5 Self-Care Tips for Designers and Developers

Graphic Designers and Software Developers have a lot in common – they both regularly face long hours, creative fatigue, screen strain, and tight deadlines. At Studio Illicit, we know this all too well as our designers and developers make up 50% of our team. Being deeply focussed on our work can mean we sometimes forget to take breaks and take care of ourselves. When you are so in your mind, your body can easily be neglected. This International Day of Self Care we are sharing ways both disciplines can improve and maintain their mental, physical and creative wellbeing, with tips to help creativity flourish, ways to prioritise rest and incentives to stay connected. 

Keeping the creativity alive

What may seem like a less essential part of wellbeing for designers and developers is actually something that needs to be paid attention to even more. Quite often we become designers and developers because of an innate talent or passion we’ve had, either from a young age or since we discovered the discipline. Becoming a creative person in the modern world often means sacrificing to some degree our creative vision in order to mould into what our employer or clients needs of us (unless you are lucky enough to work on some dream projects!).

A way to combat this could be separating client work from personal work and ensure that you always have something on the side as a fun outlet, with no deadline or client, where you can lose track of time, really delving into something that lights you up. A bonus tip whilst doing this; mute any messaging or slack channels or use ‘Do Not Disturb’ to get the most out of this time you have to yourself, so as not to disrupt your creative flow. 

Take a break (also essential for creativity)

Aside from the most important thing that all designers and developers should know; taking regular breaks from screens during a working day (you should probably do this if you don’t already), taking longer breaks from your work is incredibly important too. By this we mean using your lunch breaks to their full extent, rather than eating and working at the same time and calling it a ‘lunch break’ (we know who you are). 

We also mean using your annual leave to its full extent too. Although you should relish your holidays, sometimes a holiday is not what is needed. Perhaps book a day or 2 off to do absolutely nothing for a change. Not for an anniversary trip or friend’s wedding, or to organise your cupboards, just book a day for you to do absolutely nothing and not feel an inch of guilt about it. Get offline, avoid all social media and creativity apps, just be in the real world for once – read, cook, walk or just lie about and daydream – you probably need it. 

Comfort is key

Long hours at the desk spells bad news – for your circulation if anything. A mandatory investment equally for designers and developers, is the ultimate desk set up that prioritises your comfort above all. An ergonomic chair, a standing desk or correctly positioned desk, a separate keyboard and mouse, and depending on your preferences, 1 or 2 separate monitors or laptop stand which will allow you to naturally fix your posture as you work. All of these things with help contribute to a more comfortable experience whilst you’re busy working away.

Get your beauty sleep

Although this is something else that should be common knowledge, we wanted to include it anyway as it never fails to make a difference to work performance and satisfaction. Not only does lack of sleep affect your physical state – making you more prone to things like headaches, weariness and digestive issues, it undoubtedly affects you mental state too. When you’re tired, you can’t do your best work, when you can’t do your best work, you leave a task or project feeling unsatisfied and disappointed in yourself. ‘I wish I got more sleep’, ‘I wish came up with better ideas’, ‘I wish this work didn’t feel so hard’. All of those statements are true when you don’t get the rest your body and mind needs. 

A way of making sure you get the sleep you need is by setting ‘off’ hours. Ensuring you stop working after a certain hour – this includes personal projects too. When you don’t let your projects eat into your evenings, you tend to have dinner earlier, unwind earlier and then start to feel tired and ready for bed earlier, meaning you end up sleeping at the right time and get the right amount of pillow hours you need.

Community matters

Life as a designer or developer can be lonely, especially when you aren’t surrounded by a team of people in an office but instead you work remotely or you are a freelancer who works from home most of the time. There are undeniable benefits of being in team of people, from casual questions about projects or ways of working, to the random pockets of socialisation you get throughout the day that you wouldn’t when working from home. Even in an office you can find yourself isolated, when you a neck deep in a project for hours and others are working on different projects to you. We often forget to check in with each other but talking about what we are doing and venting frustrations to those who get it can be a therapeutic way to move through blocks or just simply move through our work and day with more ease.

Giving or receiving advice can help put challenges into perspective and open us up to ways of thinking we didn’t realised existed. Also, no-one is too senior to receive good advice. Schedule more structured check-ins with creative friends or colleagues – discuss blocks, wins, and life in general – peer support is worth it’s weight in gold. 

Something that also may or may not be locally available to you are designer and developer communities. Do some research in your area and find a community to join. If they don’t exist – consider creating one yourself! Communities can inspire conversation, creativity and accountability, which is a great recipe for creative wellness.