The Art of Looking

When I first became interested in design (around the age of 12), I couldn’t stop looking. Everything in my environment became a veritable gold mine for ideas: cereal boxes, billboards, buses, and of course book covers and magazines.

I was hungry for inspiration, finding it anything, everything.

When I was a kid, I was a sponge, taking in the visuals of the overgrown fields and dilapidated churches and turning them into stories in my head, shapes and feelings to be infused into art later.

If you want to be a better creator, find your way back to looking. To taking things from your surroundings, distilling them and mashing them together in the blender that is your imagination, and letting them come out a newborn idea.

Application #1: The Type Safari

One of my favorite exercises from my time in design school was going on a Type Safari. Set an hour aside one Saturday, and just walk around a mall or a nearby town. Take photos of signs that inspire you, individual letters with a quality you can’t just let go of. My favorite signs are the ones in small towns, handpainted with paint and love and a few punctuation errors.

This can also be a running exercise, compiled minute by minute across daily life; whenever typography strikes your fancy, take a photo and add to a folder in your phone. The opening title for The Black Stallion really struck me this weekend.

Very prickly; honestly, not very on-brand for the subject matter, but the coolness makes me overlook that. Today in a meeting, I found myself doodling a random letter L and wonder why it came so easily, before realizing just now actually that this opening title typography had been emblazoned in my brain.

Application #2: Pinterest

Now, here’s where the “phones aren’t evil” part comes in. While shadowing some graphic design majors, one of them gave me a probably duh but still rather handy piece of advice: start collecting things on Pinterest. He’d been compiling his personal board for years and had reached a stratosphere of thousands of design references.

You can even download plugins that allow you to create pins from any image on other websites.

I have been digging around in my boards for years. I try to set aside at least 5–10 minutes daily to go on a virtual museum tour through the mines of Pinterest, gathering diamonds (and even fools’ gold).

I have boards for specifically typography, as well as magazine and motion design. I also have a board that’s more drawing-focused (a skill I’m trying to hone this year). My workplace also has a shared board where we ideate new show and project concepts.

If you aren’t on Pinterest, you are missing out!

Application #3: Barnes & Noble

Barnes and Noble is the first two applications combined: a Type Safari in an in-person Pinterest. I love browsing through book covers, whether they’re more illustration- or typography-focused. I like complaining when my favorite books get a revamp that’s worse (looking at you, Grishaverse), or when a Special Edition element is slapped on everything, making it no longer special (looking at you, stamped book edges).

You’ll also find inspiration in perhaps one of the most strenuous design mediums (in my opinion): the magazine rack. Magazines stretch your typography and hierarchy skills in painful ways; yet, when it’s done well, it looks easy. A less-than skillset, even. And that’s what makes it magical.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to level up your creativity, look no further than around you. Go on a hike this weekend and be inspired by the color palette of the sun-dappled mountains or the curvy effortlessness of the trees. You now have an excuse to amble through a mall without having to spend a buck (unless you’re in LA, like me, and they charge you to even park…).

Implement these three strategies: the type safaris, opening a Pinterest and mining ideas on a daily basis, and walking around bookstores. You’ll already find a wealth of inspiration.

Where would you like to go on a Type Safari?