Having the Courage to be Inspired

Inspiration is an interesting thing to discuss. Designers surround themselves with books, and lightboxes, and samples. It’s an arsenal we build to avoid the sometimes inevitable feeling of not knowing what to do. As a young designer the problem is not being uninspired- everything inspires you. Rather the problem is not being able to filter your own ideas into something cohesive. If you make it long in this business, eventually the table turns. Your ability to filter is razor sharp, but you feel like everything has been done before. Post-modern, art deco, modern, vintage… You’ve danced those dances many times. The whole thing feels a bit played out. It’s design fatigue– and it’s the enemy. When you start to feel yourself give in to the temptation to re-hash ideas, to not push your individual boundaries- quit it. Wake up! There are amazingly inspirational things happening in visual design constantly. Design is the single most exciting field to be involved in today. There’s a growing awareness of design like never before. Office workers know the names of fonts, “consistency” is a word that means something again, even the big box stores are investing in design. Across every medium, design is becoming more prevalent, and valued. A few things to get the design engine going again:

• Turn to the masters: Bass, Rand, Bauhaus, Glaser, Scher, Carson, Olins, Sagmeister to name a few.
• Give yourself permission to play. Find some time outside of a project to just experiment again.
• Learn a new technology. We always poo-poo filters and things that novices rely on, but in the right hands, they can be useful.
• Buy some new fonts. it’s amazing what a little spice in your tool belt can get you. Check here, here, and here for a few.
• Check out other cultures for inspiration. Japanese packaging, Swiss Packaging, German Billboards, Chinese packaging
• Read up on the creative process. This book recommended by this guy is a great start.
• Write about what you do. Forcing yourself to put your ideas into writing can help you to formalize those things that inspire you most.

What we do as designers is not just making things pretty, and it’s not just spitting out computer files. It’s solving real business problems. It’s a really worthy profession, and it deserves the dedication it requires to keep doing it well. Inspiration is just that weird little illusive thing that separates design from most other business related professions. But luckily inspiration can be grown, and harvested if it’s properly fed, and cared for.

New Site Launched! Baughman Company

Baughman is a company with a long interesting history. Wichita is quite literally built on the work of Baughman through the years. The roads you drive on, the parking lots you park on, the parks your children play in quite possibly started out on Baughman drafting tables and computers. Very much like graphic design, when they do their job well (which is always) you don’t even know they were there. Their job is a transparent one- but they’re always present, making us safer in transit, assuring our neighborhoods don’t flood, making our drive to work more scenic. It’s important work, and we’re happy to have helped them spread the word about what they do. Next time you’re sitting at a light, or speeding down the highway, know that the people at Baughman are working their hardest to make the trip more safe, and enjoyable.

See it online: Baugman’s new website

Great Charles Eames Quotes

We were inspired by the new Eames stamps to pull a few great Charles Eames quotes.

“It makes me feel guilty that anybody should have such a good time doing what they are supposed to do.”

“Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.”

“The real questions are: Does it solve a problem? Is it serviceable? How is it going to look in ten years?”

“Art resides in the quality of doing, process is not magic.”

and of course the favorite:

“The details are not the details. They make the design.”

Lots more here, here, and a lot of other great random ones here

Hillman Curtis Ought to be More Famous.

Ok. He’s already really famous if you’re in a specific crowd. In the late 90’s and early 00’s, he was inescapable. He showed a lot of people what Flash design could be when you applied some restraint, and creativity. He was able to elevate something we were just starting to call “web design” into an art.

You don’t hear quite as much about Curtis these days. Which is amazing since his company has been doing work for some of the cream of the Fortune 500. At one time he must’ve beat the drum a bit harder than he does now.

But the reason why he’s worth writing a quick post about is that even today he’s doing something more of us should be doing in the design field. Designing with emotion.

It’s one thing to make your layout look cool. Or to have that certain little quirk in the interaction that makes your viewer say “oooh.” It’s a whole other thing to make someone’s breath catch in their throat for a minute.

Design is a really powerful medium. Yes it’s a method to sell products, but when it’s done well, it’s so much more than that. When your work touches people, and makes them think about the shortness of life, and the way that humans interact, it’s so very much more than advertising…

You might not get teary eyed looking at a Hillman Curtis website. They’re really cool, and well worth their place in the history of our industry, but it’s his films that will really get you. They’re simple, poignant, and perfect.

If you’re working on a design, and just shoving some pixels around- stop a minute. Think about why design is so important. Watch a couple of these and get back at it with your heart into it.

The Perfect Project

We recently interviewed someone for a designer position. It’s always nice chatting with another designer, and understanding their point of view. We don’t work off of a set list of questions for applicants, we try to just have a nice conversation, and understand who they are as a designer and a person. One of the questions we asked during the interview was “what’s your idea of a perfect project?”

As a young designer we’re all fascinated with doing stuff we’ve never done before. We all remember the first time we used an emboss or a foil or an expensive paper in a project. It’s the coolest feeling when you check off one of those items that you always wanted to do. Your perfect project is anything that’s different than what you’ve done before.

We all look for gratification in our work, and new experiences can be very gratifying. But after working in design for many years, your idea of the perfect project changes… It doesn’t revolve around materials, or processes. The perfect project has more to do with the way you interact with a client, and the successful outcome. The perfect project gives you an opportunity to solve problems, and do it elegantly. You’re not as concerned with fitting the client into your list of accomplishments as you are in solving their problem. It takes time to learn that patience.