This weekend I received a comment asking where I got my inspiration.

Not knowing where to get inspiration terrified me when I first started my design career. What if I have an amazing project to work on and I don’t know how to create something beautiful? To be honest this fear lasted until 2006 when I decided to take a course at Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD) called Design Inspiration by Anna Hergert. Anna specialized in quilting and about 80% of the class were quilters, however there were graphic, fashion and floral designers in the class as well.

We covered topics such as textiles, starting a sketch pad, starting an inspiration book from magazine clippings, mixing paint to creating art out of something you’d normally throw out. The most important thing I took out of the class was: inspiration can come from anything: a skyscraper, magazines, stores, a friend’s clothes, a water fountain, even a rusty vehicle. You just need to focus on that one element that catches your eye and after that everything seems to fall into place.

For example, take this photo to the right, we see a man with a brief case walking down some train tracks. If this was your inspirational piece for a living room, you could install hardwood flooring (like the wood in the tracks), metal a metal picture frame (like the metal in the tracks), add striped throw pillows (like the man’s tie), a boquet of flowers in a clear vase with rocks on the bottom (under the tracks) and sepia toned artwork to finish the room. You could also add some old luggage for décor items. It’s amazing what can spark an idea.

Images: iStock Photo (November 5, 2007), iStock Photo (July 5, 2010), iStock Photo (July 5, 2010),

1. nude male model Says:
   July 7th, 2010 at 11:56 AM

   “this weekend i received a comment asking where i got my inspiration” – >what do you mean ? …



2. Jennifer Campbell Says:
   July 7th, 2010 at 4:06 PM

   Hello, I had a comment on one of my previous posts and the writer wanted to know where I found my ideas for writing articles. I thought it would be a good article to write where I get my design ideas. Hope that helps clear up the confusion.



3. Yahoo Healthy News Says:
   July 11th, 2010 at 11:15 AM

   Great {article|post}…

   This the best article I have never seen before….



4. Jennifer Campbell Says:
   July 11th, 2010 at 7:51 PM

   Thanks! Glad you liked it!



5. Yahoo News Says:
   July 20th, 2010 at 6:20 PM

   Yahoo News…

   This is really great news today….

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website