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

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.