I want to thank Brian for inviting me to guest post on Elite By Design; I was quite flattered. Only thing is – all of a sudden I had an inspiration / writers block, so I decided to go with it – thus the theme of this post. Now I know some of these suggestions are obvious but they are so simple they are easy to forget. Grab a cup of coffee, read through the post and feel free to add what you do to relieve your block or get things done – maybe it will help others!
Grab a pad and fast! Start writing down things that come to mind. It truly doesn’t matter if the thoughts are relevant, somehow they always lead to an idea. Lists with random words are always helpful.
Pick up some magazines that are related to your niche. You’d be surprised how just flipping through your favorite mags can lead to inspiration. Last week I went to the bookstore and picked up two issues of a magazine that I had never read before; Computer Arts. It happened to be the typography issue which sparked a post called “Typography is Sexy“. Other good magazines I often pick up are Communication Arts, Layers Magazine, Inked & JPG Magazine.
Write an Action / To do list. Alot of times I feel overwhelmed that I have so much that I cannot focus at the task at hand. The Action line from Behance inspired me to get things done. As of late I have been also trying out Evernote, it’s a great tool for productivity if you’d rather put everything online.
Sketch or doodle. The best ideas come to me when I’m in boring meetings. I sit there with my moleskine notebook and draw. Geez I hope my boss doesn’t read this...
Take a walk/exercise – or just grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine!
Talk to friends in your field and bounce ideas off of each other. I use twitter to throw ideas out there and network with people in my field. If you utilize twitter you can search for people just like you. If your a designer check out 50+ Designers to Follow on Twitter.
Open up your favorite RSS Reader of choice (mine is NetNewsWire) to see what others are talking about, you may just get inspired by someone else’s idea and branch off to an even better idea. If your into design/blogging you can check out this list of feeds.
Check out some new social bookmarking sites geared towards your niche, there is plenty out there! For visual online inspiration I use Pattern Tap, Vi.sualize.us, Scrnshots, FaveUp and Flickr. For content I use Digg and Del.icio.us.
If you want design inspiration geared towards web design & design blogs, I highly recommend these great articles: 50 Must-Read Resources For Incredible Web Design, 33 New Places for design inspiration, 60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration and 34 Places to Get Design Inspiration.
Do something different, use Life as Inspiration.
I hope you enjoyed your Monday morning inspiration, I know I usually need it on Mondays! Feel free to let us know what you do to solve your design / writer’s block!
Andrew
July 28, 2008 at 9:45 am
I’m loving this guest post, thanks Adelle! Gonna check out some of the social bookmarking sites.
Adelle Charles
July 28, 2008 at 9:49 am
I’m glad you enjoyed it Andrew! Definitely check out pattern tap – it’s pretty cool!
Michelle
July 28, 2008 at 9:58 am
Great ideas as always, Adelle! Thanks for the pingback too!
liam
July 28, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Sweet post Adelle, I think I’ve really underestimated and neglected the power of magazines, I remember I used to get a few before I went freelance, but I’ve not read one for a while. Will certainly be getting my hands on some this week.
I loved the entire post, except the part about Wine, I hate wine! And good call on Pattern Tap, never seen that before. Thanks!
Adelle Charles
July 28, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Thanks Liam! First time I went to the bookstore in a about a year was last week – which made me re-think where I should look to for inspiration in a pinch.
JY
July 28, 2008 at 2:06 pm
ditto to magazines. I feel looking on the web for inspirations these days often lead me to fraustrations. most designer sites aren’t inspirational, because they all look the same. i still can find individuality in print. i think it’s mainly because web design can be easily copied and over-used, where print isn’t, to an extend.
Steven Snell
July 28, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Thanks for the link.
Adelle Charles
July 28, 2008 at 5:45 pm
@JY your right on, there are alot that do look the same or are “inspired” copied / by another. There is plenty of really awesome looking sites out there though, you just have to dig deep.
@Steven Snell Your welcome.
April michelson
July 28, 2008 at 6:47 pm
hey Adelle, I keep running into you! Great post, I found this list really helpful.
Youri
July 29, 2008 at 2:01 am
Nice post Adelle. Pattern Tap indeed rocks, if the content on that site grows I can assure you that’s the first place I’ll be going when I design a new site and get stuck!
Fubiz
July 29, 2008 at 5:40 am
Perfect post!
Adelle Charles
July 29, 2008 at 7:18 am
Hey April! Yeah seems I have been all over the internet lately jumping around – I’m glad you found the list helpful!
Adelle Charles
July 29, 2008 at 7:19 am
Thanks Youri, I really hope that Pattern Tap continues to grow on a constant basis.
Adelle Charles
July 29, 2008 at 7:41 am
Thanks Fubiz!
Vickie Hall
July 29, 2008 at 9:06 am
Thanks! All the resources are great!
adelle
July 29, 2008 at 9:18 am
Vickie Hall, Awesome- glad you liked the resources. Hope they come in handy!
Max | Design Shard
July 29, 2008 at 8:43 pm
i feel inspired, and i have the urge to spend money for some reason now…
Good post
Adelle Charles
July 29, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Thanks Max, don’t get all crazy and spend lots of money!
Goran Web
August 2, 2008 at 10:30 am
How can one fail to be inspired by such a bright, colourful post? Thanks for sharing your writer’s block remedies with us, Adelle!
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August 4, 2008 at 9:04 am
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Jana
August 13, 2008 at 7:24 am
Wow! I guess this might really help me…Even if I don’t do all these things it inspired me to do SOMETHING and not just sit around without doing anythingor ttrying too hard to fogure out ideas or plans
Really thank you so much for this! One of thethings I really just needed!
SEO Tips
September 7, 2008 at 8:30 am
Thanks for the post Adelle, full of inspiration.
Tyler Hayes
October 29, 2008 at 12:37 am
It took me long enough, but I finally got around to reading this article.
#1 – FANTASTIC job!
#2 – See #1
But shmeriously, I always have at least 10 new tabs open every time I read one of your articles. I feel like I’ll never get anything done!
eltee
October 29, 2008 at 1:59 am
thanks! great article. I think I’ll actually make a list and post it on my wall in case I forget how to get inspired!