No matter what type of design you do (web design, interior design, products, architecture, etc.) design inspiration can be an important part of the creative process.
Where do you find your design inspiration?
Dieter Rams (the long-time Chief Design Officer at Braun) found it while working with his grandpa who was a wood worker. Jony Ive (Chief Design Officer at Apple), interestingly enough found some from Dieter Rams.
Although you can see this influence in many Apple products, this one is quite obvious.
The first product you see here is the Braun Electrostatic Loud Speaker LE1 …
And this, of course, is the iMac …
There’s no denying the connection between these two products.
I’m sometimes asked (typically in our web design prep meetings) where I find design inspiration. I often find my inspiration from books like these …
The first, Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible, is a history of Braun, their products, and Mr. Rams creations over the course of 40 years. In addition to design inspiration, the book also causes me to think about design methodology and the future of web design (which will look different than it does today, right?).
The second book, Design: The Definitive Visual History, is chock-full of mid-century industrial products that (at least to me) lend themselves very nicely to web design.
Many of the designs we’re working on, including the new website for my forthcoming book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing, are based on inspiration from these mid-century products. But they’re top secret until they go live!
That said, here’s one example from a website we built for EarthView Yoga, an awesome yoga studio on the east side of Madison, WI. This homepage design is based on the Penguin Books cover on the left …
Design inspiration can come from anywhere. As long as you’re mindful about keeping your eyes open for it, you’ll start to identify all kinds of items that can ignite an idea.
Where do you find YOUR design inspiration?