For a lot of designers, writers, and content creators, inspiration is the bread and butter of their work. Audiences are more demanding than ever, as time goes on and true originality becomes harder to find. Quality work depends on how deeply inspiration strikes, and what’s used to inspire could result in a masterpiece, or a drop in the ocean of content.

Nowadays, there is much more opportunity for creative work across the world. Industries flourish, and more and more companies look for ways to connect to their audiences. By this very same token, there is a greater need for inspiration than ever before.

It is a challenge. Regardless of where the inspiration is drawn from, the yoke of complacency holds all equally, and it can be tough to find inspiration for the niches of the world.

Looking Outside The Box

The age of information and technology means that it’s easier than ever to start a business, regardless of industry - and in some circles, is considered an aid to a failing economy.

With different and new media such as web design and content becoming more commonplace, it’s become regular practice for visual artists and wordsmiths to look outside the industries their clients operate in for inspiration.

This means that a creative agency doing work for an automotive manufacturer, may not just look at competitor manufacturers to be inspired. Creative thought can be sparked just by observing those in completely different spaces.

An approach like this allows designers and creators to break away from traditional trains of thought - allowing fresh ideas to be birthed, unrestrained by competition and beyond a need to merely leverage what others are missing.

Client–Sourced Inspiration

Although looking outside your own industry might be a common practice, there can never be too much inspiration, and the very clients you work for can be a treasure trove of ideas.

Consider delving into the grittier details of how your client operates - their successes and strengths. Not only will you be able to deliver work that is creative, but also that is accurate and laser-focused on your clients’ characteristics and image, bringing the brand personality to the fore in ways unforeseen by both audience and client.

A unique example of this is Spotify’s approach to using user datasets to market to their consumers. By making use of consumer data, Spotify came up with several unique marketing campaigns such as:

Valentine’s Day campaigns, custom workout playlists, and even projects that combined artists and artificial intelligence to hit consumers where they live, ensuring a highly personalized experience.

These experiences, products, and artworks can provide a meaningful, long-lasting impact on both clients and consumers, and set a precedent to how we can start to approach our work.

Across Different Media

In comparison to days past, where creative medium was left to more traditional devices (here’s looking at you, Print media), it was considered a much simpler task to be inspired. Today, however, with constantly improving technology, we have many more concepts to be used.

With advanced types of media such as the internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence, and even augmented reality - there is so much more to look into. This also applies to the work we do as creatives - as audiences look for more ways to experience the products they consume, so do we have to provide those ways to them.

To that end, it may be unwise to limit oneself to a strict way of thinking. While looking at different industries and even clients for inspiration is a vital part to solving the puzzle, it is also crucial to consider the media in question.

Creating a video? Composing music? Designing artwork? Trailblazing fashion? A creative process for one medium may not work for another.

This can be seen in certain industries today. In the modern fashion industry, the rise of social media has the potential to change even the design process. As a tool for connecting to each other, it’s also easy for designers to immediately receive feedback, and use it as a gauge for which designs work and which do not.

Inspiration is no small undertaking. Some consider it a responsibility, others, a pleasure. Regardless of the motivation behind it, it’s important to remember that it’s vital to good work.

When trying to inspire oneself, it may not be wise to limit yourself solely to a particular industry. Looking outside that box might inspire you to take on a fresh viewpoint, something that none of your competitors have done.

It may also benefit you to consider any inputs from your clients themselves, to consider what it is they desire and what it is they deliver best. All of these suggestions must also be tempered through the media in which your work is released - what works for one medium may not work for another. This can also apply to the method by which you inspire yourself - namely, what inspires work for one medium may not inspire work for another.

For our part, we think it might be best to consider inspiration to be more fluid, subject to the ebb and flow of several factors. We suggest looking across industries, across media, and across audiences to understand this flow, widening your creative input to take in all the approaches that the world’s artists and writers are releasing for us to experience, and allow yourself to be one of those that creates work that is truly unique and of value.