Life as a designer doesn't always work out as you might have hoped. You might have your heart set on working within a particular area of design, but the realities of paying the bills often means that you spend most of your time on less thrilling corporate work. It all helps to hone your skills, but if you're not feeling the love for the day job then a good self-initiated side project can be a massive boon.
A side project can provide an outlet for your own creative dreams and give you the chance to explore more experimental design (opens in new tab), but it can also provide opportunities down the line. A good side project demonstrates your skills and your passion to potential clients and employers, and can add to your design portfolio (opens in new tab).
Side projects can lead to you getting the sort of work that you want to do, rather than the jobs you have to take to keep the money coming in, and in some cases, a side project can grow into your main source of income. You may already have your own side project on the go; if you don't, these are sure to inspire you (as will these perfect font pairings).
01. Tivit
Like most of us, the team at Si Digital (opens in new tab) love a game of table tennis, but they're not so enamoured with the whole business of keeping track of scores and maintaining leaderboards. So they built an app to do that, leaving them free to concentrate on perfecting their spinning backhand shots. Tivit (opens in new tab) works as a virtual umpire, arranging matches, logging scores and feeding results through into leaderboards, and the team have made it available for anyone; since opening it up to the public, Tivit has logged nearly 14,000 games worldwide.
02. Rooki.design
Edoardo Rainoldi (opens in new tab) is an award-winning digital product designer from Italy, and in his spare time he's launched Rooki.design (opens in new tab), an online magazine for young creatives. It features interviews with established designers, sharing their tips and tricks for getting ahead in the creative industries, and regularly showcases the work of up-and-coming designers. Most recently it's launched its own design awards, with the help of Awwwards and the FWA.
03. This is Non-Binary
'Non-binary' is one of those terms that you've probably heard but might not quite get what it means. Thankfully August Tang (opens in new tab), a non-binary multidisciplinary creative from Phoenix, Arizona, is here to help with an informative and sometimes personal side project. This is Non-Binary (opens in new tab) explains what being non-binary actually means and what it's like to be non-binary, as well as explaining all those pronouns and their importance, plus how to be supportive to a non-binary person. The navigation's a little eccentric, but August says that they're planning to add page transition animations to make it more intuitive.
04. TypoStories
If you love typography and the potential of interesting font pairings, this side project by Davide Baratta (opens in new tab), design lead at Impero, is sure to delight you. TypoStories (opens in new tab) is an ongoing study of typefaces and font pairings, featuring an assortment of typographic illustrations inspired by Davide's need to explore typographic solutions and stay up to date with the latest releases from his favourite independent foundries. Vol. 1 is available now; he's currently working in Vol. 2.
05. Liam Neeson: Once More Into the Fray
Oliver Gareis (opens in new tab) is lead designer at Appico in Hamburg, and he's worked with top brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and EA Games over his design career. He's also a big fan of Liam Neeson, which has inspired him to create this massive, detailed illustration combining his favourite Neeson characters into a single digital artwork. Once More Into the Fray (opens in new tab) was created entirely in Illustrator CC, and between tracking down source imagery and finishing the digital piece, the process took him around six months.
06. Holarchy
Some side projects are big, finished projects, while others are works in progress, and the latter's the case for this project by Martin Silvertant (opens in new tab), a Canadian graphic designer and sporadic type designer. Holarchy (opens in new tab), he explains, is a layered modular typeface for a website that he's about design; it's in the early stages right now, but definitely looks promising.
07. Illustrated Tapes
Who can resist a good mixtape? And if you also love great illustration then Sam Ailey (opens in new tab), a London-based illustrator and designer, has a fantastic side project for you. Illustrated Tapes (opens in new tab) does exactly what it says on the tin: he gets creatives to curate their own Spotify playlists and supply their own artwork for them, and he also chats to them about their musical tastes and of course their work. It's the perfect way to hear some new sounds and discover some fantastic illustrators.
08. Illo Notes
Another illustration-based side project, Illo Notes (opens in new tab) is the work of Taaryn Brench (opens in new tab), an illustrator and designer based in Leeds. It's an illustration blog that aims to showcase amazing illustrators and also demystify the illustration business, with a mix of interviews and tips. It's been up and running since April this year, and Brench is looking for more illustrators to interview; if you're interested, drop her a line.
Related articles:
- How to start a side project: 21 pro tips (opens in new tab)
- 9 tips for better side projects (opens in new tab)
- How to self-publish a book (opens in new tab)
