Entermotion Design Studio – Wichita, KS

After reading an article on AnOther about Basquiat, we wanted to break down 4 things that Basquiat taught us about design.

Change the Game

Basquiat wrote on whatever he had at hand. In addition to being just a generally cool thing to do, we understand how useful that type of ideas is. When an idea isn’t coming, or when you feel stuck in your work, change it up. Don’t write on paper, write on your refrigerator. Don’t watch T.V. before bed, read a design book. It’s important to change things up to increase your ability to feel inspired. We frequently adjust the way we focus— by watching TED talks, doodling on our notebooks, or reviewing our favorite blogs and design sites, we change the way we experience and create ideas.

Believe in Your Abilities

Telling your father that you’re going to be famous isn’t something that we’ve done (yet)— just wait!– but we understand the importance of believing in yourself. From the beginning, Basquiat understood his worth and, like him, we like to sing our praises when they’re actually praises. This doesn’t mean that we feel unnecessarily happy about everything that we make, or that we think we’re better than other people, but it does mean that we believe in our abilities and we’re not afraid to acknowledge when we’ve done good work.

Pull from Early Influences

Basquiat wasn’t afraid to pull from early influences, and we believe that pulling from early inspiration can help keep us on track. With our redesign of Jumpchart for example, we decided to go back to our early influences and ideals: to create a minimalist text-editing program that would help people write better. When you can get inspired by old ideas or goals, there’s no limit to what you can create.

Don’t Let Injuries Stop You

Of course, if you don’t feel well you don’t feel well, but sometimes an injury or another supposed downfall can actually help you excel. Like Basquiat’s fateful introduction to Grey’s Anatomy, sometimes, inspiration can come at the most unexpected times. We like to keep our eyes open so that we can recognize inspiration no matter where we are.

Read the entire article about Basquiat here.