Hello! I’m Tom, and I’m a Junior Designer at Wolfcub. My role is multidisciplinary, specialising in Brand Identity and Graphic Design. 

How did I get here?

An early fascination with fine art and photography led me to study Digital Media at Brighton University. While doing so, I became more and more interested in lots of different disciplines other than just working in print and with physical materials. 

Pursuing this, I chose a career in a digital space so that I could experience new things and to help me learn how I can visualise my ideas in new and different ways. This kind of work is really inspiring. And in turn, inspiration drives this kind of work.

However, sometimes finding inspiration can take a little time. And that’s ok. We are all human after all. Our brains haven’t been made with a time-lapse function just yet, so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it. 

The pressure of creating new and exciting ideas though can sometimes feel like a real struggle, whether that struggle is with inspiration or just some uncertainty and fear of what the client will think. 

Thorough research into a brief and a solid understanding of a brand’s target audience can help the process of designing with confidence, but for many of us, we need a little extra help; a push in the right direction. 

This is why finding the right inspiration, one that works best for you, is really important. 

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Inspiration can be found everywhere and at any time, you just need to know how to recognise it.

In fact, if you feel like you’ve exhausted the same old places and resources time and time again, just relax and let the inspiration come to you.

Your brain is an amazing feat of biological engineering and it will present you with new ideas, or solutions to any number of problems that you may have been previously struggling with, at literally any time of the day. So, whether you’re having a shower in the morning, listening to music on your walk home after work, or enjoying a weekend away somewhere, your brain is your best asset. And it’s always ticking away in the background.

The fastest computer on Earth can produce 1.75 petaflops (a thousand trillion floating point operations per second) while consuming 7 megawatts of power (6,300 homes). Your brainpower has been estimated at 100 petaflops requiring only 20 watts.

Living in a Digital Age for the majority of my life as a young adult and designer has meant that I have found and experienced things that I never thought possible.

I like to spend time absorbing as much as I can around me, and finding niche areas or things to spark that precious idea. This mindset of absorbing as much as I can from everything, anywhere, for me is what I believe makes new, engaging and exciting ideas. 

This article is not necessarily a guide on where you can find inspiration, but it is an insight into what I do and where I go to find it. 

You may even be inspired to explore new things yourself.

In my opinion, Behance is one of the best places, if not my absolute favourite, for finding great work and inspiration.

Each and every time I visit the site I am blown away by the quality of work and the type of work people are doing. Seriously. 

It is easy to use and finding what you are looking for is simple, you just need to do a quick search. Having said this, I often find that the best inspiration is discovered elsewhere in other categories through exploration. Looking for inspiration for building a website? Look at other types of projects, even if they are print-based; this often gives me some ideas for layout and photography.

Behance is not only full of great quality work, but also of many different styles of design and media, which will definitely inspire you in some way, shape or form.

My personal favourite social platform for presenting and promoting my work.

Instagram is a great tool for finding inspiration as it has a huge range of work, from artists and designers from posting work in progress to images of final products and high-quality designs. 

Entering any keyword you can think of will bring up thousands of posts with the same tag, so there is no shortage of inspiration. There are now lots of design-related accounts which share selected works from posts that have a specific tag. These accounts can be a big help to promote your work and also inspire you. 

Here are some great accounts that I follow and so should you: 

• graphicroozane
• logoinspirations
• uimob
• dailytype
• typelab
• inspofinds
• minalstudio
• visualjournal
• designarf
• illustree
• graphicdesignblg
• thefutur

Many big artists, designers, and studios are now also on Instagram, so it is a great way to follow some of your favourite people and keep up-to-date with their work, picking up any advice they may share.

Some of my favourites are:

Aaron Draplin, Baugasm, Hey Studio & Van Schneider. Check them out!

Another great site is Dribbble. Not only does it have a great community of designers, but it is also full of phenomenal work – just browse the front page, and each day you will see something that will catch your eye.

One of my favourite features of Dribbble is that each post offers a small snapshot of the work, so designers often try and showcase what they feel to be their very best for that image. 

Dribbble also offers support for videos and gifs, which is great as it can also give you some extra depth and emotion to the work.

For young people like myself, technology plays such a big part in how we consume the world around us.

Most people average 24 hours a week online with some as much as 40! It sounds crazy but everyday activities such as socialising, relaxing or being entertained is all done online, so much so, it feels hard to escape it sometimes.

Being inspired to create new and interesting things though, does not necessarily mean you only have to look online. Taking breaks from a digital format and experiencing and seeing simple things like textures, signage on shops, print adverts, books, nature, and other personal experiences you have had can help shape your style and give you inspiration.

I personally have found inspiration in the simplest of moments, like when sunlight hits an object and casts a shadow from it. These are great opportunities to capture in a photo you can later use as reference.

One of my favourite forms of inspiration is music. It does not necessarily have to be going to a gig, but simply listening while walking home after work, or relaxing and being alone with my own thoughts with time to reflect on my ideas and find new inspiration.

Listening to professional artists and designers talk about their work and discuss their processes and thoughts is a valuable way to learn something new and to spark inspiration.

Conferences offer many different talks and events run by artists and designers from different industries and styles to your own. As such it is a great way to find new inspiration and gain some insight into how other designers work.

OFFF is a great conference for those interested in design and all things creative. The conference runs in several different countries throughout the year and has a popular one in Barcelona. I have personally been to OFFF Barcelona a couple of times, and would definitely go again.

Whether it is to explore new artists, designers I haven’t seen before or taking away some valuable advice, it’s well worth the ticket entry and travel. Another great benefit of traveling to conferences, like this one in Barcelona, is that it also allows you to embrace the people, culture, and sights of the city. Barcelona has offered me a lot of inspiration and experiences which I believe have had a lasting effect on me and my work. 

Art exhibitions are not just for artists.

Even without a background in a creative field, you may still be able to take something away. It might not feel like it has significantly changed you, but they can help to give you an insight into different cultures and art styles. There is always something going on. If more traditional galleries and paintings are not your thing, keep an eye out on what is going on near you, there are plenty of other events, exhibitions and experiences happening.