As designers, we know that creativity doesn’t just appear on command—it needs to be nurtured and fuelled. The best way to keep those creative sparks alive is through practice and continuous learning.
Design challenges provide that perfect mix of discipline and creativity.
They push us to try new styles, explore tools we might not usually touch, and refine our skills. Think of it as the gym for creativity – just like you build muscles through regular exercise, you build design skills through regular practice.
But it’s not just about improving technically; design challenges also connect us to a larger community. Design can sometimes feel solitary, especially for freelancers or remote designers. Participating in challenges opens up opportunities to engage, share, and get feedback from a global network of fellow creatives.
We’re all learning, improving, and cheering each other on, which is incredibly motivating. This community aspect is a powerful reminder that while our creative journeys are personal, they’re also shared.
By participating in these challenges, we contribute to and learn from a global community of designers. It’s a win-win for growth, creativity, and connection.
1. Daily Creative Challenges on Behance
Behance offers a variety of daily creative challenges across different disciplines, including graphic design, illustration, and UI/UX.
These Behance challenges provide daily prompts and tutorials to help you learn new skills and techniques. It’s a fantastic way to build a consistent creative habit and expand your portfolio.
2. Dribbble’s Weekly Warm-Up
Dribbble’s Weekly Warm-Up is a series of design prompts to inspire designers to create and share their work.
A new prompt is posted each week, encouraging designers to experiment and showcase their creativity. It’s a great way to engage with the community and gain feedback on your designs.
Each week, Dribbble posts a new prompt – it could be designing an app icon, creating a poster for a fictional event, or reimagining a brand logo. These challenges are short, sweet, and open-ended, making them accessible for designers at any level.
They’re ideal for fitting in some creative practice without the commitment of longer challenges, so you can experiment and refine your skills without feeling overwhelmed.
One of the best things about the Weekly Warm-Up is that it encourages spontaneity and quick thinking. Since you’re only working with a single prompt each week, you don’t have to worry about building on previous designs or sticking to a single theme.
This allows you to explore fresh ideas with each challenge, which is perfect for breaking out of creative ruts. Whether you want to experiment with a new tool, try a different design style, or simply stretch your imagination, the Weekly Warm-Up is a space to let loose.
3. Inktober
Inktober is an annual challenge that takes place every October, encouraging artists to create one ink drawing a day for the entire month.
While traditionally focused on ink drawings, many designers adapt the prompts to digital illustrations or other mediums. It’s a wonderful opportunity to develop consistency and explore new ideas.
4. 36 Days of Type
This annual challenge invites designers and illustrators to create a unique design for each letter and number of the alphabet over 36 days. It’s a fantastic way to experiment with typography and push your creative boundaries.
5. Daily Logo Challenge
The Daily Logo Challenge is a fantastic way to dive deep into logo design, giving you 50 days to hone your skills by creating a new logo each day.
The challenge provides daily prompts – like designing a logo for a coffee shop, a tech startup, or a sports team – which keeps things exciting and ensures you explore a range of industries and styles.
This variety is essential because it encourages you to think critically about branding and to tailor each logo to match a unique personality or purpose.
6. Adobe’s Creative Challenges
Adobe frequently hosts creative challenges across its suite of products, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and XD. These challenges often include tutorials and resources to help users learn new features and techniques within Adobe’s tools.
7. Instagram Hashtag Challenges
Many designers and artists on Instagram host their own challenges using specific hashtags. For example, #DrawThisInYourStyle encourages artists to reinterpret a piece in their own style. Participating in these challenges can increase your visibility and connect you with a broader community.
8. 100 Days of UI
The 100 Days of UI challenge is perfect for designers eager to level up their user interface skills. Each day, you’re prompted to create a new UI element – it could be a button, a login screen, a navigation menu, or even a complex dashboard.
These daily prompts cover a range of real-world components, so by the end of the challenge, you’ll have hands-on experience with almost every essential UI element, building your proficiency one design at a time.
9. Poster a Day
The Poster-a-Day challenge is a thrilling journey for any designer looking to stretch their creative boundaries. Each day, you’re tasked with creating a brand-new poster – a canvas for experimenting with everything from typography and colour to layout and textures.
Posters are unique because they combine visuals with messages, making this challenge an excellent way to refine your skills in visual storytelling. Every poster tells a story, conveys a mood, or promotes an idea, and finding fresh ways to communicate daily hones your ability to craft messages that resonate.
One of the biggest perks of the Poster-a-Day challenge is that it encourages risk-taking. With 365 chances to create, you have room to play with bold ideas, unconventional color schemes, and out-of-the-box compositions that you might not normally try in client work.
This freedom to experiment can reveal new strengths, spark fresh ideas, and even help you discover your signature style. Whether you’re interested in minimalism, maximalism, or something entirely unique, this challenge lets you explore various approaches to design.
10. Color Palette Challenge
The Color Palette Challenge is an exciting exercise for designers to explore the world of color. Each day or week, you’re given a unique palette ranging from muted earth tones to vibrant neons.
Focusing on a restricted set of colors allows you to think outside the box and discover how different hues interact to create mood, emphasis, and balance in your designs. This challenge is ideal for mastering color theory, as it lets you explore concepts like contrast, harmony, and saturation in practical, hands-on ways.
Over to You
Participating in these challenges can be a fun and rewarding way to enhance your skills, gain inspiration, and connect with the design community. Whether you’re looking to improve a specific skill or just want to keep your creativity flowing, there’s a challenge out there for you. So, why not pick one and give it a try in 2025?
