As a designer, I've learned not to limit myself to traditional resources for inspiration, but look for images, colors, and shapes in nature, travel, painting, architecture – my complete surroundings. During my graduate studies, I discovered that there is actually a name for this collective source of inspiration. It's called ocular reconnaissance, the visual stimulation of looking, surveying, and inspecting as fertile sources of inspiration for designers (Type and Image, Philip Meggs). Sounds fancy, anyway. Since becoming a freelancer, I find myself alone in my home studio most days with only a few furry apprentices as companions.
For someone who has spent years working as a collaborative person, excited by collecting and sharing inspiration with other creative minds, I now find myself browsing a la web for a lot of my research. My favorite discoveries aren't just visual eye candy, but behind the scene stories of creative people and what makes them tick. What does their day-to-day look like? How did their past shape their art? My latest encounter, "Like Knows Like," is an awesome independent side-project of short documentary films about creative types from all over the globe. Enjoy! And please feel free to pass along any sources of inspiration that you've unearthed via cyberspace.
(My sweet apprentices – Penelope, Casper, and Lily.)