These are tough times. Though we’ve all been suffering in our own ways, some of us, like me, have been luckier and less affected than others. I’ve had the good fortune and privilege of being able to keep my job as an illustrator at Shopify, and continue working remotely. I’m grateful for that every day.

Through the pandemic, the rest of Shopify’s illustrators and I have been developing and launching a completely redesigned illustration style for Shopify’s product, and a bunch of other things. It has required a heck of a lot of creative energy during a time when energy is harder to come by. With so much disturbance happening both in our global community, and in our personal lives, how are we supposed to still be as creative and productive as ever?

I definitely don’t have all the answers, and different people are going to have different strategies. But here are a few things I’ve found to be helpful for me and my peers to keep that creativity and productivity flowing.

Have some fun

Making commerce better for everyone is a tall task. There are over a million business owners relying on us to design solutions to the problems that may deeply impact their lives. Big business is serious business.

Despite how seriously I take my work and responsibilities, having a little fun every once in a while has been an essential part of keeping me happy, engaged, and creative.

Highly effective hijinks

Figma has been a great way to let loose a little. We spend so much of our time in it, exploring designs, polishing final assets, building flows. To many of us, it’s a tool for doing serious design work.

But you know what else Figma is great for? Leaving a full screen image of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s face on your coworkers’ working files after hours for them to log into tomorrow morning.

Step away from the work

Taking time as a team to step away from the work and build connections with each other through something fun and creative isn’t revolutionary stuff. Visions of beige boardrooms, quick-erase markers and paper cups of tepid, watered-down Kool-Aid might come to mind when you hear “team building activity.” But it’s easy to forget just how beneficial that time can be.

What makes a good team activity, for me, is something that’s:

• Fast and easy.

   

  Less than an hour at most. People have stuff to do.

• Without serious goals or outcomes.

   

  I’ve got enough of that already, thank you.

• Optional, and casual.

   

  If someone doesn’t want to join, you have to accept that. If somebody just wants to watch, or has to leave early, great! They’re honoring their boundaries. Respect.

• Consensual.

   

  Tell your team that you’ve got an idea to do something fun together. Ask them if that’s of interest to them. Make it clear that it’s optional.

• Inclusive.

   

  Everyone on the team is invited. Work together as a group to find what works for everyone who wants to join. Consider the accessibility challenges for different people and ensure everyone has equal opportunity to participate.

For example, we’ve done a biweekly asynchronous, Creative Brain Time drop-in activity where we’re given a creative design prompt, and we set aside a small amount of time to do it on a Friday afternoon. Or a little while ago, my team and I played a game where we used KastApp to stream an episode of Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting together, and followed along with an online MS Paint simulator. It was a hoot. Maybe FigJam next time?