Inspiration

When faced with a design challenge most designers do the same thing: we look for inspiration.  This may sound obvious but this act is fraught with controversy.  At what point does inspiration become plagiarism or theft?

We all see great design every day. Billboards and TV marketing.  Glossy print pieces that devour the articles in magazines.  We are surrounded by design as we navigate our physical world.  But designers have it even worse.  We pay attention to all of this stuff, to what most people see simply as noise.  If I'm designing a logo that contains a certain tricky letter combination, my mind is on the prowell for how it's been done before.

The problem is that once I find some really smart usage of what I'm trying to solve it takes over my mind and I can't come up with a better idea.

At least not until I tune out.

This balance between input and silence is one of the hardest challenges facing designers.  Very few of us get to be great.  The likelihood that you are Charles or Ray Eames, William Caslon,
Paul Rand, or any of the greats is very low.  But the possibility of some form accomplishment is further diminished if you can't find a way to just process all the inspiration around you without more input.

Look at those good ideas, really look at them.  Process what little visual tricks and techniques are being employed and then turn it all off.  Focus on the problem in front of you.  Identify it's constraints and then just start working.