Four ways to keep the creative juices flowing.

Keep those creative ideas coming!

Every designer will have different ways to stay creative and to keep the new ideas coming. Sharing ideas about this would be a great discussion we could have.It would help all of us as designers to keep the creative juices flowing. I have put together some things that I do to come up with new ideas. Please let us know what you do.

1. Blogs

Subscribe to blogs

Something very important for me is to have a constant flow of ideas and designs coming into my head from all over. I have found that the best way to do this is to subscribe to some creative blogs. It is fun to me to check my blog reader and see what people are thinking up. Often it sparks a new idea for me.

2. Think of a design problem even when you haven’t dedicated time to think about it

A good example of this was the design for my personal site. The one I had at the time was old and dated and I was in the process of designing a new one. I went through some rough comps and wasn’t feeling happy with any. I began thinking about a new design through out the day when I was walking to the train, driving, or in the grocery store. I had some different ideas but nothing stuck. I kept thinking about it through my daily activities. One morning I was feeding my fish in my fish tank while thinking about this design problem and it just hit me. I started sketching and now I have the new lukelarsen.com. I have fed my fish dozens of times while looking into a new design. In the past though I hadn’t started brainstorms until I sat down to do it. Sometimes the best creative ideas come when you aren’t trying to think of one.

Always think design

3. Nothing beats a pen and paper.

When those random creative solutions come I have to be ready to jot them down somewhere or they will most likely float off into a void never to be thought of again. Some sort of book to record your rough thoughts will help turn then into polished gems.

4. Refiners Fire

Once a design starts to get polished it needs to get sent into the refiners fire. Show other designers and non-designers your thoughts. When they tell you that something is bad don’t get offended. Take it in and address it where is needs to be addressed. As you do so you will find your design getting better in many ways. All great designs go through a refiners fire.

I hope these ideas help out with your next design idea. If you have thoughts on these or some different ones all together let us know.

  

Written by Luke Larsen