Reading - The Design Process INSPIRATION

Inspiration can be difficult to come by. What inspires me comes in different shapes and sizes. From time to time I’ll do a Google search and type in the words “graphic design” or “graphic design inspiration” to see what other people are working on. I’ll browse through the pages and just be in awe of what other graphic designers are capable of doing. Looking at other peoples work gives me motivation because I want to know more about the way it was done, what steps they took, how long it was worked, how many different formats they used. It sparks my curiosity.

The reading of The Design Process, Stage 1 of the 7 stages is Inspiration; Aspelund shares his ideas on inspiration and what to do with it. Finding inspiration, trying to become inspired can lead people in the wrong direction. Many times we sit and wait for inspiration to come at us, but we should really go out into the world look for it. One of the points Aspelund kept reiterating was that we need to re-inspire our selves, because it can be really easy to loose focus and want to change ideas. Finding your inspiration for a project is only the beginning, be careful that it doesn’t lead you down a path that you don’t intend to go on. We have all been in a position that we don’t want to loose our inspiration so we will do what ever it takes with out thinking it through what the step should be, and before you know it you have a piece of crap in front of you.

What I try to do when I become inspired by something is I will try to draw the image in my mind, then I’ll write notes all over it, label it, then I will do some research and look up other visuals that can help to continue my inspiration. Aspelund suggest keeping a design journal with various steps to keep the ideas flowing and keep them in a place that will give you more ideas. I think I will give it a try.