In the history of the universe, the world has never been so saturated. Since the first amoeba crawled out of its hole, we have never had so much information available at our fingertips (literally). This information overload is both a humongous blessing and a curse. On one hand, we can Google the answer to pretty much any question you might have and you never have to sing a line from THAT song that you “just can’t remember the name of” to random strangers in a bar ever again, you can just Google the lyrics.
Likewise, if you’re not feeling design inspiration, you can dive into Google looking for more design brilliance; you will inevitably fall deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until you realize you are on page 32 of the image search and you are far more confused and lack direction even more than when you began. Around here we like to think of that as overwhelming the senses and we tend to have to go for a quick nature walk (or across the street to the pub) to clear out heads for a little bit afterwards.
Ok, we may not be that dramatic about it, but seriously, when looking for creative inspiration there is definitely such a thing as too much inspiration. So how can we get around it?
Expand your horizons
For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re a graphic designer that mainly works in energy services, try looking for inspo in completely different industries, businesses and countries. Even better yet, try finding your creative lightbulb moment in completely different design worlds. Go look at interior design, art, architecture. The world is your oyster, you don’t have to stick to your own little field to find creativity.
Look for Lists
Did you know there are people whose job is exclusively to find and share the coolest, most interesting or best items on the internet. We like to think of them as curators of cool and they exist to go down that rabbit hole so that you don’t have to. Before you put your mask on for a deep dive into the recesses of the internet, maybe check and see if someone else has already done that search for you and come up with inspiration gold – chances are, they have.
Sign Up
Find industries, companies or websites that you really like and sign up for their newsletter. That way design inspiration can actually come to you! It may seem like a crazy idea, but your inbox can be full of creativity that was curated just for you, so you can just sit back, relax, and let the design flow.
It’s not all fun and games, sometimes you have to work at weeding out the good from the bad inspiration. If you need some help getting figured out, drop us a line and we’ll help kick your design up a notch!