Pantheon of Wonder

Essay

This is the 'Pantheon of Wonder', a journal with over 550+ essays on the poetic design of architecture, art, music, and meaning. It is a growing chronicle of over 25 years of research and innovation by Maria Lorena Lehman that helps you develop your creative projects for advanced beauty, function, and transcendent experience.

How to Find a Challenging Design Solution When You’re Stuck

by Maria Lorena Lehman

Design Creativity

When you are working on an aspect of your design where you just don’t seem to be making headway on finding an elegant solution, try shifting to something else for a while — or if it’s the end of the day, simple leave it as what you will tackle first thing the next day. By leaving the design problem, think of it as still “facing you”. So, take a break or sleep on it overnight, and when you return to it the next day — the design problem’s solution will present itself to you. This works for me time and time again. For example, while building a model during a design stage, I would leave the unanswered portion of the design problem that was taking me too long to solve by literally facing the physical problem area toward my empty desk chair just before leaving studio. Sure enough, the image of it “facing me” allowed me to ruminate on the design problem even while I was away from the office. And sure enough, the answer would usually present itself to me upon my return.

RETURN TO JOURNAL

Continue the Conversation

If this essay stirred a question, illuminated an idea, or touched something deeper in your own creative journey, I invite you to continue the conversation.

Each month, I reserve a small number of private one-on-one conversations for readers seeking thoughtful guidance and deeper dialogue around creativity, architecture, music, meaning, purpose, or the work they feel called to bring into the world.

These are not coaching sessions, business consultations, or productivity workshops. They are dedicated spaces for reflection, creative guidance, intellectual exploration, and discerning what comes next.

People often bring:

• A creative project or new venture

• Questions of purpose and calling

• Architecture, art, music, or writing pursuits

• Career transitions and life crossroads

• Ideas they wish to develop more deeply

• Simply a desire for meaningful conversation

Whether you are an artist, designer, architect, composer, writer, educator, founder, or lifelong learner, our conversation will be shaped around what matters most to you.

A thoughtful exchange of ideas, questions, and possibilities.

RESERVE A CONVERSATION

Limited availability each month.

Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman

Founder of MLL ATELIER

Author of PANTHEON OF WONDER