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5 Tips for Taking Design Inspiration Without Copying

5 Tips for Taking Design Inspiration Without Copying
Written by
axel antas-bergkvist
Published on
January 19, 2022

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:

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

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