Inspiring creative design

Posted by Pip McConnel-Oats on 30 September 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: creative, design

We take our cues from an eclectic mix of life when approaching our creative design

An interesting topic came about in the studio in recent weeks and I thought it would be a great idea to share this discussion with you all. It was just a regular day, discussing what we are having for lunch, what we had for dinner the night before, what cake we are going to eat from Tognini’s, but then we gradually moved on to talking about the Urbanspoon food guide, the Uppercase online journal, and our favourite iPad and iPhone apps. During this entire conversation the lumino creative team’s eyes were full of excitement as we shared all of our favourite sources of inspiration. As designers our everyday surroundings inspire our creative design; the cafés we visit, the music we listen to, the blogs we love reading, so I thought why not share with everyone what inspires us to produce great creative design and what keeps our creative juices flowing.

Pip

Life is such a visual feast and inspiration comes from so many sources for our creative design work. Designers are naturally attuned to their surroundings so easily find something interesting, quirky or beautiful that inspires them almost every day!

For me, I am inspired by other design disciplines; art, architecture, fashion and interiors. I love and admire the way architects use form to design something functional, how interior designers use colour and texture to create experiential spaces and how fashion can be so influential in terms of dictating trends.

I often turn to books and magazines to find this inspiration. I will always love the tactile experience of holding a book, feeling the paper and turning the pages. I am drawn to beautiful photography, art direction and styling as a constant source of inspiration for my creative design.

The design team have quite an eclectic mix of inspiration sources, which they have listed below. Let us know what inspires you in the comment box below.

Dean
Although I love absorbing exciting examples of creative design I find published in books and online, I tend to be inspired from areas outside of design (whether good or bad) – fashion, architecture, food, nature, movies and music – everyday life...

• Magazines: Smith journal; Paper magazine; Edge; Fantastic Man; Project (interactive iPad magazine) & Zite (RSS feed tailored magazine)
• Online: ffffound.com for general all-round inspiration; Brand New (opinion blog on recent brands); Sartorialist; plain old Wikipedia
• Environments: Anywhere in Tokyo, Paris or NY; Melbourne CBD; Spice Temple (Sydney); Main Beach - St Elmo’s (Byron Bay); Main Beach – Byron Bay Bangalow; Little Stanley St, Southbank (Brisbane); Sake (Brisbane); Cirque (New Farm); Flamingo (Valley)
• TV: The Movie Show; Project Runway; Nigella Express; Kathy Griffin My Life on the D-List; Doctor Who; Torchwood; The Living Dead
• Art: Retrospect (Byron Bay & Gold Coast); MOMA; GOMA; MONA
• Music: Cut Copy; Phoenix; Belle & Sebastian; Goldfrapp; Gaga; Daft Punk; Boards of Canada; Tycho; Saint Etienne; Kate Bush.

Chris
Why is it that inspiration comes more easily when I am not looking for it?

• Magazines: Vogue Living, Marie Clare, Creative Review, Car Magazine, Frankie
• Online: Coolhunter, Ebay, BrandChannel
• Environments: Maiocchi boutiques, Koko Black (Melbourne), The Flying Nun Café (Samford), Campos (New Farm)
• TV: Real estate shows (preferably with Phil & Kirsty!)
• Art: Lethbridge Gallery
• Music: Elbow, Regina Spektor, Nizlopi, Ben Folds, The Beatles.

Larissa
I draw inspiration from so many things in life. I like to keep an open mind and you never know even the smallest things can trigger something great.  
Travelling to unfamiliar places, meeting new people, looking at what others are creating; this is what inspires me the most:

• Magazines: Uppercase Magazine (for the creative and curious), Gourmet Traveller, Donna Hay
• Online: Uppercase Journal, Design Files, Urbanspoon
• Environments: La Bannette Patisserie (cakes/pastry/quiches mmhmm: Sydney),Café Bouquiniste (New Farm), Woolloongabba Antique Centre, New York, Belgium, Germany & Canada
• TV: Master chef (always in the mood to cook up a storm after watching this show)
• Artists: Wim De Vos & Adele Outteridge
• Music: Sia (a studio faviourite), Florence and the Machine, Boy & Bear & Bjork.

Anika
People who have their own unique style that pushes creative boundaries and does not conform to the “current trends” inspire me; whether fashion, art or things they say or do…

• Magazines: idN; Photoshop Creative; Culture
• Online: Abduzeedo; LogoPond; Spoon Graphics
• Environments: Mooloolaba Beach; Ginza, Japan
• TV: Burn Notice; Outrageous Fortune; Law & Order: SVU
• Music: Chris Brown; Beyoncé; Nicki Minaj.

What inspires you? Where do you look for ideas for your own creative design? Let us know.