Finding Inspiration in New Cities
How our creative team finds artistry around any corner.
Inspiration. As a professional creative, being inspired is our bread and butter. It pays our rent, our monthly car payment, and food and utility bills. Sadly, we don’t always make becoming inspired a top priority. It often gets pushed to the back burner of our life in the hustle and bustle of deadlines and client meetings.
There are countless creatives who feel as though they are not always living up to their potential—myself included. However, as creative professionals, we need to recharge our batteries, acquire a new headspace, and restore our perspective. We need to get inspired.
About a year ago, I came across a quote by Tony Hogqvist, who was the Creative Director of Airbnb.
“The best work is often done during two extremes. Under insane stress and personal setbacks or in complete harmony with a rested mind. It’s hard to build a creative team around the first principle. So the easiest solution is to force people to take longer vacations and have a better work-life balance.”
I became intrigued and made a connection—that time away from the office or any deadline-centric environment provides a new and refreshed perspective.
I have also heard that what separates creative and non-creative individuals is how they look at the world around them in order to draw inspiration. I found myself feeling uninspired and bored of my surroundings, so I decided that for the next year, I would dip into my vacation days and visit a few cities that are rich in history—specifically St. Augustine, Charleston, and Nashville. After each trip, I found myself feeling more inspired than when I left—eager to apply some of the creativity that I had acquired while I was away.
I found that when I travel to a new city I get inspired, first and foremost, by architecture. Cities have so much variety, color, and personality that is difficult to ignore. The world of architecture and interior design holds a wide array of potential sources of inspiration, and there is likely an aesthetic style out there for every taste and project. When I observe the buildings and structures, I take in their forms, shapes, details, and other defining characteristics that make them unique. Many cities are defined by architectural styles employed during different art movements in history. Victorian, Tudor, Neoclassical, Baroque, Gothic, Bauhaus, Art Deco, and Modern architecture are just a few examples of what you can find when you immerse yourself in a new environment. Each era in time presents a different culture, lifestyle, and different style of art. Letting yourself fully experience the history, art, and culture of a city can help shape your design aesthetic, and inspire you to create work that you may not have before.
Applying this idea to myself, I noticed that after I traveled to Charleston and St. Augustine, I had a newfound fondness for refined and minimal design, vintage typography, and soft pastel colors. I created an illustration that encapsulated what Charleston felt like to me. You’ll notice the classic 18th century row house that I depicted — a clear riff on the iconic Rainbow Row, using a soft pink primary color, vintage typeface, and retro-illustration technique.
Along with architecture, some of my favorite things to get inspired by when I travel are murals and signage. While in Nashville, I was constantly snapping photos of beautiful hand-painted murals, and neon signs that have become intrinsic with the city of Nashville for many years. Hand-lettering and vintage typography are such popular design trends in the creative world, with many design studios making names for themselves by creating work that mimics the designs of old. There is something so delightfully nostalgic about a 70s-era neon dry cleaning sign—so seemingly out of place, but simultaneously fitting right into the surrounding cityscape. Walking streets with vintage murals and typography inspired me to practice my illustration and hand-lettering skills and gave me ideas for designs that I could create in the future.
If you are creative like me, understanding that you need time to unplug and take in new surroundings is vital to becoming inspired. You may find that once you take in a new city or allow yourself a new experience, you unlock a treasure trove of design possibilities that shape and fuel your creativity.
