There comes a point in the process where designs start to all look a bit alike. The same shapes, the same planting, the same everything, just shuffled around. This isn’t a bad thing. It just means that you’ve plateaued, that you’re repeating the same things over and over and not getting any better because you’re not challenging yourself. In design, this happens when you’re drawing faster than you can see, when you’re not taking the time to observe and understand what makes good design. The solution isn’t to push yourself to create better designs. The solution is to start observing better.
To observe better, first shrink your focus down to a smaller area. Instead of designing an entire property, pick one spot and really study it. A transition from the drive to a walkway, a planting bed along a fence, or the area between a patio and a sidewalk. Those small areas can teach you more about good design than another whole yard design. Then sketch that area a few times, but in each sketch change only one thing. Widen the walkway in one, change the bed lines in another, move the tree in another. This will help you understand the effect of each decision. Otherwise, your designs just become a mess of changes you can’t keep track of.
Another way to plateau is to stop observing, to just draw from memory. It’s very easy to fall into this trap, especially once drawing isn’t so new anymore. To climb out of this rut, take one session where you draw nothing. Take the first half of your time and go out in the yard, just observe. Watch where you slow down, where you can see long distances, where plants hide a hard edge, and where it feels crowded. Notice the scale. A bed might seem huge from the window, but when you’re standing on the patio it feels tiny. A beautiful curve on paper feels busy when you’re standing in the yard. When you take these observations and start drawing them, you’ll climb out of your rut in no time.
When you are in a rut, one of the things people do is add more. If the design feels flat, add more plants. Add more ornaments. Make the bed lines more complicated. That just masks the problem. If the design isn’t working, all that extra stuff is just making the mess louder. Instead, take the design back down to its skeleton. Draw only the major shapes. Paths. Beds. Patio. Lawn. Then ask yourself if the design still works. If it doesn’t, the design needs more structure, not more fluff.
Finally, it can be helpful to just work in short blocks. Take five minutes to really observe one area and write down some notes about the proportions, the circulation, and the balance. Take five minutes to sketch the area, in simple shapes, no planting. Take five minutes to draw a second version that fixes one thing you didn’t like. Then go do that again the next day on a different area. A corner bed, an entry way, a little spot along the back fence. It helps to keep the designs fresh because each time you’re doing something different, but it’s easier to compare improvement because each day is the same.
When you feel like you’re not making progress, it’s helpful to get feedback from others. But it’s also important to be specific in the feedback you ask for. Don’t just ask if the design is good. Ask if the transition from drive to walk feels abrupt. Ask if the planting is doing its job holding the walkway. Ask if the focal point comes too far along. Getting feedback on specific items will give you specific feedback to make your designs better. It will also train your eye to see what makes good design. And that’s the key to moving past a learning plateau, when you stop trying to create good designs and you start learning how to see what is good. Because in the end, it’s not about the designs. It’s about the judgment that goes into making them, because with good judgment, even the ugliest sketch can become a beautiful space.