Where inspirationcomes from

Inspiration for projects
at a design agency

The roots of design: inspiration. You can get anywhere, for free.
But sometimes you just don’t have any inspiration or can’t see where you can get it.

This is inspiration inside VBAT.

In school I’m in a different environment, so I get different inspiration. All of the tables are full of paint, classmates are designing, a lot of noise in the building of students that are making installations. This all has an impact on my inspiration and impact on what I’m going to make.

I also wrote an article about inspiration for your portfolio.

For me, inspiration is everywhere. That doesn’t sound like a useful tip, but I think you get inspiration from everything around you. Sometimes, I just start to paint or make photos to inspire myself and surprise myself with the outcome.

Back home I have a big box under my bed filled with cards, pictures and other stuff that inspires me. I go trough everything often en select things. It has a different impact on me than just pictures on internet.

Especially at VBAT, I have the chance to walk up to designers and ask them how they do things. How they start a project, how they find inspiration.

Then I came to VBAT. A different environment, no paint on my desk! Lovely, but it doesn’t invite me to experiment without the computer. At a company it’s different. You have to keep yourself on a schedule, you have specific hours for projects and you don’t have the time to keep a big journal of thoughts.

So at VBAT, I have the chance to walk up to designers and ask them how they do things. How they start a project, how they find inspiration. In the building there are a lot of mood boards filled with inspirational images, but where are they coming from?

Tips from the Creatives at VBAT

‘I find I get the most inspiration for graphic design from physical design worlds like architecture and sculpture. It helps me to think of my designs as physical objects with weight and form (plus it keeps me from plagiarising!).’ — Anthony Ford

‘When you want to achieve white, get inspired by black.’ — Rob Deurenberg

‘I find inspiration in fashion, specifically in high fashion photography. It’s always eccentric, expressive, bold and dramatic! All the exciting combinations of shapes and colours, not to mention beautiful people. So I look at a lot of fashion blogs, photographers and agencies.’ — Alisa Erin

‘Dare to avoid going straight ahead, a good idea is around the corner.’ — Rob Deurenberg

Inspired, a book from Dorte Nielsen and Kiki Hartmann

How creative people think, work and find inspiration

A colleague gave me this inspiring book when I started to write this article.

Inspired: A book by Dorte Nielsen and Kiki Hartmann.

This book shows you sketchbooks, collections and the inspiration of designers. A good book with a lot of images, not so much text and nice quotes.

Talking about quotes..

• ‘Collecting things stimulates the brain. It helps you think of something fresher.’ — Tony Davidson & Kim Papworth
• ‘I get a lot of my inspiration from music.’ — Gustav Ergerstedt
• ‘Everything communicates.’ — Barbro Ohlson Smith

‘I organise parties to get inspiration.’ — Erwin Olaf

• ‘Things I’ve collected over time always have relevance at some point later on.’ — George Bean
• ‘My ideal working environment travels with me. Where I work isn’t that important.’ — Fernandez Gutierrez
• ‘The more ideas you give away, the better the ideas you’ll get in return.’ — Anders Lund Madsen
• ‘For me a scrapbook is like a visual development diary, a personal journey.’ — Chris Priest
• ‘I’m always my first customer. If I can’t imagine having or using a particular object, I won’t design it either.’ — Ingegerd Raman

So everything in your daily life can be inspiration to create. For example; graphic work. Think about that holiday in Spain, the taste of that ice cream. The clothes of that man in the train yesterday, the film you loved as a kid, the music you’re listening to.

And, of course, you can find some great examples online, but there is so much more inspiration away from the computer. I always have the best ideas when I’m in the shower, or when I’m in bed..

‘Grab Attention, it’s all there is’ — Martin Galton

I think it’s good to do things differently and to be open to new things and changes. Take a different route to your work, go to a new place, meet new people, drink your coffee different, visit a new city and collect a lot of stuff.

So go out, see new things, make memories, collect stuff, because everything around you is inspiration!

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