Why Designers Don't Need Pinterest for Inspiration - Episode 183

What if I told you that you could find usable design inspiration without getting on places like Behance, Pinterest, dribble, Google; whatever your go-to might be online. Would you believe me?

Chapters

• 0:08 Intro
• 0:45 What if I told you...
• 1:15 Let's say Pinterest went away
• 3:48 Inspiration is...
• 6:10 An example of uncommon inspiration
• 7:51 If you're fine with it, that's ok.
• 8:31 Outro
• 9:18 Shoutout to Colin for our theme music
• 9:32 Design Speaks is a project of BrandiSea Designs

Transcript

00;00;00;05 - 00;00;07;28
BrandiSea
You already have everything you need to be able to find inspiration.

00;00;09;11 - 00;00;32;19
BrandiSea
Hello and welcome to Design Speaks. I'm Brandi C and I'm thrilled to be your personal creative director. Your quirky, no nonsense guide. All things design will uncover how to find uncommon sources of inspiration, dig in to design process and even chat with other amazing creatives in the industry. If you're ready to get inspired, explore powerful design strategies and level up your design game like never before.

00;00;32;26 - 00;00;37;09
BrandiSea
You're in the right place. It's time to take control of your creativity.


00;00;48;04 - 00;01;17;29
BrandiSea
What if I told you that you could find usable design inspiration without getting on places like Behance? Pinterest dribble, google, whatever your go to might be online. Would you believe me? Here's the thing. I'm going to use Pinterest as sort of a placeholder word for all of those other inspiration places that most designers like to go. Let's say Pinterest went away.

00;01;18;21 - 00;01;44;28
BrandiSea
Where do you find your inspiration? I think you'd feel pretty stuck. Pinterest is a crutch for way too many designers. We like to get comfortable. We like what we always do. And when other people push us or tell us that maybe we might want to try something different, or, God forbid, what we're doing is not working. We immediately want to detach and get very defensive.

00;01;45;06 - 00;02;14;06
BrandiSea
The problem with this is how do you ever learn something new without a little bit of. For lack of a better word, pain. Right. When we as designers hold our things so close and someone tells us that perhaps those things that we're holding aren't what's best. We take it very personally. So when I challenge you, I know that some of you are going to say, well, where else would I get inspiration?

00;02;14;15 - 00;02;55;06
BrandiSea
Like inspiration I can actually use? You already have the capacity and the ability to be inspired. Being inspired as a feeling is only part of the equation. When you go out searching for actionable inspiration on places like Pinterest. Your goal is to find something you can use, that you can put on to a mood board and tweak the colors or take the typeface mode that somehow force that somehow into your project.

00;02;55;18 - 00;03;29;00
BrandiSea
Let's think about it this way. If you get on Pinterest and you have a client that wants a brand built for their, I don't know, florist shop. Okay. What's the next step? The next step for many designers is you get online to your Pinterest, whatever that might be, and you search for floral design, floral logos, things like this that are very low hanging fruit.

00;03;29;08 - 00;04;03;29
BrandiSea
And what do you see? Lots of really pretty things. What do you not see? Really unique stuff. You are never going to find something that represents your visual voice by looking at where everybody else is looking for that inspiration. Inspiration in itself is something that you breathe in. Inspiration has its roots in the word to inhale. What we breathe in, we breathe out as creatives.

00;04;04;04 - 00;04;35;25
BrandiSea
The things that we breathe in, that we put in is what we put out. And if we are only ever breathing in and bringing end to our psyche, to our creative work, to our memory, is stuff that is ubiquitous, stuff that everybody else does. Then it's only inevitable that everything we breathe out, that we put out into the world that we create is going to be a sad version of the things that are already out there.

00;04;36;01 - 00;05;04;10
BrandiSea
So what's the solution? You need to breathe in something fresh. Breathe in fresh air so that you can breathe out fresh work. I always tell designers, get out of your office. And I don't mean this in a go. Take a walk and get some fresh air and maybe you'll get unstuck kind of way. I mean this in a go outside with a goal in mind and search for inspiration.

00;05;04;11 - 00;05;33;08
BrandiSea
Don't go outside hoping for inspiration to strike. You go out and make your own freaking lightning. You do not need to feel inspired, to be inspired. You can go out into the world with that client in hand. You have an idea of what you are going for. Then you can go outside, into the world, into the city that you live in, into the place that you're going on vacation.

00;05;33;09 - 00;05;59;12
BrandiSea
Use your camera, use a sketchbook, use paints. If you like to paint on the go and see things that inspire you. Find those things to bring that into your work. Only then are you going to be able to actually refine your own visual voice. Breathing in something fresh will allow you to breathe out something fresh, something that is unique to you.

00;05;59;13 - 00;06;25;16
BrandiSea
You know, there's nothing new under the sun, but it's a lot newer. If you stop looking inside of the sun where everybody is congregating, places like Pinterest, if you want an example, here's an example. I have an ongoing client actually. His name is Kelly Bransford. He's a musician locally and I've been working on his album covers, EP's and branding since he started quite a few years ago.

00;06;25;18 - 00;06;52;24
BrandiSea
He had an upcoming single called On Borrowed Time. I knew that I was going to be using sparse trees and shadows and very dramatic lighting. I took this information and put it in here, top of mind, right, and went for a walk with my kiddo. We were along this ditch bank and he took a right to go underneath this little area where trees overhang, as I often do.

00;06;52;24 - 00;07;19;13
BrandiSea
I like to take pictures in black and white to capture dramatic moments. And he was walking underneath this tree line and I thought it was really interesting. So I took a picture of it later when I came back to my office and I needed to find some style references. I searched through my photos, found this picture that I had taken of my son and that photo served as the inspiration for this album cover.

00;07;19;13 - 00;07;40;23
BrandiSea
I call all of this uncommon inspiration, and that is just one example of hundreds that I could give you of ways that you can take things that you find in the real world and use that in your work. Maybe it's the shape of a frame that you can use for the frame of a logo. Maybe it's a color scheme you found on the side of a building.

00;07;40;23 - 00;08;09;11
BrandiSea
Maybe it's the texture that you see on the concrete underneath your feet. Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to be prepared to see it. It's not just going to hit you like a bolt of lightning. You can be creative on demand when you know how to harness this and use it for yourself. If you're fine with using Pinterest and going to those places where everybody else goes, and if you're fine with your work sort of looking a lot like everybody else's, you know what?

00;08;09;15 - 00;08;31;17
BrandiSea
That's okay. I hope, though, that you can let go a little bit, maybe try to see how there might be a better way. That's my encouragement for you today. You have everything you need already inside of you to find your own uncommon inspiration and create work that really stands out and looks like it came from you.

00;08;32;18 - 00;08;51;02

Thank you so much for tuning in to Design Speaks. Before you go, I wanted to remind you to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. If you enjoyed the episode reviews help the podcast grow and improve and also let me know what you're liking so I can bring you more of it. If you know someone who would like this podcast, please share it with them.

00;08;51;03 - 00;09;11;06

I'd love to keep growing this community of designers and creatives. If you want to stay up to date with me on social media, you can find me everywhere just by searching at brandy. Si. And don't forget to check out my website brand Ecom for more content and resources related to the topics on the show, plus a link to my course on the strategic process.

00;09;11;26 - 00;09;15;05

Thanks again for listening and I'll catch you on the next episode.

00;09;17;15 - 00;09;21;15

Where we want to shout out to.

00;09;21;15 - 00;09;43;20

Collin of Vesper team for providing the amazing theme music at the beginning and end of the show. You can find him on all major streaming platforms or visit his website at best for teen music icon Design Speak podcast is a project of brands he designs and is recorded in the shadow of the Watermelon Pink Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico.