There is a certain semantic dissonance in the very sound of the words "creative worker". At the word “creativity”, an image of a winged and wayward muse arises in my head, and when you say “worker”, for some reason a tired man with a shovel appears.

However, if you want to make a living from creativity, then you will have to somehow get along with these two images. And even in those moments when you are deadly tired and there are no “no words, no music, no strength”, there are still ways to lure the muse of creativity to you. In this article, you will learn about some proven ways to do this.

1. Surround yourself with creative people

Even just being in the midst of writers, musicians, poets and artists can inspire you and refresh your mind. After all, it’s not for nothing that all these creative unions and art cafes exist?

2. Start something

If you can't seem to get your first word or first stroke on a blank canvas, start with drafts. Do not bother with perfection, make simple sketches and sketches. Your brain, freed from the burden of responsibility for mistakes, may well throw you a couple of new ideas.

3. Look for something new

Inspiration ends when the brain begins to move in circles. To break this cycle, constantly look for new experiences and sensations. If you are a rock musician, then try going to the opera, if you write detective stories, then start reading science fiction, and so on. New things are very often born at the intersection of the arts.

4. Create a morning ritual

Perhaps you have a specific sequence of actions that pushes your creativity? Maybe it's a cup of coffee, a morning walk or work in a cafe?

5. Keep learning

Do not give anyone a single chance to call you a "representative of a bygone era" and a "dinosaur." Don't be lazy to absorb everything new and innovative that appears in your field.

6. Don't isolate yourself from the outside world

Modern technologies allow you to work without leaving your home at all. However, such creative solitude, sooner or later, leads to burnout and devastation. Do not be afraid to come out of your shell, do not be lazy to communicate, and the outside world will give you stories that you never dreamed of.

7. Drink coffee

Yes, just coffee. Sometimes a cup of hot, strong coffee can give you such a creative boost that your hands can't keep up with your caffeinated thoughts. The main thing here is not to overdo it and know the measure, otherwise this technique will stop working.

8. Don't be a perfectionist

Someone who wants to create something great without fail often does not create anything at all. Someone who just does a good job every day has a chance to create something great one day.

9. Get some privacy

This advice contradicts one of the previous ones, but for some it may be useful. If you feel overwhelmed by the information around you, confused and lack of concentration, then it may be worth pausing and stepping back from everything around you. Go to the countryside, go to the mountains, turn off your phone, lock yourself in a room - this will help clear your head and hear the timid voice of a new idea.

10. Creativity can be trained

Yes, these are not muscles, but the ability to be creative can be increased in much the same way as the number of push-ups. This will require daily training, diligence and perseverance. Who said creating is easy?

11. Keep a notebook

Ideas don't go according to schedule work time from 9 am to 6 pm. They can break into you at the most inopportune moment - when you are in the shower, on a date, or just having lunch. They come without asking your consent, and they leave the same way. The only way fixing their existence is to have a notepad, voice recorder, smartphone or other convenient tool for creating quick notes with you always and everywhere.

12. Create your idea repository

Not a cemetery, no, just a vault. Creativity is sometimes like fishing: some days the fish are in a school, and then the nets remain empty for a week. Build yourself an idea fish cooler so you don't starve while waiting for the next creative surge.

13. Don't be a workaholic

Despite the value of diligence, perseverance and determination, do not forget about the rest. No matter how passionate you are about your work, it is worth taking breaks, sometimes even by force. Just break away and rest - in the end, such a rest will benefit, and not harm the work begun.

14. Exercise

It's not only good for health. Physical exercise give such a surge of adrenaline, confidence, energy that they can easily replace a cup of coffee, which I wrote about above.

15. Believe in yourself

There is nothing more important for creativity than self-confidence. You should forever get rid of the thoughts “I'm not a creative person”, “I can't” and “nobody needs this”. In the end, at least you need it, and any result, positive or negative, is better than doing nothing. Is not it?

Hello!

Recently, I informed my subscribers that my audio answers to their most interesting questions will soon appear on the site. To this end, I asked my subscribers to send me their most pressing question about graphic design.

As a result, I received about a hundred questions, from which I selected the most interesting ones, and proceeded to write down the answers.

Now my audio-answers will be regularly published on the site. All of them will be available for download. Come, download and listen! It is possible that you will find the answer to your own question ...

Many questions were sent on the topic of inspiration. For example, one of my subscribers is interested in, where do I get my inspiration from, who influenced me as a designer and who are my favorite designers?

In answer to the question, I would like to start with definitions of inspiration.

Inspiration is a kind of creative impulse. For artists, musicians, writers, poets, inspiration is essential. Any poet needs a Boldin autumn, and every artist needs a strong impression.

Are we going to talk about such inspiration?

Of course, the area graphic design, one way or another, is connected with art, but design in its purest form is not art. Unlike painting and poetry, design is not art for art's sake. Design is not a goal, but a means of promoting certain goods and services. Therefore, you should not completely depend on the tides of inspiration, the customer will not wait for you.

Most likely, when we talk about design inspiration, we mean sources creative ideas or illustrative examples of successful work that will help us to complete a certain task.

In order to gain impressions for work, I would advise a few things:

1. Professional environment.
   If you are already somehow connected with design and graphics, try to communicate more, observe, just consult with your colleagues.
2. Entourage.
   Do not neglect "non-professional" advice. One day I was working on a logo and could not decide on the leading idea. At that moment, a person close to me, not related to design, looked at the sketches of the logo and uttered a phrase that led me to a very valuable thought.
3. Design exhibitions, competitions and international biennials.
4. Create yourself a catalog of design sites, portals.
   It is there that designers exhibit their work, exchange impressions, and write articles.
5. An old and good source of inspiration is books.
   Good design books should always be on hand.
6. Supervise a professional at work.
   To learn and learn from their professional skills.
   Help here video lessons recognized masters of design.

For that, to want to work You have to decide if what you are doing brings you pleasure.

And in order not to get bogged down at the very beginning of work, try to dream up and imagine the end product which will take your breath away!

It is not difficult to keep this charge in yourself throughout the work. Here is what I advise you:

1. As I already said, you need to dream, i.e. visualize the final product.
2. Break your global task into small steps.

   The first step may be the creation of a pledge of successful design - composition.
   In the second step, you can

Recently I came across a wonderful book by Austin Kleon "Steal Like an Artist". The author writes that each new idea is just a vinaigrette, or a mixture of old ideas: “ …there is nothing new under the sun", what " nothing comes from the void" And " originality is undiscovered plagiarism". I absolutely agree with him - in this world there is a lot of what has already been done, and the new is either a well-forgotten old one or a modified, reworked one. If you don't like the words "steal" or "steal", then call it "take" or "borrow". From the change of terms, the sum does not change - all words are equally well suited to the creative process.

Art is theft. Pablo Picasso, artist

In this post, I want to show where I got the ideas that helped me design my startup moredesertov.ru. But I did not take everything from one place, the source of inspiration was 11 sites from which I borrowed different chips. The author of the book confirmed my actions. Steal Like an Artist is a very original, easy-to-digest book that should be read by anyone who creates and creates.

Delivery— club. en

I borrowed a lot from them. The most important thing is the idea. When a user needs some product, be it pizza or rolls, he gets to the site or catalog for the desired city and selects best deal by price, reviews and other characteristics.

You can go to each restaurant, look at the menu, read information and customer reviews. If you like something, you can order.

Delivery is carried out by restaurants, and after receiving the order, buyers can leave a review.

Zakazaka.ru

Similar to Delivery Club, and launched after it. There are a lot of ideas that can be applied to any project. The site zakazaka.ru after the redesign became very bright, large icons, convenient filters in the catalog.

The site has a functional search that searches not only for goods, but also for restaurants.

I especially liked the basket, which appears as a fixed strip after clicking on the "Order" button. This strip remains on the screen and does not strain the eyes, but it constantly reminds that the user has an unfinished order. Idea for "5+"!

Fotogazon. en

Fotogazon.ru, like dizkon.ru, is a project of the fl.ru company, but it is now being sold. This site was developed by the coalla.ru studio, whose works are very famous in Russia and win prizes. If I had a couple of extra millions, then I would also order the development of a startup from them)) I would call the Phototurf project itself an example of a modern startup, and some functions are very well implemented in it. I took a lot of ideas from here.

The first is the order feed, when an authorized user literally creates an order in 3 clicks, and it appears in the general feed. Photographers can leave their comments on the application, give proposals for the price and discuss the conditions in the correspondence. Everything is as simple as "2x2" - what you need is what we get. I made the order feed as the main MVP function, through which buyers will leave their requests, and confectioners will respond to them.

The profile of photographers with a portfolio is very coolly implemented. There are main tabs here, as well as 2 quick order buttons for a specific photographer.

The site also has blogs that users can write to, but it is clear that they do not work in this form. Perhaps there is just a minus in the display, although photographers are not confectioners and sometimes there is nothing to write about.

And the monetization model. As it turned out, Photogazon takes a commission and a subscription fee. Well, very similar to my vision of "Sea of ​​Desserts".

pink bus. en

The pinkbus.ru website is positioned as a printshop where you can buy a bag, phone case, pillow and other accessories with author's prints. Interesting idea when the site is an online store, but uses illustrations from design partners. In terms of programming, the site is quite complicated, but everything is done beautifully, minimalistically and tastefully: directories, filters, profiles, deductions to partners in automatic mode.

Boommy. en

Oh, those black stripes in the hat)) And fotogazon.ru, and pinkbus.ru, and boommy.ru, and other sites use this one with might and main modern reception. In general, a black stripe in a hat is a trend that you can safely borrow. What is called "take and do"!

Boommy.ru works in the field of "fashion", P2P, acting as an intermediary between sellers of used items and buyers, the service earns on a commission of 15% per transaction. Home, blogs, catalog, product card - everything else is similar ...

I liked the “Guarantees” block in the product card, it attracts attention, calms and pushes to buy.

The service conducts a safe transaction between the buyer and the seller (the concept is taken from freelance), protecting the interests of both and paying 15,000 rubles. in favor of the victim. Previously, they had the amount of "insurance" - 3000 rubles, but apparently to increase confidence in the service, they raised it. I think the trick works. I consider it necessary to use such a chip on any new service that users do not trust yet.

An interesting idea that I adopted is the discovery own store on a subdomain of the main site. The client pays a subscription fee, chooses a template, uploads products, and the task of boommy.ru is a matter of technology. But in Sea of ​​Desserts, I decided to leave this for the future, when the project can emerge and develop momentum.

Bloomnation. com

bloomnation.com is an aggregator flower shops in the USA, where customers can order any bouquet or flower they like. Now the trend is “aggregators” or “marketplaces”, so this service is quite indicative in terms of functionality, design and structure. I took a lot of elements from him. Firstly, the main page in the style of "minimalism": a large banner with a product image, and a search field. They have done even better - a field with the input of the city.

Secondly, the directory. After we enter a city, we get into the general catalog, which presents the goods of the shops of this city. There is a convenient filter here, and if you look at the product, it will contain a store profile. I adopted this idea for the "Sea of ​​Desserts" catalog, but added a few more filters, but in essence the idea is the same - a general catalog for confectioners, which contains products (cakes and desserts).

Thirdly, our product card is similar to them)) Entering it, we see the main parameters, and below is the store profile. The buyer sees a large photo of which store offers this product. He can order a product (from the photo) or click on the profile link and get into the store profile.

Also from this site I took the idea of ​​blogs. But since in cakes and desserts, not only articles are interesting, but also recipes, I decided that all users should write to the blog, and not the administration. The idea of ​​blogging is social function project so that everyone can share their experience. How it will be - time will tell.

flowwow. com

The site flowwow.com is an analogue of the above-mentioned original bloomnation.com, but in Russian realities. Same florists, same customers. In general, when I thought about the idea, I thought of making the same flower aggregator. Not knowing that there is flowwow.com, I got into the Internet to analyze the market and realized that they had already taken place No. 1, so this idea had to be abandoned. The site earns a commission of 20% of the order. In principle, the field for entering the city, a convenient catalog with filters and a product card make it very similar to bloomnation.com. I did not copy from this site, but the structure of the "Sea of ​​​​Desserts" is generally very similar.

Youdo. com

Youdo.com small orders service is a platform between customers and contractors. Contractors offer mainly courier services, assistance with cleaning, repairs, transportation, etc. At the same time, the site takes a commission of 15% from the order amount from the performers.

I won’t say that I took something specific from this site, but in general I really liked its concept - there are tasks, there are comments on them. The project scenario mainly consists of an order feed, to which performers respond and leave their comments.

Tortoliano. en

Tortoliano.ru is a confectionery company that makes "cakes to order". From this site, I spied and implemented "confectionery ideas" for "Sea of ​​​​Desserts".

Convenient product card, which provides the opportunity to choose a cake in accordance with the requirements of the client. For example, choose the filling, layering, weight and place an order. Convenient informer icons indicate the main parameters of the cake.

The banner "Cake according to your sketch" is interestingly implemented. you can order a cake according to any desire of the client.

Irisdelicia. en

I borrowed the idea of ​​a product card from irisdelicia.ru. here is an interesting slider. By moving it to the right, we increase the weight, and the price of the cake changes. You can also choose from different toppings.

Aidaeda. en

A culinary site where users add their own recipes. The idea of ​​the project is not new, but the profiles are interestingly implemented, in which there are achievement informers, the rating, the number of subscriptions and subscribers are clearly shown. I took note of some of this project.

So, to design the Sea of ​​Desserts structure, I used not one, but several sources. It was impossible (and not necessary) to take everything from one site, since I did not find a project in the “confectionery aggregator” niche. The best combination of interesting chips gives something of its own. It is very important to learn to borrow, and not to reinvent the wheel. Many people do this, so as Salvador Dali would say “He who does not want to imitate anyone will not create anyone”. What did I get? While my site moredesertov.ru is being developed, but I hope that soon we will be able to launch working version MVP. All the ideas that I wrote about in this post, you can see soon.

We want you to take first. We want you to steal first, steal from us - because you can't steal. You will take what we give you and present to the world as your own voice, and thus you will receive it. This will be your start. Then, someday, someone will steal from you too. Francis Ford Coppola, film director.

Like the author of Steal Like an Artist, I highly recommend having a Stolen folder on your computer. I called it the "Storage of Ideas", and in this folder I made many more folders on the topics "Design", "Ideas", "Marketing". Enter screenshots, texts, links and pictures from sites that you like into it. Let it lie for now, but when it comes down to it, you will have a lot of interesting solutions at hand from which you can choose something. The ability to distinguish what needs to be borrowed and what is not needed will come with time. Your main job is to collect good ideas and weed out the "garbage".

Copy and implement only the best!

Hello my dear friend, my reader. I am glad to welcome you on the pages of my site. I always try to write or shoot a lesson only by inspiration. And often it does not always come on schedule. So tonight I wanted to drop a couple of lines. We will talk about plagiarism. Or rather, when you take someone else's idea and implement it. Fortunately, the Internet is replete with a million interesting works and ideas. Someone will say that this copyright can hardly be called creativity. There are people who will say - yes, this is not acceptable. But let's look at this question from several angles. Is there something truly new in the world, not improved old, but truly new. Let's take cars. Every year in different car dealerships we see new products from the automotive industry. But these are the ideas of a whole team of designers. Ideas embodied in metal. But let's dig deeper: is there something radically changed in the car. Four wheels, one steering wheel, one engine too. Similarities with cars of a hundred years ago can be listed for a long time. In other words: designers and constructors took someone else's idea and tried to make it better, and we sometimes admire these masterpieces of engineering. But in fact, there is not so much new there. Our life is so arranged that we stand on the shoulders of the generation of our fathers. Our children will go even further, we will become that support for them. Let's imagine for a moment that each person has to invent electricity or reinvent the wheel. But these were someone's ideas and discoveries, and we, without hesitation, use them. People who have made some discoveries, I think, are glad to see that it serves a huge number of people. All modern ideas and discoveries are based on other fundamental ideas and discoveries. Therefore, I think it is quite appropriate and often necessary to draw inspiration from the work of other masters. Who knows, maybe trying to make something according to someone else's sketch or idea, you will create something unique and inimitable. Time will pass and you will develop your own style of work. Often it will be recognizable, but for now, at the beginning of the journey, you should boldly take it and try it. Do not be afraid to take something and copy. In conclusion, I want to say that if some master posted his work on the network and they try to repeat it, he will not mind. If I, as the author of the work, posted it for free access, I clearly understand that it can become a common property. Otherwise, why put them on public display. Below in the gallery are many works of one master. They are made in his own style. Personally, they made a strong impression on me, and I wanted to shoot a lesson based on the motives of his work. And I think in the near future I will please you with such a lesson.

P.S. can someone in the comments write on which of the photos to shoot a lesson?

Article subject - how to find an idea, is quite relevant for creative and enterprising people. We live in the age of ideas. Ideas destroy and create civilizations. Ideas change the political regimes of states and entire continents. They drive progress and create huge fortunes. Ideas help people stand out from the crowd. Show your uniqueness and self-sufficiency. Be creative and original. Realize your potential.

An idea is what is of great value in the 21st century.

Sometimes an idea comes to a person unexpectedly, spontaneously. And sometimes, she has to give birth in heavy agony. Where do ideas come from? Where to get an idea when is it needed?

Each of us has special moments in life when we are literally overwhelmed with new ideas. Often they come spontaneously. And if you pay attention to sayings and aphorisms about people and ideas ever uttered by the great ones, interesting judgments can be found.

So, according to the philosopher Lev Shestov, the spontaneity of the emergence of an idea is explained by its own existence - “ Ideas live and function, like living beings, in a life completely independent and free from man. They take over the human soul". The thinker was convinced that it is not a person who chooses ideas for himself, but ideas take possession of a person fatally, against his will, with irresistible, often elemental force. They come and go as they please».

Indeed, ideas often do not have a clear explanation, they appear in an unexpected place and in an unpredictable way. Odin discovered the law of universal gravitation after he was stunned by an apple that fell on his head. Another saw the principle of the electric machine, looking at the sun at noon, after his brains melted from the heat. The third found the law of energy transfer by observing lightning discharges and listening to thunder. There is not a single similar story, but something still unites them. And here's what:

First: An idea comes to the mind that can let it in and see it. That is, if you have puzzled your little head, if it is working, trying to find the answer to a specific question, only in this case will it be able to see the idea in the breath of the breeze, in the sparks of the rainbow. Hear it in the sound of rain or in the rustle of the oncoming waves.

Second: Ideas love silence. Often they come when our brain is off, even for a fraction of a second. After the mental stirrer is silent, there comes an instant feeling of delight and a bright flash of awareness of the idea. Everyone knows the legend that tells how Mendeleev first saw the periodic table of chemical elements in a dream. It was then that he managed to bring together all the observations on the formation of which he had been working for years.

Where to get a new idea?

1. People, ideas are in the air, now more than ever there is a lot of information in the world. Read new and old magazines, books, browse websites. Reading is one of the most better ways find new ideas.
2. Ask around. They can see what you can't see. Sometimes their answers can lead you to a new idea.
3. Change your habits. Try visiting new sites, reading new authors, meeting new people. Get out of your familiar territory, look for new ideas in new places.
4. A good way to get a fresh idea is to listen to the people around you. Sometimes we get so caught up in a conversation that we only hear ourselves. When talking to someone, try to talk less, try to listen more. Do not wait for the interlocutor to finish the phrase and you can insert your word. No wonder it is written in the bible about people who have ears, but do not hear, have eyes, but do not see.
5. Take some time to look at your life and your actions from the outside. Take a look at the past, present, future. What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you? Why is all this necessary? What is important? What do you want to achieve? What are you doing - good and evil? Ask yourself these and similar questions. Such an analysis can lead you to a dozen fresh ideas.
6. You are unable to create new idea? It's OK. There are many ideas in the world that you can try to study and analyze, creating your own idea based on it. You don't have to come up with something new. Try use someone else's idea, change and improve what others have come up with.
7. You can find a new idea, or rather generate it, using methods such as brainstorming, synectics, six hat method, focal object method, morphological box, etc.

Ideas come to people from books they read and films they watch, from conversations and seminars they listen to. Each person is a breeding ground for an idea to be born. We must watch what enters our eyes, our ears and our consciousness. So wherever you are and whoever you meet, be ready to receive new ideas. And don't forget write down thoughts and ideas visiting you.