to figure out what to do with.

Conclusion.

If you ask me was it worth it, i`d say definitely. If you ask me would i do it again, i`d say definitely not. However, i`d certainly suggest to every new designer that they, at least consider something like this. It doesn`t have to be logo design project, in fact it`s probably better not to be. New year is around the corner and this kind of creative project can help tremendously in broadening up design skills in every possible way. Plus, if done well, it`ll get your name “out there”.

Another 365 project?

That being said, i`m seriously considering the idea to take another 365 project from January 1st, but this time it could be a photo project instead. I think it`s time to start making income (a passive one if possible) from my photography as well, so i might test my own feelings toward “routine” again.

Are you planing to take some creative 365 project next year? Who knows, we might end up doing some creative collabo in the near future..

Cheers,

Srdjan