WHAT IS INSPIRATION? Ladies, Wine & Design made me think about it
I was invited to ladies, wine and a bit of design vienna this week. this very initiative from jessica walsh is a monthly ladies night where certain things and topics are discussed. in vienna host maria lechner invites a „key speaker“ on top of the monthly topic. this months topic was INSPIRATION. this weeks "speaker / discussion-leader" was me.
the evening is meant to be an easy discussion with lots of networking and fun within a group of 6-8 women. so I did not really prep for the night. the evening was a blast and I got to know 7 amazing women. even though the start was rough and people were looking at me like I had the magic key to unlock the mystery behind INSPIRATION, people eventually opened up and enjoyed each other. we had a couple of nice discussions and I went home, very surprised about what a precise idea of „inspiration“ I have in my head. (which I was not aware of)
so I sat down to write about the basic ideas and believes I have around this topic.
it is not a very romantic approach - so everyone who wants to find THE magic key should stop reading now. first of I had to look up the definition of inspiration and I was surprised to find that inspiration by definition is really magically „breathed into“ one. no real explanation just ideas and definition from ancient times and religions.
THAT IS THE FIRST THING I DON’T SIGN UP FOR:
INSPIRATION BEING A MAGIC, SUDDEN APPEARANCE IN YOUR BODY
GIVEN TO YOU BY SOME BIGGER FORCE.
over the last 10 years, I established different ways to inspire myself. most of the times it is a combination of different things. but one thing said up front: I think it is hard work to be and stay inspired. so here are 6 chapters on how inspiration comes to me:
1. MORE FACTS - MORE KNOWLEDGE - MORE INSPIRATION
I think it is a misconception that you can be inspired when you know nothing. so is the idea of being magically touched by gods hand. so if you work on an advertising project and do not know anything about the product or you create an editorial illustration for an article which you did not read - how the f*** should you be inspired? for me, research helps heaps to get inspired once I take on a project. only when I feel I know a lot about the topic, the client, the product, then I start to create and ideate. normally that means that out of the research and through connecting those dots on the way, ideas come into my head and I feel inspired to actually work with those. to have ideas around facts that you then can twist and turn actually inspires me a lot. I am also a big fan of 80% planning, thinking, researching and trying things + 20% executing. instead of the other way around. Oh, and there are so much more research tools than just google. Go out, talk to people about it, buy the product, deconstruct it etc.
what helps a lot, is to know that most ideas are based on around 50 formulas if it was for Mario Pricken and that nothing comes out of laziness. if you get over the fact that ideation and inspiration are work, you will have a way easier life.
2. MORE MOTIVATION - MORE PERSONAL GROWTH - MORE MOTIVATION
for me, inspiration goes hand in hand with motivation. if I am not motivated I am not inspired. so what triggers your motivation? for me, it is a general curiosity and the fact that I love to learn new things. I really only have this job because I never want to stop learning about new stuff. I simply do not want to stand still. my simple belief is, that if you do everything the same way always - you simply can’t be inspired. whereas if you leave your comfort zone, try new things and learn about random, even weird stuff constantly, inspiration comes naturally. so what I did over the last couple of years I tried to learn at least 3 new things each year. which lead to me mastering wood turning, to become an okay goldsmith, to teach illustration or work as a sommelier. which also leads to the third chapter
3. MORE TRY - MORE QUANTITY - MORE INSPIRATION
If I do not try anything I have never done, I can not be inspired by the process. Often the process is the most inspiring part for me. So my true belief is, that if you try a lot of technics and put out a lot of things and executions quantity wise, you will always find something good that is worth developing further. often we are so preoccupied with killing our own ideas that we don’t do shit. of course, we don’t feel inspired by that. instead, you should push out all the things in your system. If there are 100 stupid ideas, 10 are worth evolving further and you get inspired by 5, in the end, you will have a great outcome. instead of not doing shit until the end and then crap out one idea that is uninspired and frustrates you.
4. MORE OPEN EYES - BIGGER COLLECTION - MORE INSPIRATION
I hate the quote „inspiration is everywhere" but to a certain degree, it is true. especially when it is linked to the definition of innovation. innovation for me is not the creation of something completely new, but the combination of existing things that have not yet been combined. so when I walk around with open eyes and consciously create a library in the head with all sorts of things (no matter if it is looks, ideas, things, facts etc.) then I can combine what has not been combined. and that leads to the inspiration. at least for me. that also can be trained and mastered. which comes back to the fact that inspiration is work.
5. MORE COMMUNICATION - MORE BRAINS - MORE INSPIRATION
It is still very common around designers and makers, that they work on their projects alone (which is perfect for some). meaning nobody sees the project until it is done. maybe people are afraid to get bad feedback, maybe because they are ashamed to show and discuss things that are not finished yet. there are a thousand reasons not to share you work before it is finished. but also a thousand reasons to do just that. through talks, communication with others and in obtaining opinions and opening up other views often comes with a lot of inspiration. often because unsolvable problems vanish, everything loosens up a bit and often because the view of others is the icing on the cake to finish the project.
6. MORE TIME - MORE REFLECTION - MORE INSPIRATION
I'm not creative and inspired when I spend 4h a day on facebook and blogs. I’m not inspired when I only use my time to see how other people do cool stuff. for me, inspiration has a lot to do with relaxing and doing nothing. not to think about the projects I'm working on at all. unconsciously the wheels in your brain keep turning and connect things anyway. for me personally, and everybody has to find their own past, it also has a lot to do with routine, self-discipline, and reflection. if I postpone what I have to do and wait until the end to be stressed because of timings and deadlines, I am often little inspired. for me (being a lazy person naturally) this means, I have to take good care of my routines, pushing my self-discipline and never stop learning about how I tick. clear, self-initiated timeframes work magic for me. that also leads to times where I can just play around, enough time to let things rest a bit and time to be completely uninspired at all - which just happens.