My Creative Inspiration: Kaylin
All creatives go through a phase in their process, often in the beginning, where they will be beating their head against the wall, trying to get their brain to think of “the best design ever.” Meanwhile, time is flying by and you are batting down just about every idea that comes to mind because it’s not “the one” or, even worse, your mind has become a frustrating empty void.
One of the best ways I’ve been able to help combat this terrible habit of self-doubt and looming imposter syndrome is to write down any and all ideas. No ideas should be rejected. Ever. Even if they may not be “the greatest,” every idea has the potential to morph into something else or inspire more ideas! At the very least, it gets you thinking and within time, you will find something floating around in your subconsciousness that works!
I started implementing this simple technique when listening David Lynch speak about his creative process that revolves around transcendental meditation. In short – all possible ideas already exist but it is our job as the artist/thinker to reach deep down in our subconscious to pull them out and act on them. And if you don’t write or sketch them down, you will definitely be cursing your past-self for letting that great idea fade away! Trust me, you won’t remember it later…
When I’m not delving into the void, I often find myself either browsing Behance or Dribbble for the latest design trends, scrolling through some of my favorite artist’s profiles on Instagram, or flipping through some great design magazines. It’s amazing how many resources creatives have these days to help inspire them! I think it’s also important to remember that not everything has to come directly from the same medium that you are most familiar with too. Study films, photography, sound design, music, performance art, animation, packaging, album covers, books – anything that you find interesting.
I’m also a big fan of art history, so I love being able to design something that was inspired by a known artist/designer/art piece/time period. I think that, as a creative, it’s important to know the history and to know how and where styles began and how they continued to influence contemporary work. I find it pretty true that everything is a remix of something!
I could talk about it forever but some of my favorite artists that have left an impact on me and continue to inspire me would be David Lynch, Andy Warhol, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Peter Saville, and Debbie Millman, just to name a few. But I'll let you check them out on you own time.
