About my Design Inspiration
Each designer has a distinguished creative process. I also have a habit of inspiration. Most of the time, when I accept a task, I typically start with analyzing requirements, the target user, and the goals. Afterwards, the process will be doing research online with brainstorming and then narrowing it down into the design decisions. The design inspiration inevitably is a significant session in the whole design process.
However, as a self-taught designer, I used to doubt myself if I used to doubt the originality and profundity of my ideas. Furthermore, sometimes, excellent ideas would come up unexpectedly when I am doing the design, I would love to figure out the formula behind this. I guess those ideas are from my daily-life experience or the accumulation in a design career, but I am not 100% sure. Therefore, I keep trying to iterate and explore different possibilities and potential of the inspiration process, from time to time.
I searched for this topic on the Internet, in books. From other designers, I found I have some habits in common with other designers or their suggestions, including taking walks, examining everything interesting in the surroundings, chatting with people, searching for resources in different formats, investigating other designer’s artworks, and travelling.
I also discovered some advice or practice which I haven’t thought about. In the article on Inside Design (https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/design-inspiration), Chad mentioned that when he visited antique stores and estate sales. The ‘little hidden gems’ can be inspected and consumed with their physical shape and dust for decades. This is definitely a beautiful experience when finding something subtle and artful in this kind of personal discovering adventure.
Surprisingly, some design companies, especially in the magazine industry or in America, allow designers to spend their working time visiting exhibitions to come upon inspiration. This clearly indicates that these workplaces have a more respectful and more flexible culture for their employees or professionals.
