Finding Inspiration

When we have too much freedom in making decisions, as is often the case with design projects, we can find ourselves in a sort of choice paralysis. At nearly every stage of the design process, the designer must make choices that may seem arbitrary; some options are riskier but reap higher rewards, other options are safer but may be more time-consuming... The pros and cons of each decision are complex and often unpredictable, making it challenging to accurately assess options and pick the best path. In this case, the constraints we impose on our projects can here work to our benefit, eliminating options that we would otherwise have to add to the long list of potential next steps. This may sound counterintuitive at first, but in many ways constraining the design more can propel projects forward faster. These constraints naturally come to light as a project progresses due to the limitations in resources, the previous design choices that have been made, the intended final applications, or even personal interest; it can be said that in general, the further along a project is and the more constraints there are to act as a guide, even if the actual work becomes more challenging the decision process is simplified. 

That's all fine and good, but then what about the very first step in the design process? The decision to design *something* has to be made, bu there are basically no constraints to help make that choice, so what can drive the decision? In some ways, this makes coming up with an idea the easiest part of the process - all you have to do is pick something, anything that sounds cool, and dive into it. Usually, this is is easier said than done, not because there are not enough ideas but rather because there are too many. Without constraints to guide decisions at this stage, there must be some other framework that can help. Rather than a process of elimination, we require a process of inspiration.

Inspiration can be fleeting. You have probably experienced this fact yourself - a time when you were watching TV, walking through a park, cooking dinner, or any other random activity, and you suddenly had a great idea. Maybe an advertisement about dental braces gave you the idea to 3D print your own dental correction tools. Maybe a chord in a song made you feel something unexpected, and you thought it would be cool to map out how different chords make people feel. Maybe you were debating how much salt to add to your soup and wished you had a spice sensor to guide you. Inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere, but because of that we may be inspired at times when we are not prepared to follow that inspiration. By the time you feel like making something cool, you may have already forgotten the ten ideas you had last week because they all came to you while you were doing something else.

There are a few methods to overcome this; many advocate for keeping a journal to jot down passing thoughts. Others may share their ideas with a friend or mentor and have a conversation that fleshes out the idea and commits it to memory better. These and many other techniques are at least more effective than letting inspiration come and go as it pleases until it happens to strike at just the right time. So if any kind of system like that sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to pursue it further! But if you are on this page you are probably looking for a shortcut. In that case the other approach is to find a collection of cool ideas and designs, and to simply browse through them to expose yourself to different ideas and look for a spark that jumpstarts your inspiration. So here you go: