My Inspiration, Ways of Working and Fears
It has been a while since I have written a bit of a personal post in relation to the topic of the week. It is an interesting topic indeed – where do creatives get their inspiration from and how they work.
Sources of Inspiration
I like to take projects case by case and avoid recycling ideas as much as possible. While there is still some creative juice, I want to put it to good use. Also, it is good opportunity to add something to my portfolio, and I find recycling ideas rather lame. This is one of the reasons why I refuse to attach myself to specific design style. Maybe I do have an underlying common trait in my work without being aware of it, however I try to make every piece of work as unique as possible. Reasons for going by these beliefs is rather simple – different clients have different requirements and clients come from different industries. S,o the research done for the branding of a law firm cannot be recycled to be suitable for a beauty parlour.
That being said, I do follow similar steps in the way I go about a project. Most of the projects I have worked on all commercial or done whilst employed – I still have to yet explore the world of a full self-initiated project. However, whenever I have presented with a new project, after reading and dissecting the brief, I start off by doing my research. I usually start off with having a look at the background of the clients’ industry as well as market. This research helps me in understanding better how that client should be handled, what sort of words to use and how to present my work. Apart from that, when it comes to the creative process, it helps in getting on the right creative direction – understanding what visuals work in that market and see what the competitors are doing. In conjunction to this, I also start collecting some visuals to help me generate ideas and either put them together in a Pinterest mood board, save links or even make some notes about them in my sketchbook. I also like to look at my favourite design books in this phase, depending on the sort of project I am working on.
Going About My Work
After the “formal” research phase, it is sketching time. I allocate as much time as possible in the sketching phase. Essentially before I get the best idea on paper, even if it includes hand lettering and tracing and stuff like that, I do not go to the computer. During the sketching time, I do go back to look up some references every now and then just to check on things, but I only digitise what needs refining. I think sketching is where the bulk of the thinking process is done. It is indeed visualising what you are thinking and working at the same pace with your thoughts. I mentioned this in the previous post as well, I do not reject technology, but these tablets and digital sketchbooks are still a far cry from conventional pen and paper… not to mention cheaper too.
What I Fear
As much as I try to organise myself and try to find comfortable environments to work in, it is not the first time that panic sets in. At the beginning of any project, I it is not something that I have done before, I immediately start panicking whether I will be able to deliver and that I have a lot to learn in order to make some decent work. Sometimes I think that I just need to be patient and give myself some credit, but I do not to that simply because I do not want to risk getting ahead of myself and promise things I cannot do. It is something I should work on more for sure. The thing is that I do not like to work under pressure also because I do not like half-arsed work, nor do I like staying up nights because I was careless in the beginning of a project, and then I am trying to compensate for the time lost. In the rare cases where I had to produce something under a very tight deadline, I was not happy with the result. Long story short, I fear failing in what I try to create.
