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March 22, 2007

Everywhere

Awhile back, after a trip to Chicago, I wrote about inspiration. It’s an interesting subject for me—the way the brain forms ideas out of thin air. It’s a pretty amazing ability us mammals have in having creative thought. And in the design business, we’re constantly trying to tap into the enigma.

In brainstorming some concepts for community-driven murals, I discovered how easily I can pigeon-hole myself into one form of creativity. My brain seems to enjoy stimulation, yet tends to conform pretty quickly to it. It’s not even something I recognize right away. Yet it became fairly obvious to me that my own ideas started circulating around certain a few certain criteria. Why? Out of frustration I had no clue, yet I came to realize it had more to do with my forms of inspirations. Use the same kind of fuel, get the same kind of fire.

An art director I met in Miami years ago told me something that stuck with me: “When I run my own firm, I’ll have priests, buddhists, firefighters, and janitors to strike up creativity. It’ll be a workshop of ideas. Everyone from doctors and lawyers, to artists and thieves will all circle a table, talk, and create.”

I never thought much of this statement until recently during my own thoughts on inspiration. While I thought him nuttier than squirrels before, I’ve started to see the reason in his madness. Inspiration comes from diversity. Why limit ourselves to staying within our design bubble for inspiration? It should come from life, and all aspects of it. Joshua Davis gets it. Content is all around us. I don’t think our best design comes from keeping our noses buried in design magazines and our conversations geared towards other designers.

We should expose ourselves to as much culture and diversity as possible. You name it, I’m going to try and soak it in. Japanese manhole covers, American black and whites, Russian packaging, the dynamics of a bird’s flight, microscopic bacteria shapes, bugs, the colors of an Alaskan sky (thanks Flickr), concrete textures, wallpaper patterns, you name it.

Moreso, I think it’s simply viewing the world in a slanted eye that can make a difference. Instead of looking at an object, really look at it and take it in. Watch a slow-motion video of somebody’s breath in cold air. Stare at the wood patterns of your office desk. Take a cropped, closeup snapshot of a sketch you’ve previously drawn. Read a book on quantum physics. Close your eyes and take random photographs. It’s not so much in the learning, but the process of taking in information that sparks the fire.

We don’t have many excuses not to. Hop on a laptop and view galleries of European libraries, Utah signage, New York architecture, and, well, you get the point.

But hey, that’s just my opinion. I’m certainly not worthy of deeming how we as designers should spark our own creativity. However, it’s a big world out there. We can’t possibly see it all. The more we see, though, the more we grow.

Even if we’re looking at a dragon.

Clamoring






    
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