Research and inspiration are some of the fundamental building blocks required in any creative artists arsenal. Whether it be a commercial illustrator or a theatrical set designer, doing your research is key. Not only is it healthy to keep your visual stimulus active by consciously looking at other artists work and what has been done before, but it is also a safety net from you making any mistakes that could have been otherwise averted. We do not have a choice from what we exposed to, we may take inspiration from any wide number of things. Billboards, advertisements, magazines, television, books, galleries and much more. The skill isn’t in what to look at, that is out of our hands.
The skill is what we allow to filter through, and this can take years to acquire. Observation is vital, but more so cross communication. One of the most dangerous things we can do as creative is to acquire a brief from a client and stampede into the creative process without first doing any type of research, of the target audience as well as history.
The last thing you would want to happen is that you’ve being working on a project for a month and finalising and revised your chosen solution to submit to the client, to find out the idea has been done before. Again something that would of easily been averted if proper research and observation had been carried out. As important as it is, research isn’t the only thing a creative should keep in mind. What does the target audience want? If commissioned to design something specificated to a type of market, get their opinion first. Market research, polls, questionnaires.
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| Logo blunder |
This could be the final cog that turns your idea into a consumer attractive money making machine. Something retail giant GAP didn’t take into account when in 2010 they hired a graphic design company to redesign their corporate identity with a flash, new, modern logo. After unveiling the logo was met with a swarm of complaints from customers who did not quite show their gratitude. The thing is people want something they are familiar with, something they can trust. This is the ultimate objective of any corporation or company, which is why something of the most widely successful logos are decades old. If it isn’t broken don’t fix it, GAP quickly reverted back to the logo they had been using for 3 decades due to popular demand. This is just and example of communicating with the target market, but communicating is a skill that should be used as often as possible in the creative world. The greatest asset we can attain is having creative peers, in which we can confide ideas and get fresh perspectives on things. In my magazine project about Birmingham, I put myself forward to take care of the ITAP and had concluded with advice from my team that an interesting idea would be to have and illustrated stop motion of a map on the back of my hand followed by the title of the magazine “ OWAMYA”.
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| IDENT |
After different attempts and styles, it was a conclusive decision that the idea didn’t have the same affect in affect as it did in theory and I want back to the drawing board. Finally I had an idea which worked a little better and my team agreed.
The point is that I could of easily just ran with it for the sake of it and not told the members of my team that I wasn’t completely confident in it, but I would of only been cutting myself short and subsequently deterred the learning experience of others, something that is not considered community spirit within the creative world. One of the key principles of the lecture stated that “ the notion of ‘inspiration’ derives from constant inquiry, based on research, observation, recording and experimentation” . Which is entirely true, the recording especially I think is incredibly important, something I try to do at every opportunity as an aid for when I’m at a blank. Then I can take a glance over my notes and re stimulating a thought process which I’d previously forgotten. I tend to do it in my own way also, I’m an illustrator and remember things visually, so naturally in my note taking process I often draw illustrations to aid me when highlighting important points.
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| My note-taking journal |
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| Johnny Hardstaff - Inspiration |
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| Jamie Hewlett - Inspiration |
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