By Kanchan Kuntala, Founder, Black in Vogue
With the plethora of design elements around us,we often seek for digital portfolios,online magazines,and social media profiles to find inspiration from. But sometimes taking inspiration from online sources can be cluttering because there are a lot more other designers who are sourcing the same websites or magazines for their design inspiration. Stepping out of the resources from where you normally seek inspiration from, can add fresh elements to your designs.
Nature-Looking things close up,there is no end of inspiration if you consider the beauty of Mother Nature.Trees, birds, animals, mountains, oceans are the sublime source of inspiration for fashion designers where they can find endless textures, patterns and shades of colors. If you look at the details of every element, you can jot down innumerable concepts of your design ideas. For Fashion designers it’s essential to look beyond the apparent layers of the natural world.
Architecture–Construction of buildings first evolved out of the dynamics between needs like secured shelters and means like available building materials as well as human skills. As human society and culture developed, architecture became modified with the needs of human life, building became a craft, and eventuallya work of art. For designers, Architectural art can be an amazing source of inspiration for developing design concepts and incorporating the components into their line of collection.
Travel –plunging yourself in a different geography and culture away from your usual periphery is a wonderful way to broaden your sources of inspiration. Elements like fonts which are used on public transport systems, packaging design for products, graffiti artwork on walls, the shapes of exotic fruits and vegetable in the markets, the list of sources of design inspiration goes endless when it comes to exploration of new places. You never know when you get motivated by something completely unrelated.
Books- The library is another magical place where you can discover sources of inspiration that can be mesmerising, and more than could ever be on anyone’s watch list. Many libraries also stock other fashion and art related books, which can have inspiring layouts, colour schemes, contents about history of fashion and art, kinds of art movements as well as other related topics. Those books can be a great source for picking up design inspirations.
