Where Do You Find Inspiration?

Inspiration can be a tricky subject – when you happen to need it most, it may be unreliable; yet when you least suspect to find it, you will likely be surprised. This month we asked a few members of our creative culture the pressing personal question: Where do you go to find inspiration? Here is what they said…

Krissten Pillay Traffic Manager

I find music very inspiring. I love The Current ~ 89.3 on my radio dial. I think I probably listen to it more than my CDs or iPod. They offer such a diverse repertoire of music wonderfulness! I like magazines (kinda more than the web) for fashion, cosmetics, hair, health etc. inspiration. My favorites are Lucky magazine, More magazine and Vogue magazine (for some aspiring-up inspiration!) I like happy hours & restaurants for people watching inspiration, as much as for the drinks & food. It provides more attainable/copiable style fodder than most magazines. I am inspired by The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, MoveOn.org and the One Organization for social awareness & ‘the bigger world’ stuff…politics, religion, current affairs. I feel inspired to do ‘good things’. I am inspired when I hang out with my mother (a very healthy & active 85 year old) and my children (clever, cool women in their twenties). I’m very inspired by young children~ they offer so much insight into simple truths and speak their minds so easily! It’s wonderful to spend time reading with elementary-age kiddos. I love to spend days at the ocean and in the mountains to be inspired by their enormity and majesty. I go to yoga class for inspiration too : )

• MPR
• The Rachel Maddow Show
• MoveOn.org
• One.org

Bryan Entzel Sr. Designer

For me inspiration is all around me. TV, media, stores but especially nature. I’ve always been drawn to the blend of organic shapes, colors and styles mixed with more rigid man-made design. (Alone man-made can feel cold. But brought together with a touch of a natural shape or color, a graceful curve or a bit of unscripted positioning it feels less contrived. It’s real at that point verses posed.) Trees don’t grow perfectly symmetrical. Portraits are never perfectly posed and that’s the beauty of a design sometimes.

Lindsey Bennet Sr. Designer

My list of blog inspiration:

• grain edit · modern graphic design inspiration blog + vintage graphics resource
• Oh Joy!
• Free High Resolution Textures — Lost and Taken
• Once Wed | Wedding Ideas, Used Wedding Dresses, and Wedding Blog
• Eight Hour Day » Blog
• Needs/Wants Magazine
• Friends of Type
• Behance Network :: Gallery
• Loveology
• Vintage Ad Browser
• Apartment Therapy
• design work life » cataloging inspiration daily
• Design*Sponge
• The Style Rookie

Dana Mason Sr. Design Director

I am truly inspired by the beautiful and unique crafts on ETSY. It is not only about their actual work, but the image of themselves that they put forth in the world. They create and share beautiful things. It is the positive influence that I need to do the same.

I am inspired by clean, warm and functional residential architecture, especially Scandinavian design. Creating an inviting space for living, sharing and socializing is a challenge.

MyFonts.com sends me their ‘Rising Stars’ newsletter. It is inspiring to not only view new fonts, but to see the way the designer puts them into context.

• Etsy
• MyFonts

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