Inspiration for Design and Advertising
Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 9:23 am
When Vivien at Inspiration Bit suggested I take part in her Group writing project Source of Inspiration I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to write about. I had just written a post about the scrap books I keep and have a previous post Stuck on a Design Project so I needed a bit of inspiration on inspiration (if you know what I mean). I thought about talking about the books or websites I like but I wanted it to be more personal.
One of the projects types I find most inspirational is producing concepts for print adverts so I decided to look back at some I had done in the past to remind me where the ideas came from.
Word Association
Word association and playing on words is one method I use to get inspired.
Several years ago I had to create a print adverts targeted at Pig Farmers (I get all the glamourous jobs). The advert was to encourage them to vaccinate their pigs against a disease which stunts their growth, not very pleasant subject matter, but it was a message I had to try and get across. The advert was to go in a Pig Farming magazine, so of course it was going to be full of images of pigs, so if I wanted the advert to get noticed, I thought it best to avoid this. I brainstormed the idea of growth, with spider diagrams words and doodles, and eventually thought of the nursery rhyme “This little piggy” that is said while touching a child’s toes. I produced several concepts, but my final advert was picture of a child’s foot with an arrow towards the big toe - saying that this one had been vaccinated and visa versa the little toe.
Image Association
I often find ideas in images. You can notice that something looks relates to something else, or that you could add something to an image to give it an extra/different meaning.
Last year I was asked to come up with an advert for a company that sells contact lenses to opticians. The message was to be that their contact lenses were not available in the supermarkets, and so the consumer would have to continue to purchase from the optician. The opticians had been losing a lot of business to the supermarkets. The headline (which they gave me) was ” time to fight back”. I started with words, brainstorming as I usually do, but then moved on to images. A key image that represents the supermarket is a trolley, so I searched for some trolley images. The thing that stood out for me was the red handle, with a bit of tweaking I knew it would look like horns, hence the trolley devil advert (left).
A Positive Negative
The idea of looking at something in a different way, putting a twist on something really appeals to me. Instead of a shop being in the middle of nowhere, couldn’t it be a shop with ample parking?
A local company who provide digital print, large format printing and other services asked me to come up with some ideas for them. They were saying we’re reliable, we’re quick etc etc, the trouble is that is what everyone in the same industry is saying. I tried to twist the negative they had and turn it to a positive. Now it wasn’t a very big negative, but I had worked inhouse a few times and all their drinks including the ones they gave to clients came out of a vending machine. As you know we English are big tea drinkers and the vending machine tea was not good. So I came up with a headline “Everyone’s got their bad points” with an image of their vended tea, below I created a post-it note showing their pros and cons. The only thing in the cons section was the tea.
Metaphors
Comparing one thing to another is another good way to come up with ideas it gives you another angle on a theme.
I had to come with with concepts for a cow vaccine (glamourous again) against a disease in cows which farmers do not think is serious. The disease causes low milk yields in dairy cows. The adverts would be a single right hand magazine page, followed by a double page spread. Again I wanted to avoid using cow pictures so tried to think of things I could compare it to - the mountain and the molehill, but in reverse. It made me think of small things that could cause big effects. Initially I was thinking dripping tap, flooded house, but the image of a whole street flooded was much more powerful.
Humour/Taking something to an Extreme
If a subject is suitable, I like to try and see if there is anything in a humourous angle, or the idea of taking a subject to an extreme.
I had to come up with some advert ideas for a garage door company. Their strapline was Strong, Stylish, Secure so I tried to look at the humourous side of why a garage door needed to be strong. Instead of the obvious its strong (dent proof) to withstand a few knocks from a car or kids playing football, it could be from someone kicking it when they had a bad day. As the garage doors are so stylish it could take all night to choose one. The security of the garage doors would lead to an unhappy, empty handed burglar.
Sometimes my best ideas come when I am not purposefully thinking about the job, like just before I fall asleep, or driving. It is almost as if the pressure is off and your mind is free to wander.
What methods do you use to generate ideas and inspiration?
Category: Design Inspiration, General Graphic Design
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Comment by Calvin Warr
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 10:24 am
ha! i LOVE that trolley! really nice!
Words, meanings, imagery. In this highly “scientific” and commercial world, its getting harder to find creativity coming through in fresh, and er… creative ways! We are all so pressed for time! 
Comment by steve
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 1:12 pm
some very interesting concepts here - fascinating to read.
i love to run (as some of you may or may not know). it’s amazing how many ideas i get while i’m out and about.
Comment by Tara1
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 1:22 pm
Hi Calvin,
I agree - it would be so nice to have more time for creative projects, time and budgets get smaller and smaller.
Hi Steve,
Glad you enjoyed reading.
Regarding the running - please can you stop showing those high calorie smoothie recipes, they look really nice but keep making me hungry.
Comment by inspirationbit
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 3:49 pm
I’m so glad that my group project has inspired you to write this article. It was an enthralling study of how thinking outside the box is the best approach anyone can take.
My favourite concepts from the ones listed above were the piggy-toes, trolley and the flood.
Thank you so much for participating in my group project with the new entry (hopefully your article will inspire others to participate as well) and taking us behind the scenes of the Designer’s mind at work.
Comment by Tara1
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 4:01 pm
Thanks, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing the other entries, maybe you could compile some of the best ideas from all of them into a simple downloadable ebook? I know next time I get stuck on a project it would nice to have a list of ways to get my brain buzzing again.
Comment by inspirationbit
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 4:17 pm
Now, that’s what I call a Great Idea!
An e-book - I should definitely do that. Looks like I’ve got some homework to do - learning about the e-book creation. Any suggestions/tips are greatly appreciated.
Comment by Tara1
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 4:36 pm
Just googled “create an ebook” and it looks like their are loads of examples. I’ve never put one together, but hopefully someone else reading may have? I would assume you just create it as HTML or a PDF?
Can I order my copy now please 
Comment by inspirationbit
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 4:40 pm
Yes, you certainly can, Tara.
Actually, all those who participate in this group project will receive a free copy of this e-book. All others will have to pay for it
Comment by LaurenMarie
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 8:54 pm
Excellent! I’m know I’m going to come back to this when I feel overwhelmed with a new project and absolutely no ideas on what to do. I hope an e-book can be compiled; I would certainly love another design inspiration resource. Thanks so much for this! And I really love your style of design, too, Tara; I’m glad you used examples from your own portfolio Neat to see those
Comment by Tara1
Made Monday, 14 of May , 2007 at 9:08 pm
Thanks LaurenMarie
I would be interested in hearing and inspiration tips you have too.
Comment by LaurenMarie
Made Tuesday, 15 of May , 2007 at 12:45 am
Hmm, my tips/inspiration. Ok, here it goes:
I keep a design scrapbook of sorts, though mine is mostly digital screenshots I’ve taken from various websites. I also have a document with written ideas about different styles I would like to try: make it look like an illuminated manuscript, watercolor painting, Victorian type poster, try using pure typography to create images, using only two colors, etc…
The rest of this comment will be posted on Inspiration Bit Group Project on Sources of Inspiration on 19 May
Comment by Tara1
Made Tuesday, 15 of May , 2007 at 5:07 pm
Some good tips Lauren - glad I got a sneak preview
Comment by inspirationbit
Made Tuesday, 15 of May , 2007 at 5:12 pm
Thank you so much for your inspiring entry, LaurenMarie. And thank you, Tara, for promoting this group writing project.
Comment by santosh p
Made Wednesday, 16 of May , 2007 at 6:37 pm
I love the piggy one and supermarket one… Cow ad was rich by concept related to production of less milk, and flooding in the other one.. But still not drawing enough satisfaction…
But the trolley was awesome… u were too good..
BTW how come your getting so many glamorous jobs… You into poultry or something?? ;-P
Comment by Tara1
Made Wednesday, 16 of May , 2007 at 8:07 pm
Hi Santosh, I have not worked on a chicken advert yet - can’t wait for that one
Thanks for the compliment, glad you like them.
Comment by Bianca
Made Thursday, 17 of May , 2007 at 12:04 am
Hey Tara,
Thanks so much for posting this. It really is inspirational and you came up with great ideas
Comment by Tara1
Made Thursday, 17 of May , 2007 at 8:47 am
Hi Bianca
Thanks, I’m glad you found it useful.
Comment by Korean Drama Addict
Made Friday, 18 of May , 2007 at 4:56 pm
I had an advertising subject back in College, and we really had a hard time figuring a good print ad. Though, now, I am not in advertising media, I still found this field is an interesting and fun area to work for. Your ideas are great and it inspired me… I love looking to ads that are catchy and creative, not just the plain thing one see in most of the ads.
Brainstorming is great too, and its so fulfilling once your small idea becomes big for ebrybody in the group…. like “Wow, great job!”
Comment by Tara1
Made Friday, 18 of May , 2007 at 5:09 pm
Hi Korean Drama Addict
Thanks for your comment.
I’m glad you found its inspiring to read, thanks.
Like you I love the brainstorming bit of any job, to me the idea and sketching bit are more fun than actually putting the ad together.
Pingback by Group Writing Project Results: 37 Sources Of Inspiration » Inspiration Bit
Made Sunday, 27 of May , 2007 at 11:13 am
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Made Sunday, 27 of May , 2007 at 1:18 pm
[…] Inspiration For Design And Advertising by Tara Get inspired by word association and playing on words, find ideas in images, look “at something in a different way”, using metaphors. […]
Comment by Joey
Made Sunday, 27 of May , 2007 at 4:39 pm
Thanks for writing this post. I am a non creative kind of guy so I really liked the way you laid out the inspiration behind the finished product.
Comment by Karim
Made Monday, 28 of May , 2007 at 10:39 am
Thanks for the inspiration ! What a nice article you created here. Not only the designs are great but also the way you share in a totally natural language. A fine piece of work I’d say.
Comment by Tara1
Made Monday, 28 of May , 2007 at 12:31 pm
Hi Joey and Karim
I’m glad you enjoyed reading thank you.
This Eclectic Life
Thanks for the mention
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Comment by sian
Made Saturday, 13 of October , 2007 at 8:57 pm
Hey!
I am currently in my third year doing Graphic Design, and i am totally stuck with my personal project. I have begun with an idea of creating a book all about the colour pink, and thats it!! i love doing collages and painting and being all girly so if anyone can help me to further this idea or give me totally different ideas i will be soooooo thankful!!
Comment by Tara: Freelance Designer
Made Saturday, 13 of October , 2007 at 9:24 pm
Hi Sian
I don’t know if you have tried it already but I would start with the word pink in the middle of a large piece of paper and then create spider brainstorms from it (word associations). For (one chain could be) example PINK - strawberry ice cream - taste - tongue - lips - lipstick - makeup etc etc. When you get to the edge of the page go back to the word pink in the middle and start again linking new words. It doesn’t matter if it gets random as you will spring up new ideas that way. Try doodling some of the things you write for example draw/doodle a lipstick (from your word association and see what it could look vaguely like - a rocket a firework?
Will the mood boards just get a load of magazines and just cut out anything pink or that in some way relates to pink and stick them all on a board.
You could also try the random word technique
By the way I always used to hate being given personal projects its much easier to given a brief and work from there.
Hope this helps??
Comment by sian
Made Thursday, 18 of October , 2007 at 7:34 pm
Hey Tara, thankyou sooo much for that!! I will get onto it now.Yes i agree i hate personal projects too!
thanks again
Comment by David
Made Friday, 23 of November , 2007 at 6:51 am
Really nice design work and good concepts. I enjoy seeing fresh new advertising ideas. The ads that may you think are my favorite, they seem to stick in my head for a while.
Comment by Rachel
Made Tuesday, 18 of December , 2007 at 7:04 am
Great article. I too also find inspiration in print advertising and designs - I have in my library a bunch of the best of brochure design, best of advertising design, etc books. I love them. I just wrote an article that lists 180+ resources online for design inspiration and I liked your article so much that I added your link to the article. I put yours up above other links because yours is so well thought out.
Thanks.
Rachel
AllGraphicDesign.com
Comment by Gary Ooi
Made Thursday, 13 of March , 2008 at 3:11 pm
Great concept! I’m beginning to have some interest in designing and I feel this site do give some helpful tips in a way to me. I hope I’ll take heed of some advices/tips/etc and learn to be a better designer.
Comment by Firebubble
Made Tuesday, 3 of June , 2008 at 8:46 pm
You have a really unique way of coming up with ideas for your work. Hitting a blank can be the most frustrating thing possible when designing to a deadline. I find the most useful technique is too take a break and brainstorm. Because it will be much more beneficial than just sitting in front of the computer screen being unproductive. Good blog, I really like your work.
Sam
Comment by Search Engine Sam
Made Wednesday, 4 of June , 2008 at 9:15 am
I agree, the best thing to do is always brainstorm. You are never going to come up with a great idea sitting in front of a screen getting frustrated. Ireally like your different approaches for coming up with ideas.
Comment by stich
Made Tuesday, 10 of June , 2008 at 7:46 pm
great ideas and creativity, beyond imaganiation of normal man ,
Comment by Royal Oak
Made Tuesday, 15 of July , 2008 at 8:42 am
excellent little piggy idea, a great concept. Word association is something that i learn t studying graphics at uni.
Comment by Kaycee
Made Monday, 13 of October , 2008 at 10:55 am
great inspirations you have there.. i agree we can do a lot based on our imaginations. being creative is a part of one’s idea.
Comment by stellar
Made Wednesday, 15 of October , 2008 at 3:14 am
nice post.. i got inspirations from cool works that ive seen through the web. i got inspired with great designs.
Comment by Movie Review Blog
Made Sunday, 26 of October , 2008 at 1:51 pm
great post.. i agree with brainstorming, it is very important to share ideas to get the right one.
Comment by Nate
Made Saturday, 1 of November , 2008 at 8:14 pm
I always think our general surroundings can offer a lot of inspiration if we are just creative. Sometimes we need help though, watch and ask other people how they see things.