Something that I occasionally struggle with, is finding inspiration for my design projects. As much as I wish that amazing ideas would just fall out of my head whenever I want them to, that just isn’t reality. So, I like to go hunting for inspiration. I try to spend a little time everyday foraging for ideas that I can file away for later. I could define myself as a designer who marinades. What I mean by that is, often I see something gorgeous that I love, and then it sits in my brain and marinades until I find the perfect project to use it for. It could be a perfect colour palette or a pair of amazing textures, but it has to stew in my head for awhile until the perfect project comes along to couple it with. But, where to find that idea?
So this one is a little bit obvious. Everyone and their dog goes to Pinterest for inspiration, but it really works! I especially love the boards of Bri Emery at designlovefest. She finds the best stuff! Sometimes she pins something undesign-y like a blanket, and I think: ‘Yes! That’s the colour palette I’ve been looking for!!’ I find it’s great not just to follow fellow designers, but also stylish people you know, your friends who have great taste and people who are in a completely different industry than you. Sometimes they find the best stuff (see the second last paragraph).
The Outside World
Sometimes you find the greatest things, in weird places. For example, the image above is of a fantastic texture at a coffee shop near my place (that sells delicious dumplings and pork buns instead of the usual paninis and wraps, but I digress). I snapped this picture on my phone because I loved the combination of grey and red and the three different textures. The inset picture was snapped out of a moving car on the way to Surrey to buy fascinators for my friend’s wedding. I thought that the logo was a really cool, clean way to incorporate a map of BC and I couldn’t resist filing it away, even though the photo was through a rain soaked window (sorry, but I live in Vancouver, rain is a fact of life around these parts).
Design Websites
This palette is something that came to me via my almost-sister-in-law’s Pinterest board (she’s a teacher with great taste … see, different industries works). Once I followed the links to the original site, Design Seeds, I was hooked. The peacock palette ended up becoming the inspiration for this website that I designed and built earlier this year. Since then, Design Seeds has become my go-to-source when I have a palette in mind but can’t quite get the colours to work together as perfectly as I would like.
Lastly, I often find inspiration in the amazing work of other designers. People are doing some amazing stuff out there! When I see something amazing that someone else has done, it really makes the marinading happen. Turning their ideas over in my head, often pushes me to make my work better and learn from them. I’d love to know, where do you find inspiration? It’s always great to have other resources, so if you have something good, spill it! And, Happy Victoria Day!
Kate Moore Hermes 