
Go deeper: How traveling for a year changed a remote worker’s life 2. Ask locals for restaurant recommendations, take long walks, and keep your headphones in your pocket while you focus on these new surroundings. Tip: Scout for last-minute flight deals and head to a city you’ve never heard of or planned on visiting for a weekend. By immersing yourself in an area that’s far from home, you break out of your comfort zone and open your eyes to new possibilities in your creative projects.
Inspiration professional#
It’s no wonder professional designers like William use it as a source of design inspiration as well. Travel exposes you to new cultures, people, and experiences. There’s no better way to do that than adapting yourself to a new context.” As a design researcher, one of the key elements is reflecting and knowing yourself.

To me, this is about expanding my ‘visual library’ but also getting time to challenge some of my deeper rooted assumptions. “I’ve done a lot of solo traveling (upwards of 60 countries by myself). Big lesson: Don’t be afraid to venture outside away from your computer to get inspired.
Inspiration Offline#
You might be surprised at how often they go offline for inspiration. A creative director and customer-centered design lead for ACC New Zealand.īetween the three of them, they have a few decades worth of design experience and acumen-not to mention an encyclopedic knowledge of the best places for design inspiration. An award-winning branding, packaging, and product designer. An NYC-based graphic and motion designer. 8 places to go for design inspiration (as suggested by professional designers) That’s why we talked to a few professional designers to find out exactly where they go to get inspired. There are a TON of places to get design inspiration-and that can be overwhelming. (Our personal favorite is Muzli, the ever-updating resource for design inspiration served fresh.) Luckily, there are a TON of great resources for design inspiration. The right kind of inspiration will always help you come up with creative and unique ideas for your projects.īut sometimes you need some help getting inspired. It doesn’t matter if you’re an illustrator working on a glossy magazine cover or a graphic designer working on a logo mock-up for your client’s latest product.
Inspiration how to#
The best inspiration comes from the application of ideas, not the consumption of them.įor more ideas on inspiration, check out these articles: how to get motivated, the difference between professionals and amateurs, how to get started, and the habits of successful people.Design inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. Sure, there is some motivation in other people's ideas, but don't forget about the power your actions have to inspire you. Too often we spend our lives consuming the world around us instead of creating it. The application of ideas will always be more powerful than the ideas themselves. It's about learning a new exercise and adding it to your workout. It's about finding a new strategy and applying it your own goals. It's about stumbling across a brilliant idea and bringing it to life in your work. We spend so much time trying to find more inspirational things to consume that it can be easy for us to forget that the best form of inspiration comes from what we create. The inspiration is applying what you’ve received. The inspiration is not the receiving of information. Passive inspiration can give you ideas, but active inspiration will give you momentum. Learning and listening can help you think about things in a different way, but creating, producing, and experimenting is what propels you forward.

Watching someone else's success might leave you feeling excited for a few minutes, but taking action and applying a new idea to your life will inspire you more than anything someone else could say. Furthermore, active inspiration is what results in long-term passion and enthusiasm. Instead, it is through the process of active inspiration - the act of creating things, applying new ideas to our goals, and making mistakes - that we discover who we are and what is important to us. Hearing about other people's success isn't the same thing as creating your own. You might learn something, but you don't actually have to do anything. Every time you watch a video, read an article, or listen to an interview, you're practicing passive inspiration.

They find inspiration and motivation in the work and success of others.īut here's the problem: consuming the success and ideas of others is passive inspiration. Successful people in all fields soak up new information. Make no mistake: it's important to be a learner. But the best (and longest lasting) type of inspiration comes from applying those outside bits of motivation to your own goals.

You can find incredible videos, articles, and news stories, and email them out to all of your friends. It's easy to spend all day searching for inspiration.
