Beyond the Scroll: Finding Feeling in a World of Sameness.

Some days, I feel like I’m watching the Matrix. Pinterest, Canva, Behance, Instagram…design is everywhere, all at once. Inspiration is fed to us before we even know we’re hungry.

We scroll. We save. We like. Repeat.

And while that flood of visual input has its moments, it also comes with a strange side effect: exhaustion, paralysation. Like design has already been done. Like there’s nothing left to say.

“Every project I’ve ever felt proud of began with a conversation. A tension. A single detail someone thought no one noticed. It builds slowly, carefully…until something deeper begins to emerge.”

If you’re a designer, or even a client working in branding and design, you’ve probably felt it too…that creeping sense that originality is out of reach. That everything looks the same. That someone, somewhere, must’ve already done it better.

And here’s the truth…they probably have. At least, on the surface. But good design has never really lived in the surface.

Pure originality doesn’t start with moodboards or mockups. It starts in a much quieter place. Every project I’ve ever felt proud of began with a conversation. A tension. A single detail someone thought no one noticed. It builds slowly, carefully…until something deeper begins to emerge.

A feeling. A story. A presence.

That’s where design lives. Not in the perfection of the output, but in the intent.

As a designers I often say that great design isn’t about what’s added…it’s about what’s revealed. My role is to go beneath the baseline. To move past what looks “on trend” and ask: What does this brand actually want to feel like in the world? What friction does it hold? What edge does it walk?

Because that’s the part that no one else can replicate. That’s where the originality lives. Not in fonts or colour palettes, but in meaning.

So yes, you could fall into a heap of imposter syndrome.

Or…you could stop scrolling. Start listening. And remember why you started designing in the first place.

Because design isn't exhausted.

It’s just waiting for you to go deeper.