Inspiration is everywhere

Understanding the quote “inspiration is everywhere” is quite straight forward. The world around us is full of inspiration stocked to the ceiling with stimulating colors, textures, shapes, curves, arrangements, contrasts, similarities… well you get the point. However, since we are bombarded with such beautiful inspiration each time we walk out our front doors, we often take it for granted and passes through our minds as a quick thought to later be forgotten when we need it. Many only seem to look for inspiration when only they need it.

The key to inspiration is being a good recorder. Technology makes this very simple with camera phones, pocket-sized sketchbooks, iPads and amongst other things. Instead of inspirational occurrences becoming another passing moment, take a picture; it lasts longer. Make a record of everything that inspires or catches your eye and revisit these things when you start a new project.

For example: the grid for your website layout can be inspired by the balanced, yet unorthodox, arrangement of windows on old piece of architecture creating a unique layout for the blog section of your new site.

Also, having recently redesigned this blog, I can relate to playing the role of a “recorder.” The color palette was inspired by a book cover I came across while browsing a bookstore in Princeton, New Jersey, while the cross-hatching—acting as shading running along the sides— was inspired by my neighbors old little white fence that is half hanging over into my side (the way the fencing weaved and intertwined). The subtle grey texture was inspired by a newspaper-eske feel to put focus back on my content and purpose of this site: to read. A majority of what inspired this redesign was drawn by offline inspiration.

The power of push

All it takes is that one tiny inspirational moment to propel a project forward. From here it is often easier to build around the segment of inspiration. Great design excels in the tiniest of detail. I feel that many—starting a new website design for example—jump straight to online design galleries to drum up inspiration. All this typically does is embed a predetermined look, feel and flow to your work, often resulting in a similar look, style and flow of existing websites.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be looking at what your peers are doing. Instead, look at online inspiration last. Flip through your recorded inspiration inventory or hop on a train to a near by city to work for the day. Even a small change in your environment can provide a world of difference and provoke new emotions.

In the midst of my current redesign (and about fifty tossed ideas later) I came across the above quote which I engraved in my mind for the remainder of my redesign efforts. I used it not as a tool to make excuses for a potential bad design and negative reaction, but a stepping stone to break away from normalities and try something different and unfamiliar.

I’ve been truly grateful for the success of the Design Cubicle. Existing among one of the more popular traffic-driven design blogs on the internet, I did not want to have that same “big blog” feel (you might even notice I eliminated the sidebar ads). I never set out for those goals and did not want to give off that impression. I started The Design Cubicle to connect with other designers and those in need of design services. I wanted to share my passion and experiences. I also didn’t want to play it safe (in terms of the redesign direction) in fear of rejection. Personal discoveries and break-throughs will never be unearthed by playing it safe. Heck, even new trends cannot be set without at least one person taking a chance. Instead I wanted my own personal voice to be heard and seen — something my first design did not do well with.

As a web designer, when looking for inspiration I tend to look offline for ideas that will usher a direction. Something as simple as a book cover’s color palette, a typeface used in an old bus station, a texture or pattern from old architecture, and so on. Inspiration is everywhere, just look around you.

Even though I keep an inspiration collection in Little Snapper of online / web inspiration I seldom open this up when starting a new project; although I might come back to it once the project is underway and direction is established. The reasoning is to keep myself from repeating. Many times inspiration can indirectly lead to repeating and playing it safe. Sure playing it safe will always “work”, however, if you are not pushing boundaries because you are afraid of what people will say then you are not exploring and growing. You never know when that silly idea will turn into the next big trend.

Some of my favorite web designs are ones that I first initially said, “Wow, thats different…. not quite sure if I like it,” only to come back a few weeks later and absolutely fall in love with it. Once the initial shock of it looking “different” wore off I was able to dive into it and pull apart the elements that make it unique, engaging and beautiful. A month or so later we start seeing other websites germinating like weeds in the spring time following similar directions and techniques. Is it because the unfamiliar direction was approved by at least one other person? Probably so. Is it because you possibly had a similar thought a few months prior to seeing the “different” website but feared being rejected by some? Possibly. Either way, we should never let fear of rejection get in the way of trying something new. If no one is disagreeing what we are doing then we are probably being boring. It’s like little boys learned about the girls as they grow up: girls love the “bad boys.” But why? Because they are unpredictable and never boring. Treat your next web design as a new relationship. Impress him or her with your unpredictability and explore different options. There is always more than one way to solve a problem. Passing through solution A will help you discover a better solution in B.

A while back I read an article by @MikeKus talking about the direction for Carsonified’s website. After endless revisions, his final inspiration was discovered while jogging past a store sign that was hanging from a window. Carsonified’s website was one of which I said “not quite sure if I like this” and now, it is now one of my favorite websites. My first reactions were most likely a result of it looking unlike the rest. It was a bit daring and unorthodox, but this is what makes it truly beautiful and unique. A design that sets itself apart and will be remember as Carsonified’s. You could view that site from a hundred feet away and only glance at it for a second before knowing which site it is. How many websites can you say that about?

As not only designers, but as people in general, throughout our entire life we try so hard to gain acceptance by our peers, often forgetting what our own voice sounds like. Next time you design a website or your own portfolio think about the 37signals quote and push boundaries in light of showing the world your unique perspective. Step away from the online inspiration galleries and into the beautifully crafted world around you. Forget what people tell or think about you and go with your intuition.

The above article was not only to reach out but written for myself as well. We have all fallen guilty of this at one point in our careers. Even if living on the bold side of things isn’t for you, try at least one thing different in your next work and build around that idea. Without pushing boundaries the world around us remains stagnant and lifeless.

Do you ever come to the point sometimes when you are designing and the design is just simply not working so you begin to wonder why you are even a designer or could even claim to be one? This used to happen to me, but then I would just surf the web and see somebody else’s ugly site and became instantly re-inspired to push forward. In the field of web design there is always someone worse than you that helps you to believe that you are at least decent and there is always someone better that makes you curl up into a ball. Now I am wise enough to understand that if I really need a great design job done I hire someone else to do it.
So many people enter web design because they believe that designing a website is easy. Unfortunately, they are wrong. Building a website is easy, designing one takes skill. This is where confidence (ego) kicks in. There are two key qualities that designers should possess and they both relate to criticism.

Give Criticism

The first one is that you need to be your own harshest critic. Believe me, this is extremely hard to do on the web since there are many people out there who are quick to point out how wrong your design is. When you think you are done with a design, take a step back and look at it. Could you do better? If you think you could, but can’t figure out how then just step away for a bit. If you don’t think you could do better then either you are right, or you just don’t want to push yourself further.

It’s human nature to believe that something we created is at least decent because we are proud of the work we have done. It’s okay to be proud of your work, but being satisfied with it is a completely different tale. Can you really look at your work and dissect what is wrong with it? Can you already see points of improvement?

Hopefully you don’t think your design is done because it looks like another popular site. You cannot call yourself a designer when all you do is steal other people’s designs. Sort of like thinking you can draw by placing a paper over a picture so you can trace the lines. It is okay to take the design elements of others to help with your own designs, but your ability to self-critique cannot develop until you have your own style. Your style may be similar to someone else’s, but at least when you design something you know that you designed it.

Receive Criticism

The second important aspect of being a designer is knowing how to take criticism. I am fortunate to have an audience that gives excellent criticism without being too harsh or demeaning. Many times I do not agree with what people say, but I have learned to listen to them because maybe in another design their ideas could work. Every once in a while you may get some jackass telling you how horrible everything looks. Why is he saying this? Who knows and who cares. When taking criticism there is always going to be signal and noise to deal with. Filter out the noise. Listen to others. Grow as a designer.

This is more important than ever now because the field is getting crowded. The usual designers who just happened to pick up the profession will troll the design galleries to see what they can pick up and emulate, emulate and emulate till they become just like the person they are emulating. Their ego tells them that they designed it when they didn’t. You need an ego that pushes you to do better with each passing design. You need an ego that accepts the praise and also laughs at it because you know you still have room to grow.

Eventually you might get to a point where you know how to do the right things to make a design look good, but that doesn’t mean it works. Large type, some gradients and the right color choices can get you in your gallery of choice, but is it the right design for the job? Is it what is needed? Did you actually design the site or did you just put on the right decorations? Depending on how your ego is developed will determine your answer.

Even when your ego is too big to fit on screen and you think you are the best around or people tell you there is no one better, there is always a way to learn and get better. Every website on the web has something to teach you. Be it something good or something bad, but from every design it is possible to take some knowledge away with you. If you want to be a designer then be one. You must have an ego or else you wouldn’t be doing it (unless you just do it for fun). Just make sure to keep it in check.

Do designers need an ego to be successful?

I asked on Twitter if designers need an ego to be successful and here are some of the responses:

• “Yes when it leads to confidence and presence. No when it translates to belligerent refusal to continually learn and listen” — @GregMolyneux
• “I’d say no. Confidence, yes; ego no. Ego can prevent you from fixing problems and improving” — @futuraprime
• “As ego provides a sense of self, yes. Avoiding being egotistical and leaning towards altruism is the key” — @ritchielee
• “I would have to say, yes. If there wasn’t any ego, no one could ever support their design decisions” — @kumailht
• “Ego, no; but a tough exterior and a love for what you do couldn’t hurt…” —@LeaBotwinick
• “No, but all successful designers have egos” — @worldobyrne
• “A certain confidence and drive is definitely needed to be a designer, but I’d say the ego needs to be left at the door” — @henrytapia

The above article was written by Paul “Srivs” Scrivens of the fairly new design blog, Drawar. Why I’ll don’t ask many for guest articles on The Design Cubicle I was immediately drawn to Srivs writing style. With his thought-provoking, well-researched, and sometimes “touchy” (see “You are not a designer and I am not a musician”) subject matter, Paul’s articles are often entertaining and enlightening while showcasing his unique voice and perspective.

Paul’s links:

• Subscribe to Drawar
• Follow Srivs on Twitter
• Check out his Inspiration Gallery and Community Link archives

I’ve always enjoyed viewing others sketchbooks as well, so I asked my Twitter friends if they wanted to contribute a page from theirs. Below is a showcase of designers sketches, notes, and other doodles within their sketchbooks.

Continue reading below on how to win 10 free sketchbooks by Logo Nest!

Jeff Sheldon – @ugmonk

“One of the early sketches for my “There’s More to Life” Ugmonk shirt.” The full process can be seen on Ugmonk’s blog.

Adam Olenchick – @adamolenchick

“I had the challenge of having 4 companies on a single full page print Ad. It’s not my favorite sketch but one that shows my process better than most. I find that working on gridded paper helps.”

Andrew Steger – @drewski1979

“This is a stream of consciousness sketch. I like to do this when I’m feeling stuck. I often find pieces in it that I like and end up using in later designs.”

Linzie Hunter – @linzieh

“A pages of doodles from my lettering sketchbook.”

Carolyn Sewell – @carolynsewell

“This is sketch of notes taken during the recent AIGA design conference in Memphis. I’ve found that if i like looking at my notes, I’ll read them more, be inspired more, and thus use them more.”

Prescott Perez-Fox – @scottperezfox

“Sketches for logo development for New Day Rescue & Adoptions. These all follow the “dog silhouette” route, which ended up being the final approach.”

Charles Riccardi – @charlesriccardi

“This page out of my sketchbook was used to create the first concepts for a logo project. The company is a green company seeking after better, more environmentally away lighting solutions.”

Poyin Voon – @poyinphony

“I wish i can go somewhere which can let my imagination grow…”

Luther Spicer – @designjones

“Ideas for an airport-based exhibition called ‘Perceptions of Beauty’. The central idea was based around giant luggage tags as posters that could be wrapped around anything in the airport i.e. columns, chairs & signage.”

Denise Lange – @deniselange

“I was creating (and practicing!) a handwritten script and elements to be used in a logo and accompanying branding materials.”

Dan Redding – @danredding

“I keep sketchbooks for creative inspiration and enjoyment. This page features a drawing I did of an creepy but beautiful abandoned mental hospital in Massachusetts.”

Chris Sharp – @csharpdesign

“Brainstorming sketches for a logo design. Basis was a theme of renewal and growth focusing on the letter ‘C’ (Change for Real – the client brand name) as a motif.”

Joey Ellis – @joeyellis

“In planning some games for my son’s pirate-themed birthday party, I decided I should take a moment and draw out some ideas.”

Misty Belardo – @mistygirlph

“This is a sketch of my TwitterBackground design. I did a new version of me. Hand drawn design of me was used to depict what I love doing.”

Paul Randall – @paulrandall

“These was some early concepts on a logo for a local community arts centre.”

Chris Skelton – @sk3lton

This is a double page from my Moleskine which formed the start of my logo design for the childrens outdoor activity and Forest Schools equipment supplier Muddy Faces. View the completed website.

Ashraf Ghori – @AshrafGhori

Concept design for Virtual Geographic for CG animated film www.Xero-Error.com

“A Medical Assistant vehicle design for my animated film.”

Josh Cagwin – @joshcagwin

“Rough wireframe sketch of a home page for a project.”

Delve Withrington – @delvew

“Sketches for the logo of my independent font foundry, Delve Fonts.”

Paul Barrera – @PaulBarrera12

“It was long day at the internship, working on a logo for a class / killing time. Go Sketch! it doesn’t need to make sense.”

Cynthia Lavigne – @clavigne

“This was an idea for a character I wanted to use in a Flash animation.”

Noel Miciano – @noel1215

“I hardly draw anymore, so I wanted to get back into it this year and introduce myself to typography.”

Martin Kulakowski – @notanotherone

“This was just one of the many sketches for my personal website that never saw the light of day. The main goal of the website was to showcase the latest portfolio work and the blog entries. I also wanted to allow the visitor to be able to switch between different “themes” with some CSS and PHP magic.”

Brian Hoff – @behoff

A mix of icon and typographic identity sketches for Dreamvast.

SKETCHBOOK GIVEAWAY DETAILS

About Logo Nest

Logo Nest is a place dedicated to creative designers, both professionals and amateurs, where they can share and compare their creative work. Publishing on this web site is free, and it includes no payment of any kind. Every day, every month and every year, we declare the best logo design, and all logos published on this site will be published in a book Logo Nest 01 at the begin of the 2011! My Nest is part of the Logo Nest as we want to promote sketching as very important part of the logo design process. (Giveaway now closed)

The complimentary colors palettes, hand drawn typography, one-dimensional graphics, and the beautiful illustrations are quite intriguing to draw inspiration from so I’d thought I’d share a few that I’ve collected in recent months.

Below are 40+ vintage (or vintage-inspired) prints, illustrations and advertisements for your color and design inspiration:

If your in the midst of a creative block or wondering what you can do the next time you run into one, below is a list of 10 techniques that will help you conquer your next creative block, while opening your eyes to new creative methods and inspiration.

Borrow (don’t steal!)

The phrase, “there are no new ideas; everything has been done already”, gets tossed around the design community quite often, and with perfect reasoning to support it.

Look at how other designer’s solve problems and observe their approach to design. Make sure you don’t steal their ideas. Rather use it as a starting point for one of your own. Draw inspiration from it. Books and website inspirational galleries are great for this sort of thing.

Explore the Masters

Focus on the work of the “Masters”. Much like the young entrepreneur painters did at one point — studying the work, methods, ideas and lives of other great designers can open your mind to new methods to approach design.

Also, I’ve found reading other designer’s creative processes help me look at things differently.

Sketch

Sketching on paper is a great way to release creative block frustration. It helps to get as many ideas out as quickly as possible.

Also, try sketching things that are completely unrelated to the project you are working on. Take your mind off what your work and get lost in your sketch book.

Do Tutorials

Tutorials are a great way to boost creativity and learn new techniques. You never know when a new technique can be applied to your current project.

Mind Map

Mind mapping is like sketching, but with words instead of pictures. It helps to get ideas and connections down quickly on paper and explore a topic.

Stop Designing

One of the more common reasons for a prolonged creative drought is that fact that your stressing out about it. So stop and walk away from it for awhile — take a walk, play music, go the gym, take a drive. Do something else you enjoy.

You’d be surprised by how much stress can alter the creative process.

Design More

Contrary to the above, designing more can also help in creative droughts. Try switching from your client’s project to your own experimental, self-inspired project where you have less limitations and can explore more.

You can also dabble in other forms of art or creativity — try painting, making a collage or writing. This will help open up new windows of creativity.

Surround Yourself with Designers

Creativity breeds creativity… Feed off your peers and use them as a source of inspiration and assistance. Sometimes, simply surrounding yourself around other creative minds is all you need.

Surround Yourself with Non-Designers

You’d be surprised by the responses and feedback a person that does not design for a living could provide you. Try asking them what comes to mind when they read the creative brief.

Travel back in time

Observing old painting and architecture can help you find new elements that reflect a client’s brand or vision. Take a trip to an art gallery or museum.

Listen to Music

Though I listed listening to music as a solution to getting away from your work, I felt that music should have a category of its own.

It’s unbelievable how much music can influence your designs. Don’t just listen to songs you always play. Try discovering new sounds and see where it takes you.

Collect Trash

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, so why not find inspiration in every day objects. Found objects can be a great source of creativity materials. Randomness can be extremely inspiring.

Dissect the Design

Instead of jumping right into the concept as a whole, try deciding on other elements first and let the rest follow.

Choose your color palette or the font and go from there. Sometimes all it takes is seeing a fantastic color palette that would work well for the project, which sets the tone for the end result.

Future-proof Creative Blocks

In order to be a successful graphic designer, you should always be on the lookout for new ways to improve your work and career. Taking notes as you seen them is a great resource for dealing with future creative blocks.

Don’t wait until you’re in the midst of a creative block. Prepare yourself, so when the time comes you have collateral to draw upon.

Write a list on how to conquer creative blocks

This post was inspired from a recent creative block I was having. Instead of stressing out about my current predicament, I opened my word processor and began typing this post — and you probably guessed it! I had conquered my momentary creative inability half way through this post!

By taking my mind of things for a minute, or actually putting my mind more into it, I had solved my creativity problems and hopefully helped others with their own.

Phase 1: Defining the goal

The goal was to create a logo that was memorable, represented the cubicle concept and showed a sense of community and connectedness, as discussed above. I also wanted it to be simple and smart, since I am a firm believer that less is more. It also had to work well in various sizes, since it was to be used as the site’s favicon and other smaller online propaganda.

Phase 2: Sketching and visual brainstorming

Sketching is an extremely important step of any design process. It helps to get your ideas down quickly and without attention to unnecessary detail in the beginning. Below, you can see where the final logo was starting to take form in the sketches circled in red.

Phase 3: Bringing the above ideas to the computer

Once I had some groundwork to pull from, I opened up Illustrator and did some “computer sketching”, playing around with various combinations and more ideas. Notice below that some of the ideas steered away from the initial goal, but sometimes turning another direction gets you back on the correct path — Guess that’s why it’s called a creative “process.”

Phase 4: Narrowing it down

Most of the time I find myself going back to repeat phases 2 and 3 before narrowing my ideas down to two or three choices. This phase is usually the point where I start playing around with variations and typefaces of the ideas from phase 3.  This stage was particularly hard for me for this specific logo because I like both the right and left side variations.

Phase 5: Making the decision

While the final decision was tough, I decided to go with the “double cubicle”. I felt it had more of a suggestion of cubicles and ‘DC’. It connected back to the goal of portraying a sense of community and connectedness with two cubicles that were intertwined. What do you think?

Which variation in Phase 4 do you prefer?

Feedback is always appreciated and serves as a valuable step in the creative process. Feel free to add a comment or share your thoughts.

While in design school, it was easy to surround myself with inspiration and engage in activities that helped my understanding of effective design. Once I graduated I feared losing it, since I was no longer surrounded by a learning environment. I made it a point to continue educating myself as much as possible and become more active in the field of design. I was determined not to let my designs grow stagnant, but rather transgress and improve with time. Here are a few tips, exercises and practices that have help me continue learning, strengthen creativity and become an all around better designer.

Become a collector

Each time you see a design that inspires you, collect it, bring it home and file it away. I have hundreds of brochures, posters and other collateral that I have collected over the years that is stacked away in folders and boxes that I can quickly access – great source of inspiration when needed. Even Starbucks gives out creative weekly mini-newspapers.

Buy books

Having an extensive book collection is always essential to learning. I try buying a new book at least every 2 weeks that range from inspirational, educational and technical topics.

Read design-related blogs

I can’t stress enough how much information I have learned by reading other great designers blogs. The web in an invaluable resource of information – take advantage of it and actually use it!

Start a design blog

Having started this blog only a couple months ago, I have found it to be extremely useful and educational for myself. It has made me more aware of the design community and more analytical of my own work.

Join and be active in the design community

As a freelance designer, joining the online design community is a must. Not only does it keep you up-to-date in the design world, but is also great for feedback and critique. Being your own boss is great, but not having anyone to answer to as a freelancer also has it’s down sides. No one to criticize your work and help you improve.

Take lots of photos

Solves the problem of not being able to take home designs you like – Camera phones are great for this kind of thing. Just snap a photo and file it away for later. I use Evernote for this type of thing; pictures of building designs, textures, shapes of shadows on walls. Basically anything that interests me from a design stand point.

Create fake projects

Whenever I find myself with free time (which is getting less and less lately) I create fake projects. Create a fake brand for a company. Design a logo, stationary, brochure, website – the whole nine yards. It’s good to do this once in awhile because it keeps design fun and let’s your creativity run wild without limitations. It’s often easy to get caught in a rut when clients start dictating and your work no longer becomes “yours”.

Redo other people’s design

Don’t want to create a fake brand to design? Try redesigning other people’s projects. This help’s you evaluate what “they” did wrong and what you could do better.

Redo your old designs

I know what it feels like to look at your early days of design and think “Oh my! What was I thinking?! I need to get rid of that immediately”, but is important to keep that work. It will help you see if you’re moving forward and improving your skills. Instead of throwing away or deleting old projects, try reworking them.

Attend lectures

Every few months I make it a point to attend lectures of other designers speaking at local schools and universities. Always learn a new thing or two.

Network with other designers

Attending lectures is a great way to meet other designers. I always try to search out the designers that have more experience and talent than I do. I know – it’s hard to admit someone else is better than you, but networking with people of higher skill levels will push you to work harder and learn more.

Take classes

Many local college allow you to register for classes without enrolling full-time. It will not only teach you some new things technically, but also put you back in a classroom of your peers.

Interview other designers and studios

A year ago, a friend of mine, started a ‘national studio tour‘ where he toured and interviewed with over 100 different design studios. He said the experience was amazing and learned so much by asking questions that design school could have never answered. He also met a valuable useful contacts ;)

Travel

Every time I travel to another country, I come back feeling extremely inspired. I usually find myself designing all day for a few weeks straight. Experiencing new cultures and seeing their artwork, opens your mind to a whole new world. Just wish I could travel more!

Learn something new

Whenever I am in a creative slump I try something new or do something completely unrelated to design. Getting your mind off things and into something new, usually has a funny way of working itself back around.

Grab a sketchbook

Helps you work through ideas quickly and without limitations of design software. Has made a HUGE difference in my designs. See what other designer’s say about the importance of sketching here and here.