Have you been overwhelmed with a flood of design requests? Have you ever felt stuck at a particular stage of your design process? Or maybe you feel powerless when taking on design requirements from a client? Every designer has faced a moment of being buried under endless design requests. It is not uncommon to hit a wall. Your work seems to loop with little progress and vague feedback, which is either “no comments” or an unsatisfied silence. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to pause, think again, and break free.

Pause. Ask Yourself: What’s Really Stopping You?

When you feel stuck in the creative process, it’s crucial to hit pause and reflect. More often than not, the feeling of being blocked stems from an unclear definition of the problem or a poorly scoped project. It’s easy to get lost when the problem isn’t fully understood.

In my team, we once faced a similar issue when working on a website for an evolving business. The business objectives shifted frequently. New business requirements and constant new services were introduced and required to be listed on the website. The scope kept shifting, and it became clear that none of us really understood what we were trying to achieve. We felt stuck, confused, and overwhelmed.

The information piled up quickly, and the website’s content became a disorganized mess. We kept asking ourselves, “What is our marketing position? What are we really trying to accomplish here?” Looking back, the project had undergone several rounds of rebranding, reskinning, and restructuring. Yet, we felt like we were running in circles—redoing the same work over and over without making any real progress. As one of my teammates said, “It feels like we’re stuck in a loop, just repeating the same steps.”

In moments like this, even if the task seems urgent and people are rushing you, remind yourself to pause. Before you move forward, make sure you define the goal, the problem, and the scope. Take a moment to ask yourself: What’s the real goal? What’s holding you back?

Use UX Methods You Know

Don’t forget about the UX tools you already have. Leveraging these frameworks can help you step back and review the requirements from stakeholders. This might mean mapping user journeys, revisiting previous user interviews, conducting competitive analysis, or even hosting a quick brainstorming session.

In my case, the constant changes to our business objectives were overwhelming. It felt like we couldn’t keep up. That’s when our team decided to pause and ask, “What exactly do we offer as a company?” Reviewing our competitors’ websites and design approaches helped us form the right questions: “How might we structure our offerings on the website to be flexible and scalable for future market needs?”

That was the moment I suggested, “How about a whiteboard workshop?” The vague structure of our site needed clarity, a fresh reskin aligned with our evolving goals.

Take Action: Whiteboard with Your Teammates

Once you’ve paused and identified the core issues, it’s time to take action. Set up a brainstorming session with your team. Brainstorming together can open up new perspectives and uncover solutions you may not have thought of alone effectively.

Whiteboarding sessions allow you and your team to throw ideas out, visualize them, and engage in open dialogue. During a recent project, my team gathered to answer some key questions:

1. Who is our target audience?
2. What exactly do we offer (in specific, concrete terms)?
3. What actions do we want visitors to take when they land on our website?

We began by narrowing down our target audience, which clarified how we should position ourselves in the market. Then, we listed as many details about our services as possible and worked together to group them. This process was similar to creating an affinity diagram: we categorized the services, which naturally led us to refine the site’s structure and sitemap.

Once we grouped related elements and clearly defined the scope for each landing page, everything started to fall into place. The whiteboarding session not only helped us organize our offerings but also gave us a clearer path forward, saving us from unnecessary confusion and revisions.

Whiteboarding may seem simple, but it’s an incredibly effective way to get unstuck and move your project forward with clarity and purpose.

Final Thoughts: Take a Step Back to Move Forward

When you feel stuck in your design process, pausing to reflect on the problem can lead to breakthrough moments. Use the UX methods you know to revisit your project’s goals and requirements and don’t hesitate to collaborate with your team. Sometimes, simple actions like a whiteboard session can be all it takes to find clarity and regain momentum in your design work.