Here is a list of 8 tips you might find helpful when coping with a complex project-based business, such as design.

1- Follow the right people

Some designers and companies are like news reporters for graphic design or they produce newsworthy stuff themselves.

To stay on top of events and get a never-ending source of inspiration, you should follow people who are defining and changing the design landscape today.

2- Feed your mind with new ideas

If you want to make progress and create breakthrough ideas, you need to deliberately jump out of your comfort zone and feed your mind with new information. Read something you otherwise wouldn’t. Do something you normally avoid. Watch a horror movie if you’re usually into comedies.

Our minds work with what they’ve seen – if you keep feeding them the same information, they churn out the same ideas over and over.

3- Working smarter

Good design is about good layout. No matter how much time you invest into typography, photography and color, you can forget about moving forward if your layout looks bad.

This is precisely the reason most designers spend a lot of time deliberating layout decisions. Should this go to left, or right? Should it be aligned or centered? Top or bottom? Questions like this can take up to 30% of your design time.

Luckily, some people decided to write down what works and what doesn’t, so you don’t have to bother too much. Here’s what I recommend:

4- Get a faster, better computer

For your own sake, your tools must be up-to-date.

This is so obvious that many designers fail to think about it every occasionally.

There’s nothing more frustrating than waiting for Photoshop to respond while working on a high-resolution image with many layers. I believe you have your own stories in this department.

A fast computer, larger screen and lots of memory DO make you a better designer, regardless of your talent. Your time, sanity and work satisfaction are equally important as the ideas in your head and skills in your hands.

Never be afraid to pay for your tools. At the end of the day, they pay for your bills.

5- Don’t multitask

Multitasking is the mother of all distractions, yet we often fail to see it that way.

While many people take pride in “being able” to multitask, multitasking means you’re jumping around trying to do five things at once while, nothing gets done to the best of your abilities and things take more time to get done.

You have one brain and one set of hands, so you should do things one at a time.

6- Find out what your clients want

There are two ways to find out what clients want – the hard way and the smart way.

Hard way – only using words. The client says he’s looking for an elegant website with a twist, you ask questions and get to work. You send in your proposal believing you nailed it, but that angry email reply says your idea of elegance isn’t going to cut it.

Smart way – using words and design examples. After discussing the project, go to Google. Find three to four examples of the style you believe your client is talking about then send them in for a review. After you get positive feedback, develop your proposal.

People have different ideas about what design styles look like. But nobody can argue when they design styles in pictures.

7- Give clients a choice

You should always create two or more design proposals and present them to clients.

This isn’t a matter of good service – it’s a great time saver for you.

Here’s the thing – if you create just one design proposal, you’re forcing your clients to say yes or no. If it’s a no, you must start over.

If you give clients two or three options, even just variations of the same design, they’ll tell you which one they like the best. Instead of starting all over, you can pick up where you left off.

Make this your standard practice and you’ll be happy you did.

8- Handle complaints like a pro

Sooner or later, some of your clients will complain about your work, deadlines or other aspect of your service.

Here’s how to handle it: be honest and fair. Here’s how to do that in practice:

If a client is unhappy with your work, don’t get defensive. Try to find out what they don’t like and work on a different proposal.

If you’re late, apologize. If you’re late, offer a discount.

If a client relationship gets tough and unbearable, offer them an exit option – refer them to another designer and if they paid you in advance, give them 50% money back.

Handling complaints is usually simple, so when the time comes, remember this advice and don’t take it personally.

We all want to work smarter, better and have more time to sleep and play. However, the pressure of our daily lives doesn’t give us time to reflect on the way we do things and handle certain situations.

There are a lot of things you can do to improve your productivity such as knowing where to find inspiration, how to work more efficiently and how to handle client relationships.