Our goal is to gather everything we need to create a great creative direction.
A quick Overview of this phase:
The internet is a huge place - how do we know where to start? We need to narrow down our ideas We need to know what to look for
The end result is only as good as what you put in Step by step process to find good inspirations:
Step 1: Word dump
The goal is to truly narrow down our focus:
Draw 4 columns - Spend 5 mins per column Referencing a character of a brand, assign attributes to the brand, find descriptive words that might describe this company would be if they were a human Audience: who am I designing for? Feeling: emotions that you want to evoke from the brand Competitors: what other people are doing and other competitors Step 2: What are we looking for
Start with color, and look for a colour palette from images, photography or existing colour palette. Please keep in mind colour psychology.
Logo Styles: in this phase try to not be too literal in this, include some good examples but not the “exact look” Where to find it?
Visual inspiration websites: Pinterest (Chrome extension), Behance (can find full case studies to learn from) and Dribble (easy to find stuff using pre-filtered categories), SAVEE.IT Competitors and others brands Outside of design, in the real world
Creativity thrives when it’s left alone, sometimes where we find an inspiration is anywhere but the internet. Inspiration sites:
A handy Chrome extension so you can gather all the inspiration It’s quite flexible and easy to use Downside: it can take practice to find what you need - the shorter the phrase, the better Great for practical projects by other designers Easy to find stuff using the pre-filtered categories Behance in particular uses full case studies to learn from and getting inspired Everything is curatted already Can be a bit limited without paying Real life work by other designers Have a more indie looking styles Competitors: We want to create some sort of familiarity and make sure that your audience know that we’re still in the same industry. Other brands your clients is inspired by Save out their logos and other elements Look for common trends and techniques Outside of design:
Give yourself time and space to give these visual ideas and inspirations to simmer Other industries, i.e: architecture, fashion, lifestyle brands Talk to friends, colleagues Step 3: Bringing it all together:
Put everything in one place through Milanote - an all in one tool to save ideas from all over the internet Folders system in the computer
To be added: Colour psychology
Finding Inspiration and Doing Research