Adriana, our lead Interior Designer, talks about her experience with Design Anxiety, and her strategies for keeping it under control.
MY JOURNEY WITH ANXIETY
Design Anxiety is a real thing. Decision fatigue, creative blocks, and pressing timelines can all contribute to stress and anxiety in design-related fields. Early in my career, I was completing the interiors for a large project and I reached a point where my breathing was off pattern. There was a pain, a pressure in my chest, and my heart rate was like I’d had coffee every minute. I didn’t put it together that it was from stress. I thought I had a heart issue, since those run in my family. I visited a doctor who told me,
“you just had an anxiety attack.”
And I thought I had heart issues! I was amazed that my body could react as it did.
If you went to school to study design, and you initially enjoyed it but later on that changes, that has to do with anxiety management. We work under pressure, and that pressure is dangerous. If you mismanage, you’re going to give up. Your body will shut down. You’ll become unhappy and question whether you enjoy what you do anymore. I have found there are certain techniques that work for me to help manage that anxiety.
BALANCING WORK AND LIFE
In school I was living a weird lifestyle – research, design, not sleeping, but enjoying it. I had a rhythm. The stress started after graduation, where I tried to come in to work with the same rhythm that worked while I was in school. I had the mindset that I can work as long as I need to in order to finish this. At that point, I was living at work. Not knowing the real-world work schedule, I thought I was doing the right thing by working, going home to shower, then coming back to the office and continuing. I did not have a separation between work and my personal life. I had friends who had been working for longer than I had, they were telling me,
“Adriana, you have to create that separation, otherwise you're going to be consumed.”
For anyone coming out of school, whatever rhythms you had may not be successfully transferred to your work schedule; there should be a balance. That’s needed to keep the body and mind healthy.
WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?
RUNNING THROUGH THE ISSUES
After having the realization that I needed to create separation between work and life, I found a new hobby. I started running the whole of LaFortune Park every day after work, which felt amazing. I would go back to the house, make dinner, and relax. It was perfect. And it really helped my breathing, my heart rate came back down.
PEN AND PAPER IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS
When I am designing and I find myself stuck because I can't focus, no ideas are coming through my mind, and I'm running out of time, there’s a domino effect. To get past that, I write down my ideas; sometimes sketches as well.
The process of writing it down, drawing the sketches, and having the whole story laid out confirms that I have discovered the solution that is going to work. The process itself is reaffirming. The more I read it, the more I like it, the more it gets engraved in my brain. More ideas come in that relate, I write those down too. Those ideas don’t always fit, but they’ll be there for the next project.
I don’t like writing my ideas on the computer. The text is all the same. When I’m going through my thoughts, writing it down ingrains it in my brain and I can remember where in my book I wrote it. If you see my handwriting as loose or messy, my thought is going to change. When it’s clean and crisp, I stick to it because the design has been finished in my mind.
I don't like erasing, my handwriting has to be clean, organized, and color-coordinated. It has to be colorful. If I'm happy with it visually, it’s going to work. If the paper turns messy – if the idea is messy –I scrap it and start over.
If I go straight to the computer, where did the creative part happen? That time being whimsical and colorful helps to cope with the anxiety. Sometimes when I jump straight to the computer, I’m already blocked. The ideas aren’t flowing.
I’ve tried using the iPad, but it doesn’t work for me as a journal does. I like flipping the pages and looking at the whole process. The action of swiping on the iPad doesn’t provide that same satisfaction as flipping the pages. The iPad works in a quicker setting, under pressure, and a need to provide a quick solution, but not for designing.
There are designers like me who still need to look back at the hand-drawn process of designing. When we use other tools – like SketchUp – it’s easier to go back and forth and change your mind. The programs allow you to change your mind so much that it becomes an issue. If time is causing anxiety when I’m sketching, I step away from it and return when I can be alone. I do imagery, research, I find something I like and consider why I like it. The writing down process helps the most.
BE FLEXIBLE
When I’m talking to a client, I’m telling them a story. I am a true believer in the design, so whenever I talk to the clients, they are buying in and are on the same page. I feel obligated to follow through on that design that was sold to the client.
The problems we find ourselves in are that almost every time, our designs are never finished. We have our mindset of “I'm going to come up with this idea, and I'm going to stick to it until the end.” That hardly ever happens.
I try to come up with a concept of the very beginning for the design, once I’ve listened to what the client is looking for. Effort goes into creating a concept that will help maintain focus from the beginning, all the way to the end because we wander so much at the beginning that our time is eaten up by those changes. Having a strong concept helps to stay true to the design, even when changes come up due to things outside our control.
When things do happen that affect the original design, I have to vent some frustration at that point. Once I do that, then I look at it from the other perspective. Those issues are now constraints, so what can we do with what we already have that's going to make the design cool, or really efficient.
Knowing that the end result can still be awesome and life-changing to those who use the space helps me feel better about the situation.
In the end, what I care about is that the design works. I really don't care that the colors look cool or whatever; it has to work. It could be paint and concrete. But as long as the design works, and the client is happy - and my team isn’t waiting for me - that makes me feel better.
FEEDBACK LOOP
At a previous position, a team member and I were good at getting our stuff done and were excellent in the construction phase of the project. After a few projects, we realized we worked well together. We had the same ethics and the same kind of - not thoughts, because everybody has different thoughts - but we were very well connected. That connection helped us express our anxiety and help each other out and got us the nickname: The A-Team.
After moving on to a smaller team, it’s been harder to express those anxieties, but our team is great. Everyone makes themselves available to help, even though we are working on different things most of the time. Since we've been working from home, I’ve also found myself talking to my husband (who is an architect) about design problems, and he can be helpful.
Having positive feedback from the team is one of the best ways to help with my anxiety.
If my team feels that I am doing a good job and it fits in their efforts, then my mission has been accomplished. I know that the end goal is the satisfaction of the client. We’re in a field that requires teamwork; everybody has to be on board and moving in the same direction. Once we have that, I'm fine; I love working with teams, that's why I do what I do.
STEP AWAY - REGROUP
If I’m in a moment that makes me feel disturbed or upset and doesn’t allow me to concentrate, I will step away. And then I can revisit the moment in my mind while walking or petting my dogs and sometimes through crying. There are different ways to relieve that anxiety.
I can then come back and look at it with a fresh pair of eyes.
I’ve come to realize that I am the expert and people are looking at me for solutions. I give myself a good talk. I provide the solutions I need to provide in the moment, even if I don’t agree with the direction. So, I make that effort, even if internally I’ll think, “I can't believe they like that. Okay.” But often - more often than not - the clients end up being happy.
THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP
In the design industry, it’s easy to fall into the culture that deadlines must be met no matter what. Lots of things happen in the course of a project, though, that can have an effect on the timeline. Coordination issues, delayed responses, other things outside of our control can affect our ability to maintain the original schedule.
If we're telling management that we’re having to react to an issue, then that issue needs to be resolved.
It’s important to communicate often with project managers when these issues come up, so that they can either reassess the deadline, or find a way to provide more resources in order to help meet the original deadline.
A good leader should be keeping the health of their team members in mind. If your team is working under high levels of stress and anxiety, the quality of the production will be affected, and nobody will win. Leaders should be able to listen to and trust their team when they say a deadline is unrealistic, or that something has come up that impacts the timeline, and work together to find a solution that works for everyone.
Even though we try our best to communicate and react to issues, there are some occasions where the deadline can’t be adjusted, and we have to push through. A leader should recognize their team for that extra effort to let them know that it was appreciated, and not something they just expect all the time.
Maybe bring them a treat, like a piece of cake. Something.
A MOVING TARGET
Fortunately, I can say I’ve finally found balance now; though it’s a constant effort.
Things that worked in the beginning don’t work now. I can still go for a run, but now I need to do more. Travel once a year, visit something different, because that feeds my design ideas.
Balance is always going to be a moving target.
With a new baby, I’ve had to completely redo what was working for me before.
The most important thing is that I now have the awareness to tell when anxiety is building, and I know what strategies work for me to keep it manageable. Everyone needs to learn their own strategies, but recognizing the issue of design anxiety in our profession is a start.