How to get Creativity running through your veins!

10 creative designers, 3 questions each!

Today, I have one hell of an article for you. I have taken the time to interview ten creative designers that have produced unique and creative designs, that inspire us all. Questions range from, how do you stay creative, to, do you believe creativity is something you are born with, that it comes naturally? Each designer have given very informative answers which I hope help you to be more creative with your design. I would like to thank all the designers that took the time to answer my questions.

Dean Oakley

How do you like to stay creative, what methods do you use?

I try to stay creative by constantly thinking about design and trying to take inspiration from a variety of sources. But I also think you can easily over think design and you can never force creativity.

Briefly describe the process you went through to create your amazing portfolio site.

My portfolio can about quite easily. I created the first version in a couple days. Then have the idea to make it horizontal which lead me to redo the illustration. I was quite a natural process and I remember just being excited not worrying about what the client was going to think!

Do you think creativity plays a large part in design?

I think good design takes a lot of practice, thought and study. However creativity is a different animal. I think you have to be in the right head space. I find I have to feel inspired, be excited that you’re am creating something new.

Carlos Alemany

Today, Visualbox remains a very unique and creative site. Where did you find the idea for the layout?

The design layout is purely related to the brand itself. It is thought around a container box where the real value, the impact, is in the visuals.

What do you think are the characteristics of a creative person?

A creative person should be intuitive, curious, should be able to see the real scope of things and knwo how to elaborate the capacity of expanding and adding details to his work; should be a “free thinker”, take risks and innovate.

Any advice for designers trying to be more creative?

Always be open to new ways of doing things, and also open to new ideas, even if they sound weird or ridiculous, never see them from one unique perspective. They should give themselves time to play, forget about rules and the most important suggestion I could ever give is: look, look more and lookeven more stuff every day.

Bryan Katzel

WeBLEEDdesign is an exceptional concept. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Thanks so much. The We Bleed Design website really came from my passion for paper craft. I love pop-up books, paper automata and theaters, all that kind of stuff. That way of thinking and construction makes sense to me and are the types of things that truly inspire me. They seem like timeless solutions that create a fantasy that is truly their own.

So, I knew I wanted to create a single page site but I can’t really say when the idea first struck me to use my logo and the exact execution that is on the site now. I believe I started with just wanting the paint to drip all the way down the page but as I started to add images that sat over the background image of the paint I asked myself, “What would it look like if I punched shapes out of this image to let the background paint show through?”. So, I started to experiment with cut-out designs in Illustrator, scrolling them over each other until I came up with the png mask images we see on the site today.

I do have to say, I’ve really had no formal web training at all. I feel this was an asset to me. It’s really easy to get bogged down by the technicalities of the task at hand and lose track of coming up with the creative core of the concept. For this website I had to do much research online to figure out how to execute my concept. This website is a constant reminder to me that, despite the medium you’re working in, and despite what you may know in regards to technique and style, the core of any good concept comes down to creativity.

Do you believe creativity is something you are born with, that it comes naturally?

That’s such a hard question. I feel like I’ve worked so hard to develop and get to the place I’m at now while at the same time some of my best concepts, the things I’ve admired the most have appeared effortlessly out of thin air. Creativity is such a personal experience filled with moments the are so hard to communicate. I know myself and the orbits I need to put myself into to catch the big fish… but whether that is something that nature gives to some and not others is hard to really come to a finite answer to. I’d like to believe we can all get there, that creativity is something that everyone is born with but not everyone learns how to express. Something that is naturally inherent in all of us but not socially natural to achieve.

What sites or places do you like to get inspiration from?

A few sites I currently have feeds on are: ThinkingForALiving.org, GrainEdit.com, Coudal.com, Booooooom.com, paperforest.blogspot.com, meathaus.com, fecalface.com, manystuff.org, and so many more that I can’t keep up with reading them all.

Inspiration comes from so many places for me though… graphic novels, movies, toys, games, poster design, puppetry, myth, craft shows, flea markets, website design, music, graphic design, children’s illustration, fantasy, D&D, swords, goats, boy stuff, girl stuff, dungeons, rain, ghosts, treasure chests, bigfoot, barbarians, pirates, the moon, caves, eye patches, finishing moves and special powers (not in that order). I just have a love and appreciation for creativity in every form. Seeing all the creative ways people solve problems or construct fantasy. I guess I’m inspired by the creations of other people’s inspirations.

Thibaud Van Vreckem

Thibaud is an incredibly unique site, how did you come up with something so creative?

it’s not overly creative, the concept was pretty much lying on my desk (color swatches)

What do you do when you get an idea?

The production stage is a sort of refinement process in which I try to keep a strong focus on the application goal and simplify all the means to get to that goal.

some of the things that I realize I often and recurrently do while developing interactive application are:

• Incorporating some natural behavior
• re-question what sometimes may be considered established interactive “standards”
• pay attention to details – or in other words, be painfully perfectionist (that just plain sucks)

Any particular design that has truly inspired you?

just about anything

Niki Brown

Do you believe creativity is important with design?

I believe that creativity is the backbone of design. Design without innovative creativity is just a rehashing of popular design trends and themes. It’s also important for the creative solution to be appropriate to the the project as well.

An idea pops into your head, what do you do?

I usually write it or sketch it in one of my sketchbooks, or type up a note on my ipod. Sometimes things don’t go beyond that, but its always good to document all those crazy ideas! Now…if I could only find time to work on all these ideas

What does it take to be creative? hours of thinking?

Sometimes creativity happens instantly with a fresh perspective, and sometimes it takes hours and hours of work and pondering and attempting different solutions. Going for a walk or a run usually helps me if i’m having a hard time being creative. There are also tons of design galleries out there to browse (ahem… http://creattica.com ) if you are stuck in a rut!

Rob Morris

What does it mean to be creative? Does it mean you can pull ideas out of a hat?

Ideas don’t live in hats. Generally when put under pressure people will do everything but be creative. To be creative is simply to have the ability to make a connection between two things that others can’t / haven’t yet.

Do you think creativity comes naturally, or its something you have to strive for?

Yes, and yes.

Any particular time when you feel most creative? Why that time?

When you have a good balance of freedom and form, you can be most creative. By that, I mean you need to have time and flexibility. But there also need to be rules. Too much flexibility and time can be more hindrance than help.

David Airey

Is creativity essential for a logo designer?

Creativity is essential for a lot more than simply logo design. Life requires a creative outlook, and we can all have one.

Where do you like to be/go to be creative?

Outdoors, be it in a forest, on the coast, or in a city. Away from the office is always good.

Does an idea just come to you, or does it require thought?

A bit of both. Usually the latter.

John O’Nolan

How did you come up with the design for lyrical media?

The design for the Lyrical Media was, in no small part, inspired by .Net Magazine. I was reading an issue one day and simply thought to myself. “This magazine is designed really well, it doesn’t look like anything on the web, I wonder how well this style of print design would translate to the screen?” From that point on I collected over 50 different magazines to try and extract the core principles of print design, and discover what aspects of it were transferable to a screen.

Where do you like to get inspiration?

I used to get inspiration from CSS galleries – these days I visit them only to bookmark reference material, examples of certain styles, etc. One of my greatest mentors has always been my close friend Spencer Lavery, creative director for renowned web design firm YouLove.Us. Spencer takes a huge amount of influence from the subject of the design he is creating. As an example for a recent artist website; he made the actual website an art gallery wall, which scrolls horizontally through framed (interactive) paintings on the wall. The paintings represented at accurate dimensions and proportions to give a very realistic effect. This method has had a huge influence on me, and is something that I myself try to accomplish when working on new projects.

Do you think creativity is the most essential element to good design?

In a word, no. You don’t have to be at all creative to produce a good design. Anyone can clone a “web2.0″ site very easily, and as a result produce a good design – but that doesn’t make them in any way creative.
But to rephrase the question slightly, “Do you think that creativity is the most essential element to exceptional design?” – Yes. Absolutely.

Chris Spooner

Where does you creativity come from? Were you born creative or do you need inspiration and time to think?

I suppose in a sense I was born creative in that I’ve always enjoyed making things – And taking them apart! Although when taking on design projects time to research a particular subject and dwell on some thoughts does help pull together a few ideas and often develops them into a core plan of action!

How do you like to stay creative?

I find blogging a great way of staying on top of the creative game, not only does it help keep me up to date with the design community and the latest industry changes, but it also gives me an incentive to work on personal projects and designs to continuously churn out blog post topics. When browsing galleries for sites to include in weekly roundups, it often provides plenty of inspiration and develops ideas that I can’t wait to try out myself.

Is there anything that tends to make you a bit more creative? For example a certain place.

My office/studio space is probably where I delve the deepest into projects. I sometimes work elsewhere, such as the garden or the sofa with my laptop, but I’ll always have to revert back to my desk and big screen to really get into the flow.

Osvaldas

You have a very creative portfolio site, could you give brief explanation about the design process, where the idea came from, what you did when you got the idea?

Thanks – it’s very pleasing to hear positive words about what you do. Well, the design process of mine is quite interesting as I’ve been creating my portfolio website for a little bit less than a year. No, I wasn’t spending eight hours a day putting pixel by pixel. Once I came up with an idea and spending few hours a month I finally brought myself to the real actions. During this period of time I had my studies and lots of client works going which denied me from creating something for myself. What I have learned from this situation is that firstly you have to start from yourself to move forward successfully with others. I have always thought the minimalism is sexy and I still do therefore pouring some interaction into it for me was like detonating a bomb – this is what we get combining a specific style and XHTM/CSS/JS power. Did you ask for a brief explanation?

Does every idea of yours turn out a success?

Logically, it all depends on the idea. Anyway, I wish I had an answer “Yes”, but the reality is slightly different. Sometimes you think you’ve got an amazing and unique idea but thirteen minutes later you find few online existing realizations. Badly if the website is about to be perfect and you don’t see anything to improve on your own potential project. More often, the idea is not the one in the world but simply it’s born to work, however, if you don’t catch it immediately while adrenaline is running through your veins the idea then is condemned to failure. Any means to solve the problem? Sure, the simplest “just sit and do” can cause a huge miracle.

In your opinion is it difficult to be creative?

Generally, creativity is a relative term, and object of philosophy. It’s related to what type person you are, your lifestyle and many other factors. Yes, you can influence your creativity by finding the most energetic hours of a day, regularly taking breaks, not overdosing coffee and so on. Also, you can destroy your creativity by being nervous for a few seconds. I can’t say that it’s easy nor difficult to be creative. It’s something that just happens.

  

Written by Liam McCabe

The almighty creator of CreativityDen. Absolutely loves design and messing around with wordpress.