Shock is the first stage. It is accompanied by disbelief and numbness ”what the fuck?? that is some bullshit right there”
Denial follows quickly, crying “I don’t believe it,” or “Those guys don’t know anything, my designs are awesome”
Bargaining is your promise that “Maybe I can change a few design elements, play around with the colors and fonts”
Guilt is painful and hard to deal with. This is when one says over and over, “If only I had used a blue gradient” or “If only I had not used Helvetica” This is a normal feeling and ultimately it may be solved by stating, “I’m a human being and I gave the best and worst of me to my design and what the client does with it is his or her responsibility”.
Anger is another big factor which seems to be necessary in order to face the reality of designing. We must all heal in our own ways. Anger is a natural stage through which we must pass. Your anger at your rejected design may even make you feel guilty, or it may be because other design work needs to continue when your design has been rejected.
Depression is a stage of design rejection that comes and goes. Knowing this, be prepared to give yourself time to heal. Resignation is a late stage. As is giving up and becoming an “Artist”.
Acceptance and hope! Understand that you will never get that design accepted but your other designs can go on to find meaning and purpose.
