Graphic designer Albin Holmqvist inspires me because he has a strong sense of concept and design aesthetic.
One can’t say when or how inspiration hits you. It just happens. You get that brilliant idea and everything just clicks. You just can’t stop writing or, in my case, designing something. So what fuels inspiration? Only you know what inspire you. Like most designers, everything around me inspires me, but they key is to be consistently inspired.
Finding a comfort zone in design can be a great safety net, but without being consistently inspired, there is no opportunity to grow Falling back on one, overused typeface or style is an easy comfort, but once you break away from those familiar tools is when idea ideas grow and flourish. How can you break away? Through inspiration.
So inspiration… I get inspiration from things around me. I admire a lot of the people around me and their work. It’s refreshing to see several answers to a problem and when it comes to graphic design, there isn’t one great design. The process and approach are always different, as well as the outcome. Student work has always impressed me, from my current MFA program to my alma mater. It’s a great example where there can be more than one answer to a problem and seeing their fresh energy come across through advertising and design is always an inspiration.
Always being in front of new ideas is an inspiration. I get inspired from reading new books, whether it’s specifically for design or as random as a well-designed cupcake cooking book. From movies, especially well-designed title sequences and end credits, to websites and blogs. Inspiration is everywhere, but it’s when you can pinpoint what inspires you and from where you can get your ‘fix’ is when you’ll feel the most rejuvenated.
Below are a couple of design blogs I consistently visit to inspire me:
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What a good thing to dwell on. Inspiration. Without inspiration, work and life can be mundane and hopeless. For me, nature inspires me and I lose track of that all of the time. I must get out and drink in the wonder, freshness, angles, shapes, sounds, smells, wind, warmth, vibrance and colors. And how light plays into it all. It’s all free!! Ok, I need to go for a walk.