One question a designer will get asked the most is ‘How do you get inspired?’
Inspiration doesn’t just come to you. You can’t just sit back and wait for inspiration to hit (believe me I’ve tried!) you have to work for it.
Inspiration comes from everywhere and everything – it might be something as small as someone saying a word that sparks an idea, or it might be a label in the supermarket. Mostly on a day to day basis I find a lot of inspiration online. I’m not saying books are dead or old school as there are so many great books and archives to delve into and we have a great selection at SRL HQ as well as my ever growing bookcase at home, but when I’m busy and have little time to sit back and relax with a book, online is my go to base.
There are an abundance of different places to visit online. You can find some great inspiration from all nooks and crannies of the World Wide Web. Even social media is becoming a great place to be inspired with so many people sharing great ideas and work.
So with that in mind I thought I’d give you an insight into what is inspiring me and my work as a designers this month:
Cinemagraphs
A cinemagraph is a photograph with a small, repeated movement within it that forms a video clip often in the form of a Gif. Cinemagraphs are nothing new, they’ve been around for a while, but with the likes of Apple introducing ‘live photo’ this has sparked a flame in consumer’s appetite for living photos. There are some big brands already using cinemagraphs to promote their products e.g Budweiser, Apple music and IKEA.
The ‘Fearless Girl’
For International Women’s Day, a statue of a little girl has been place on Wall Street, staring head on with the iconic bull statue. The ‘Fearless Girl’was created by artist Kristen Visbal and was originally only meant to remain for a month but it has been so popular that it will become a permanent feature. As a female I may be a little bias, but I absolutely love this girl and what she stands for. I can’t think of a better representative for women than a young stubborn girl, on any day of the year!
The National Theatre Logo
Monday the 27th March brought us #WorldTheatreDay which drew my attention to the National Theatre logo. The logo is over 40 years old and it’s still as beautiful as the day it was created by Ian Dennis. The joining of the ‘N’ and ‘T’ is very satisfying.
You can view some of the original artwork and history of the logo on Creative Review here
NT paper bag, badge, cup holder and ticket, courtesy Ian Dennis via Creative Review
Tiger Beer
Tiger beer are rolling out new artwork created from Air-ink which is ink created from air pollution. After a successful pilot last year in Hong Kong the campaign will continue in London, Berlin, New York and Singapore with resident artists in each city contributing to the theme ‘a bright future for our cities’.
Read more about it here .
Artist Buff Monster painted a mural in New York using Air-Ink via The Drum
