Some people don’t enjoy resolutions, they say they are just meaningless wishes that are too easily broken. But I love resolutions. I enjoy the fact that the new year gets everyone thinking about goals, which is what resolutions are to me. It’s a definitive point each year where you have the chance to think about how you can better yourself, your company, your work. I welcome this time each year and I’d like to share 6 resolutions that I think are important for every designer to take to heart this year and every year in the future! We often get too busy working on projects and forget about the important things that will help bring our designs to a new level.

1. Push yourself each and every project. Never be satisfied with your abilities, always strive to grow as a designer with each project, even if it’s a small step each time and you’ll get better and better each year.

2. Design something everyday. Follow a new tutorial, design a project for yourself, or do some free work as a donation. There are tons of ways to get yourself designing everyday. Smashing Magazine has a great article on this one, challenging each of us to spend at least 15-20 minutes per day designing.

3. Never stop learning. Keep finding new things you’d like to learn and new ways to improve your skills. The design world is ever-changing and there’s always a new language to learn and a new tutorial to follow.

4. Find inspiration in new places. Inspiration is all over the place and it’s not only important to look at websites as a website designer but also to look at fun packaging, great photography, and amazing pottery. There are tons of artforms out there that can provide inspiration and a new idea may spark from a different source than you’d think.

5. Get involved by attending a design conference, take a class or find a new way to get inspired and jump start your motivation. Being in a group of people that are excited about their profession is a great way to learn and an awesome way to get excited.

6. Network with other designers. Social media is huge right now and connecting with other designers has never been easier. Follow other designers on Twitter, chat on blogs, find people on Digg, StumbleUpon, or LinkedIn. Networking can bring about tons of new opportunities and resources, stuff that was out of reach before.

Happy New Year to all, I hope you are inspired to set some resolutions for yourself that are worth keeping this year!