5 Tips for Taking Design Inspiration Without Copying
Most designers rely on sources of inspiration for their work to get the best results. Their inspiration can come from almost anywhere or anything. However, still some designers are struggling to find an inspiration of their own. Web designers for instance, who frequently visits different gallery sites, websites or design blogs available to help them when needed. The real challenge is how will designers put that certain inspiration into practice while making something unique and of good quality.
There are numerous ways on how you can take advantage of different inspirational work from other designers without actually copying them. Below are some of the tips that can help:
- Ask yourself what you really like about a design
It may be easy for you to browse through a design gallery and use designs that you immediately like. But what is really difficult is to specifically point out certain elements of the design you actually like. Not knowing what makes a particular design special, it will even be more difficult for you to take away the inspiration you can use in your own work. You’ll just basically copy that design without even knowing what to take away from it.
Take a few minutes to think about a design. Does it make an impact on you as a visitor? Once you have a solid understanding of what makes the design special, you will eventually have a specific reason why you actually like the site and these things are what you will use in your own design inspiration.
- Try to replicate the design for practice
For you to be able to use your source of inspiration in your own work, you first need to learn from it. New designers or beginners, in particular, will actually improve their skills by attempting to replicate or duplicate a specific design to add to their learning experience. However, do not duplicate a design if you’re doing a project for a client or anything that will be publicly displayed. Just duplicate it in your own practice. Doing so will make you pay closer attention to specific details of the design.
- Pay close attention to the details of the design
Have you ever looked at a specific source of inspiration and determined what actually makes their design work so well? The tip is to pay attention to the smallest details that differentiate them from others. These small details may not be the first things you might notice, however, they are the ones that when polished makes an impact.
- Find different ways to improve the design
Know what works and what does not so that you’ll get the most out of your source of inspiration. As much as possible, critique your source of inspiration. Ask yourselves different ways on how would you improve it and incorporate it into your own work. The more you have a grasp of a design, the more use it will have for you in your own work design. In addition, you will actually feel truly inspired rather than just copy it.
- Keep plenty of inspirations available at your disposal.
As much as possible, have a lot of inspirations readily available whenever and wherever you might need it. There are numerous sites where you can find plenty of great inspirations. Desainio, for instance, is one excellent site where you can find great design ideas for a particular element of the design you want to make on your own. With hundreds of inspirational resources, you will surely find the perfect design inspiration you are looking for in your next project.
Inspiration can come from anything or anywhere. All you need to do is to add that extra fire in you to further improve your source of inspiration and create a unique design on your own. I hope that the tips above will help you in your search for the best design inspiration for your project.
