The power of inspiration

To all creatives out there, I’m sure you heard this question at least once. What does it take to work in the design field?
“What is a single piece of advice you would give to a fellow designer?”
When it comes to answering this, I used to go into some nitty-gritty details like: “always use a grid!” “process is everything” or “start with asking Why” (huge thanks to Simon Sinek for that one, by the way). But what is THE thing that I believe would improve you as a creative person? What gets me up every morning and keeps me awake till 3am?
Inspiration.
The bookstore
When I came to the United Kingdom ten years ago I thought I was a “good” designer. Don’t forget, this was 2009. I was a graduate from The Fine Arts School with specialisation in Visual Communication. I was twenty years old and to give you some perspective, Facebook was just picking up. Things were little bit different from what they are today. I used to work for a small design agency in my hometown, designing publications, logos, music album covers and marketing campaign assets. I thought I was lucky. I thought I was “okay” and I’m ready to ask for “more”. This changed very quickly when I started to send out resumes to design agencies in London. All I heard back was “we don’t have any junior positions available at this time” or worse, no response at all. After six weeks, I moved on and found a job at the restaurant as a waiter to have some stable income. I was frustrated. I hated it, thinking that I had a nice job back in home and replaced it for working my ass off serving drinks. It kind of hit me hard and I was eager to change things.
Before London, I was only aware of a ‘local’ scene of design, fellow agencies where some of my friends from Art School were working, street posters, graffiti and skateboarding magazines. As soon as I started to dig little deeper I discovered online portfolios of other designers on Behance, which wasn’t nearly as huge as it is today. I realised there was so much more that I haven’t even considered doing. I simply wasn’t observing carefully enough. So, I started looking around.
I remember the day when I walked into one of the biggest bookstores in London. At that time, I think I was more interested in architecture than books themselves and visiting a bookstore was just another tourist voyage in central London. I approached the Art, Fashion & Design section. I saw a title which looked kind of interesting, took the book of the shelf and started flipping pages. I took another book and another and my eyes started to glow. It was like flipping a switch. I was fascinated by the examples of composition, layout, colour, photography and lettering. They were like nothing I’ve seen before. I mean books used to be boring, right? History of Art? School lectures? Yikes. I think I easily spent several hours in that bookstore until they were about to close. I got back next day, and the day after.
It’s about doing great work
I become obsessed with learning anything which was related to design.I used to spend all my salary on graphic design and photography books. My tiny room started to shrink with all books stacked by the wall. Guess what, it worked. Most importantly, looking at so many examples of great art and design I started to develop my own taste. It also let me look at my old work from a differnt perspective. After a few months of trials and errors, working double shifts at the restaurant, reading dozens of books and endless sleepless nights I grabbed attention from one of visitors looking for “help with some branding work”. I think I charged them less than nothing but I wasn’t interested in money. I just wanted to do great work. I remember spending on the project much longer than I originally intended just to try everything and prove to the clients that they got the right guy for the job.
They were happy.
They got back to me, again and again and recommended me to some friends. The ball started to roll. Soon enough I was able to quit my restaurant job. I got approached for another freelance job and after successful project, the founder offered me a full time position, stating that he “loves my attention to detail and we could do some great work long-term”. I couldn’t be happier.
That was 9 years ago and even though I left that position few years later (being very grateful for given opportunity) I still keep in touch with the founder who believed in me and hired me in the first place. Now, all this would not be possible without that turning point in the bookstore.
I need to say this
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that it’s all in the books, everyone has its own “aha” moment. For someone else it could be traveling, meeting interesting people, reading poetry or listening to music. It’s whatever that inspires you and makes you happy, keep doing it.
Let’s dig in
You’re still with me? Okay, to the point now. Here are some sources of my daily inspiration.
Assouline Books
The type of books you shouldn’t be ashamed to give to someone as their wedding gift. They are a bit $$$ but totally worth the money. They cover pretty much every single topic in art, photography, architecture, fashion and design.
Rizzoli Books
This is my second choice if it goes to beautiful books. Rizzoli New York began its publishing operation in 1974 and has become a leader in the fashion, interior design, culinary, art, architecture, and photography fields.
Unit Editions Books
Independent publishing venture, producing books for an international audience of designers, design students and followers of visual culture.
Pinterest
This really changed my life. By far, my favourite online aggregator of everything beautiful online.
Dribbble
Best for digital product design and illustration, also for keeping in touch with your favourite companies driven by design (Airbnb, Ueno, Uber, Intercom… the list is long). Looking to get drafted? Drop me an email with examples of your work and a link to your Dribble profile.
The Brand Identity
Fresh and bold examples of new branding work from best studios around the world, big and small.
Site Inspire
Regularly updated gallery of best websites from top creatives. I recommend subscribing to their weekly email. It is a perfect way to get an inspiration boost before the weekend.
Tumblr
Oh soooo many good tumblrs out there, where to start?! Here’s few:
- http://new-ruins.tumblr.com/
- http://inzpired.tumblr.com/
- http://matejlacko.tumblr.com/
- http://typeonly.tumblr.com/
- http://marks.burocratik.com/
The Sartorialist
Scott Schuman has a very sharp eye for catching a moment in fashionable glory.
Skillshare
You can easily lose your head when looking for good tutorials online. Skillshare gives you best people in the field sharing their advice and their process (One of my favourite tutorials from Pentagram’s Paula Sher https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Dynamic-Brand-Identity-Designing-Logos-That-Evolve/239606488?via=search-layout-grid). All of that for 12$ per month, totally worth it.
Medium OBVIOUSLY
Best for startup stories, UX, UI and taking an over-the-shoulder peek at processes from best tech companies.
Netflix
Netflix keeps surprising me with great documentaries. I only wish there would release more of them each year. One of the shows I watched recently Abstract: The Art of Design was particularly interesting because it was focusing on different fields in every episode. You could learn how famous Jordan shoes were made, how architects at BIG design groundbreaking buildings or what was a process behind creating illustrations from scratch by Christoph Niemann. Watch of these and your head will be popping with fresh ideas! Here are few of my favourites:
Start a habit
I start my every day with browsing through favourite design blogs, Pinterest, Instagram and Dribbble. I end the day with watching documentaries on Netflix or reading books or Medium posts. I never, ever considered this time being wasted. Inspiration is my motivation.
Why I wrote this post? I think, I forgot about what really got me to where I am today which is being lucky enough to work with great companies and all the way, extremely talented people. Don’t settle on what you know right now. Learn everything you can, travel and meet people, question everything. Don’t give up. Don’t stop. You’ll be surprised where your curiosity takes you.
Here is to everything that drives you to do more.
Stay inspired.
