Very few of my best ideas have come while staring at a conference room white board. Now everyone is different of course, but I find that inspiration can not always be summoned on demand. In fact it often sneaks in uninvited when you least expect it.
I have frequently been at a movie or in a deep conversation when I get an idea for just the right TV concept, an intrusive environmental media idea or pattern for a background image. This can be frustrating as I have missed the last five minutes of Criminal Minds way too many times to scribble away and have annoyed friends who can tell my mind is on something else while they talk. But sometimes it can’t be helped. There are notebooks scattered all over my house, several in my car, one in my bag, so nothing gets lost.
But then there are also those times when nothing seems to rise to the foreground and no ideas emerge. This is when it’s good to have a few tricks to jog inspiration. Here are a few of mine. Maybe they can help you.
- Switch to a bright colored pen halfway through brainstorming.
- Try to approach the problem backwards. If you are trying to develop a compelling reason to buy widgets, try to think of ways to unsell widgets.
- If you are designing for something upscale, see what it would look like juxtaposed with something downscale, like highend jewelry displayed on cement or boulders.
- Look at design from a country with a language you don’t understand. Their colors, typographic approaches, layout formats will be easier to focus on and will be very different than you are used to.
- Have a Frappuccino.
- Change into pajama pants.
- Watch the style network to stay current in all kinds of design.
- Read or watch pop culture. Go ahead. Pick up US magazine without guilt. We can’t relate to mass markets without knowing what’s relevant to them.
- Browse a tech magazine. Wired, Scientific American etc. all offer great knowledge about emerging technologies, and the art direction can often be inspirational as well.
- Follow @veryshortstory on Twitter.
- Empty your brain. Go do what you do for a while. Garden, play fetch with your dog, go for a walk, gossip with coworkers. Get your brain off the problem so it can reset itself like a computer.
- Find a favorite blog or two that get you thinking about things you normally don’t consider. If you are in social media, read a blog about music. If you are in marketing, read a blog about design. Jog the brain.
- Do a sudoku or a word search. Puzzle solving exercises the brain and keeps it nimble. Like stretching before a work out.
- Get out of trying to sell to yourself or your client and think like the consumer, end user or target audience. Write what they want to hear, not what you want to say.
- WW_D? Insert whomever you want in the blank. Ask yourself “What would _________ do?” How would so and so say this or approach this. Insert real, fictional, unrelated people to give a fresh perspective: Donald Trump, Mother Theresa, Kermit the Frog…
Regardless of what you’re working on, inspiration is a valuable commodity. Look for it in unexpected places, listen when it shows up unexpectedly and run with it once you find it.
-Liz Doten, Creative Director
