How I find inspiration
I feel like this topic is hot. Maybe a bit overrated, too. Mainly because, while everyone somehow manage to get inspired one way or another — yet there it is: the million dollar question: “How do I get inspired? How do pros do it and more importantly — how do they do it effectively? Do they have their days of nothingness, like I do?“
Don’t get me wrong. I believe, we all ask these questions at some point. I’ve asked these questions, too. You (probably) asked this kind of questions too. But the more I proceed with my career, the more I work towards focusing on what I can do to get inspired — based on the constraints I have and the life I live or the company/client I work with. Because what works for me, might not work for you and vice-versa. Having said all these, I tried to summarize what works for me so far:
Creating a blank canvas
I set up a white canvas and start playing my favorite music only to draw some random lines and shapes. Oftentimes, I delete the first file and create a new one and so on. Now, I am well aware that design is not art. And I am certainly not trying to produce any kind of art. But for some reason this technique is decompressing my creativity. Especially when I see potential in the shapes and the composition I just randomly created.
Getting inspired by the passion of the client/stakeholder
I believe great communication between people can do wonders. Also, I love dealing with passionate people. When these two combine with each other, and the stakeholder/client takes his time to create a meaningful conversation and transfer his passion about the project and not a simple brief, I can’t help but get inspired and motivated to produce a high quality output. In general, I’ve discovered that when people — especially designers — have a clear focus and a clear vision for the project they are working on they don’t have to seek inspiration. Inspiration knocks their door since they are engaged to work on that project. At least, that’s my experience so far.
Taking a break from the digital world
I know this is not easy most of the times, since tight deadlines and road-maps cannot wait. But I find it extremely necessary at least once in a while to go out and reset your juice. And by going out, I mean really out: e-mails, tomorrow’s to-do list — everything. Personally, I feel that after such breaks, I come back more energized and motivated than I was before. Like I missed being a designer.
In general, taking breaks may not seem directly connected to creativity and inspiration. I think that off-time is undervalued. I’ve seen a lot of people having way longer breaks than what I described above. For instance, Stefan Sagmeister, takes one year off every seven years. In my eyes, while 52 weeks seem like a long time — it actually makes sense, if you can afford it. I can only imagine the creative reset you can achieve with such a bold decision.
I am sure that everyone has different methods finding inspiration. These are my own ways which are working for me — and it’s not a go-to guide for everyone. At the end of the day, I think everyone should be open to try new things in order to boost his inspiration and productivity to maximum. It’s a personal matter.
As always, thanks for your time. :)
