Design Juices

Have you ever sat down in the morning and tried to design but you just can't get anything to flow? But then you wake up halfway through the night with ideas coming out of every pore in your body...

I often try to figure out ways to, if not force creative energy, at least help it along. Often I try to imagine working in a design firm where you go to work at 9, turn on your creative juices, have to log every quarter hour that you spend designing, and then leave at 5, turn off the juice, and go home.

For me that just would not work, I design at odd times when I'm in the mood, but when I'm not in the mood I can spend 6 hours in front of my laptop and not get done what I would in 15 minutes on a 'design high'.


I've found a few ways that help me get the maximum productivity. First of all I try to schedule my design around my moods - but unfortunately I have other commitments in life than design so I can't always do that.

I have found that looking at magazines - not just graphic design magazines - can help. I go to Barnes and Noble and browse through architecture, interior design, landscaping, even clothing magazines like Vogue etc. I have found that doing that will help give me ideas. Many of the concepts behind my logos have come from looking at some weird chair that an architect made. It's a bit odd but that seems to work for me.

I also do like looking through logo books. There are several good ones that just have page after page of awesome logos. I have had people tell me that it is cheating to look for inspiration from someone elses work but I disagree... there are so many different styles and techniques you can learn from without plagiarizing the actual logo.

I am interested in hearing what other people use for inspiration and to get their juices flowing... I told you my ways now I want to hear yours

I should try the magazine thing, I often run out of inspiration.

I usually go to websites of my friends or people I know that make great fanart and other graphics/websites...I also like looking at various sites that show off different logos..

Have you ever sat down in the morning and tried to design but you just can't get anything to flow? But then you wake up halfway through the night with ideas coming out of every pore in your body...


I also do like looking through logo books. There are several good ones that just have page after page of awesome logos. I have had people tell me that it is cheating to look for inspiration from someone elses work but I disagree... there are so many different styles and techniques you can learn from without plagiarizing the actual logo.

I am interested in hearing what other people use for inspiration and to get their juices flowing... I told you my ways now I want to hear yours

Your comment made me remember a poem I wrote about writing:
"I wish that at eight
It wasn't too late
For the poetry to rise to the top
That the ideas, that woke me at two and four,
Hadn't ground to a stop.

That the dreams which seemed so reachable
Remained with me
Fresh and new.
But alas, instead,
When I lift my head,
They run into the bed
And are forerver hidden
From view."

It is often that way with design. I sat last night for hours trying to come up with an idea for a header. Then at 11:00 when Ed said, "Let's go to bed" I got the idea which resulted in me not getting to bed until 12:30 LOL!

As far as getting inspiration from others, anyone who says that's cheating is full of beans! I think most of us got the inspiration to do art or design from the works of other artists we admired. As long as you don't copy a concept you are just furthering your education by studying what worked for others, IMO.

Several times even in these forums I have seen something and wondered "how did they do that" and gone to my program to see if I could duplicate the technique. That's how we learn, and if we are able to enhance something after we have learned how to do it... well to me, that's what it's all about!

I agree. Inspiration is the source of creativity. Whether you are watching TV, reading a book, looking at a magazine, listening to music or whatever, WHAM... Inspiration. Looking at other peoples work is the same as listening to music (also other people work would you believe?), it all inspires feelings and emtions which create ideas and get the design juices (such a good term, I may have to use that more often) flowing.

Now, plagiarism is cheating. Taking someone elses work and modifying it to suit your own needs is the wrong doing, not generating ideas. Get a life you simple people.

And with regards to getting inspiration, I almost always get it when I am drifting into asleep or feeling very relaxed in total silence. Thats when my design juice starts ebbing into me. I usually have to keep a notepad next to my bed so I can remember things in the morning.