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Week 3 [20-26 October]:Finding inspiration

Finding inspiration

Finding inspiration can be an exhaustive and fickle thing. Where should we look for inspiration ? There is a wealth of places in this world where we could be able to find inspiration from things like fashion, architecture or even interior design. Try to imagine the moment you open your favorite magazine, website or blog of your favorite blogger. There might be a lot of chances that you are about to find something inspiring during looking at it. In our real world there is a number of buildings or architectural gems not too far from the place you live at. Go through your favorite city and look up at the buildings that surround you on a daily basis and take in their forms or shapes. Most designers when lacking ideas,take a stroll through the city to find ideas. Someone could say that they are copying things but saying that would be at least wrong. It is not about copying ideas from someone else but it’s all about taking inspiration. Obviously someone could say there is a thin line between copying and taking inspiration. Every season of fashion has different trends which are related to different inspirations found in a varied places. Trends in fashion change on a seasonal basis and often reflect designer’s mind at a given time. There might be of course a trend which relies on culture at some point. Taking inspiration from both modern or historical things or fashion might be a great way to infuse new and fresh trends. Fashion and architecture holds a huge variety of potential sources of inspiration. Every project has an aesthetic style out there for every taste. There are people in this world who profess modern design or minimalism. Everyone has different tastes. In my opinion walking on the outskirts around the city also might be a place where we can find some inspiration. There is a thousand of inspirational opportunities and things present in the natural world around us to be inspired by. Birds, buildings, mountains etc. The list could go on forever. When you are lacking inspiration , try taking a stroll through a nearby field or park in your city. Look around at the shape of the world you are surrounded by. I’m sure and I bet you are about to find something you can apply to your vision or project you are working on. Where do you guys find your inspiration ? Why do we lack inspiration ? What is the best way to find your own niche? 


video link : http://www.ted.com/talks/isaac_mizrahi_on_fashion_and_creativity


Comments

Unknown said…
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Unknown said…
For me inspiration is that outstanding feeling about an idea. Inspiration comes naturally to the person seeking it, though it is sometimes hard to be noticed. In my case inspiration comes along with curiosity. Inspiration keeps me motivated.

I get inspired when I'm surrounded with positive emotions. Feeling relaxed or while having fun makes me more likely to get inspired.

I usually get inspired about things that I'm emotionally involved in, that bring me joy and pleasure. Music, movies, animals, computer games, other people, programming, or even such basic things like shapes and colors inspire me to learn more about this world every day.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I cannot imagine the process of making projects without finding any inspiration. 
Sometimes for me it could be even new, colorful shoes I have seen on a display. The color or even structure can be inspiring. It leeds to make something totally different, something new. 

There is nothing bad about looking for inspirations. 
When I am at the stage of beginning with the project I love to go out for a coffee. I look for a nice cafe in nice neighborhood and I just look around to find something inspiring. it could be uncommon texture, surrounding people, plenty of things that are simply different from what we got used to and what we have in our closest surroundings that can be a  trigger for a nice idea.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I feel that everything around us can be used for inspiration and thanks to an easy access to almost all the world (by the Internet and in the reality) we can share ideas with a lot of different people all over the world and see every corner of Earth. I find people the most inspiring for me and that's why I really love taking photos of random people on the street. I also find it really cool when I see an invention that was inspired by a science fiction movie, that way I feel that every simple creation and just someone's imagination is able to inspire another person to create something new.

Here are some Youtube videos somewhat about the topic. I really recommend the "Vsauce" channel.

What is original?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZKxyNKYPY

Why do we get bored?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwd25JV-jnU&list=UU6nSFpj9HTCZ5t-N3Rm3-HA

Will We Ever Run Out of New Music?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAcjV60RnRw&list=UU6nSFpj9HTCZ5t-N3Rm3-HA
I think that inspiration simply comes from a set of events that you have experienced recently. I know it is a little simplification but this is how I see it. For instance, when I look for some inspiration for next project I tend to not to think about it and do something else instead. It could be walk, any kind of exercise, watching film or reading book. Usually after couple days the idea just hits me.
PrzemekM said…
Inspiration for me can be everything.
But the is one most creative - people.
Listening interesting interlocutor is great experience in discovering new needs.
I like to watch TED speeches, many inspirational people.
Lack of inspiration appears at the moment when we see more that we do.
Why? because there's a thin line between motivation and demotivation to find inspiration
Finding own niche is hard. the is now good answer I think.
Unknown said…
I find inspiration in almost everything, not only magazines, website, movies, architecture but also in travels, simple walks with my dog or even conversations and feelings. Sometimes for me a good conversation is more inspiring then a book full of images. I also try to keep my eyes wide open everywhere I go, because you never know when something may inspire you. Lately, I found a great inspiration for my artwork in the Criques de Solei show. And when I lack inspiration, I am not trying to find it at any price but I wait, because inspiration usually comes when you least expect it.
Julia Osiak said…
Inspiration can be found absolutely anywhere. I find my inspiration for baking in culinary tv shows, while reading a book and the protagonist is simply mentioning his meal. The weather,the nature anything can be inspiring. Sometimes it's the music, sometime it's the people that are around us. But inspiration is fickle and often very subtle and comes to me mostly when I'm not looking for it.
I would never say that inspiration is like copying. I would rather call it a tribute, because the source of our inspiration has such a strong effect on us. And even if
our creation is similar or is not purely innovative we still put in a part of ourselves into it, giving it our of special twist and taste.
Unknown said…
I think that you have reason. It is true that when we feel good and be positive we get more inspirations. Maybe then we see more things around us then we have bad mood. When we see more things we have more reasons to be inspired.

Of course hobbies can bring us some inspirations so when we have a lot of hobbies we have more then other people inspiration sources.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
As others have noticed before me, inspiration usually comes suddenly and may occur during any kind of task, even those which seem dull. That's what I believe anyway, inspiration is not really something that can be induced. It just comes and goes when it wants, that's why when inspirations comes to me I do my best to take advantage of it as much as possible. Often taking my mind of the task at hand actually makes me come up with the solution.
Unknown said…
Of course inspiration comes from our experience. The more we learn the more we have sources of inspirations. We widen our horizons. I think that all of these things depend on our entanglement in looking for inspirations.
When we take our projects seriously every next inspiration is the progress and kind of success for us.
Unknown said…
In my article, i'm not saying that inspiration is like copying something from someone. I've said above that calling inspiration as copying would be at least wrong. I can't understand why you would call it a tribute but I agree with you, that it might have strong impact on us.
rf. said…
People are inspiring. What they do, what they say, what they think... as a human being, as complex as we are, resourceful, stubborn, hopeful..
Yeah, if anything, people are my inspiration.
Sylwia said…
It’s hard to tell how to find an inspiration. Usually I find inspiration when I’m not even looking for it or at least I’m not aware about it. It’s unexpected.
In my opinion we often lack of inspiration, because we are busy, tried and in hurry. If we do not have time to stop and calmly observe surrounding World and reflect, we lose our inspiration source. My key is to give enough time to relax and think about the problem then solution will come... However it's not time effective method.
MartaSB said…
For me, the main source of inspiration is nature, as this is at the same time the environment we live in as well as the main determinant of our behaviour. All decisions we make are somehow connected with the biological background of our species and this is the most inspiring thing that I can think of.
Mateusz Frycie said…
You can find inspiration everywhere! take a good look - the way that old lady walks down the street... There U are a new dance move. The way the sun goes down between cars in a traffic jam, rain drops tapping on the roof... The only thing is to stay open-minded.
Need for something is an inspiration to me. I usually try to find imperfections in products which are sold today and try to think of simple solutions.

Altough stories of successful people(and it does not always mean rich people, for me truly happy people are successful) which still pursue their dreams are the biggest inspiration to me.
There are times when I instantly know what I want to create but sometimes the situation is quite opposite. When I want to find some inspiration or just look at some cool ideas I automatically go to pinterest.com. I even like to create all sorts of boards - on this site you are able to pin every pic to your virtual board. For example I have one board for graphic, one for typography and even one for tutorials. Everything is in one place and I can quickly and comfortably check out everything I need. I aslo like to go through magazines and art albums. Recently I like to do „mind storm” with my friends. We talk about one subject and some cool ideas come up. Sometimes there is also good to just lay down, turn tv, computer and smartphone off and think….The best way to find your own style is to be inspired by all stuff you see all around you and to precess it in your own way:)
Unknown said…
I agree with many of you guys, inspiration can be found absolutely anywhere!
As for me, I really like inspiring films, videos, pictures etc.
Also I really love to follow people I found very interesting for me.. Their success inspires me.
And of course the Internet is a huge source of finding the inspiration.
Here are some links to interesting pages, that I like to use:
http://designspiration.net/
http://www.worldofinspiration.com
Example of inspiring add I like to watch:
http://youtu.be/OsA27ueSODY

Michal Kulesza said…
Usually, when i'm looking for inspiration I'm checking Google... source code.
Going to google page and pressing CTRL+U can bring you many new, suprsingly easy things to achieve some goal. Google engineers are really good :)
Unknown said…
Of course inspiration is a normal thing and it is not copying. For example every decade has it's own feel in many different aspects, even though artists usually try to do something new and original.
Unknown said…
To be original in own creation is very hard today. We are creators, but unfortunatelly we’re not free from suggestions. The whole world is replate all kinds of picture, ideas, etc. We don’t want but we suggest an all art and work from other creators. We always do it unconsciously. It’s rather not a plagiarism, because we don’t do it intentionally. Avoidance all repetitions is very difficult. It appears that it was already all.
I look for inspiration everywhere. Amind people, amind things, amind book, amind science, amind my life, amind other things and I usually find it there.
Unknown said…
I think inspiration shouldn't be searched too hard for, because then it's not inspiration to me. I believe inspiration just comes when you're in the proper mood and mind set, and forcing yourself into it won't work.

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