Craig Black is an independent designer, lettering artist and
typographer based in Gourock, Scotland
craigblackdesign.comT
he coronavirus pandemic has struck
and the world has seemingly changed
forever. It’s scary because my wife is
pregnant, my gran is in lockdown in a care home
and several members of my family are self-
isolating. On top of that, I’ve got a business to
run during these challenging times.
The following are steps that I’ve taken to
ensure that my business and mental well-being
survives the crisis. They’re working for me and
hopefully can help you on your journey, too.ENSURE YOU HAVE THE MENTALITY TO WIN
Your mindset is so important right now. Those
who know me know I’m a positive person; it’s
the way I’ve programmed my mind and life for
the better. I believe that there’s an opportunity
to be found in the darkest of moments.
My wife Ally is a mental health nurse and she
recommended these tips, which work for me.Start by maintaining a structured routine. Set
your alarm as you would for work and get up at
the same time every day. Go for a shower, have
breakfast and get changed out of your pyjamas
in preparation for starting work. Schedule a
lunch break and a finish time, and try to stick to
a reasonable bedtime as you would during a
normal working week. You should structure
your day in a similar format to how you would
normally work. This will then separate “work
time” from “chill time” because these can get
mixed up when working from home.
Take daily exercise outside of the work
environment. This will give you a break away
from work, and enable you think about the
things that you’re grateful for, such as family, a
roof over your head, food in the fridge and so on.
Maintain a healthy and balanced diet. If
you’re eating well, you generally tend to feel
better overall. Try not to slip into the habit of
eating unhealthily and ordering numerous
takeaways through boredom. This will
ultimately make you feel worse in the long term- not to mention financially worse off, too!
Cut down the amount of time you spend on
social media and instead focus on spending
“chill time” with loved ones or getting stuck into
a great book or creating a piece of artwork.
Embrace the downtimes. If there are things
you’ve been meaning to do for a while, now is
the time to do it. My wife and I have only just
got round to putting up our wedding photos and
we got married almost a year ago! Doing things
like this make you feel more productive and you
end the day having achieved something that you
otherwise wouldn’t have.
GUARANTEE YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVAL
One thing to look at right away is cutting down
your costs. Consider the following. Adobe has
discounted its membership programme and has
a 60-day free membership deal. Speak to your
mortgage provider about the three-month
mortgage payment holiday, which is available to
help people out. Also speak to your credit cardCULTURE
CRAIG BLACK HAS SOME ADVICE FOR SURVIVING THE
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS AS AN INDEPENDENT CREATIVEopinion