Finding Inspiration
As a graphic designer, sometimes it’s difficult to find inspiration when crafting a new project.
Similar to glaring at an empty word processing page when writing a blog, starting a new development takes a fair amount of mental prowess. You and your creative colleagues must band together, partners in crime, to concept the latest endeavor.
So what can a struggling team do to kick start their brains? We take to the Internet or our agency’s bookshelf to scan other published work trying to find that light switch.
Pop open Chrome, Firefox, or Safari (don’t use Internet Explorer, what is wrong with you?) and go perusing the plethora of blogs across the web; Abuzeebo and You The Designer are merely two examples.
You can even just perform a quick search and come across any number of lists featuring interesting little blogs. You’ll find lists such as, “7 International Design Blogs You Should Be Following”1 or, “The 15 Best Design Blogs of 2013.”2 Outside of the blogging realm, a struggling designer or team can browse through some of their personal favorite agency’s latest portfolio work. Go check out Invisible Creature or Ars Thanea.
Sometimes physicality is in order by putting your fingertips to pages. Flipping through printed materials can be very therapeutic and inspiring. From magazines like Layers3, Print4, CMYK5, Communication Arts6, and Computer Arts7 to books such as, “Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History” by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott, and Bernard Stein8.
Sometimes simply momentarily distancing yourself from a design-oriented consciousness can improve your awareness of how design is all around us; inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes it’s not found in blogs and books, but outside in nature.
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