Design Monthly Vol. 8
I save many things each month that I find inspiring for some reason, and I like organized lists, so I figured I’d share those lists and maybe help someone out of a creative block.
But more importantly, I am pushing an old idea that inspiration is everywhere if you look with the right mindset. Being a product designer does not mean you can’t draw from architecture, graphic design, or type design. It also does not mean you can’t draw ideas and inspiration for your project by reading articles, brand stories, or tweets.
Pro tip: use the cmd + f to find the inspiration you need faster. For example: “Portfolio inspiration”
1. Steve Jobs Archive — Ebook
If you don’t know this lovely book website by now, where have you been?
The Steve Jobs Archive is the official memoir of SJ’s work and legacy. I love the interface and calm visuals just as much as I enjoyed reading the short book. Highly recommended.
2. This month’s inspiring person — Akira Kobayashi
Born 1960 Akira Kobayashi is a Japanese font designer living in Germany. As type director for Monotype, he oversees typeface design and reprints of classic typefaces such as Optima. He has also served as a judge in several international typeface contests.
https://www.myfonts.com/collections/akira-kobayashi
You probably saw or used his font families, and this interview with him is a good inspiration. Also, check out this great article on how to type designers create Japanese fonts
3. This month’s inspiring book — The Rules of Genius
Marty Neumeier, a branding genius, writer, and founder of Liquid Agency for design and branding, wrote an amazing book on creativity. I highly recommend brand designers read pretty much all of his books (especially ‘The Brand Gap’).
This blog shares a piece of his book, talking about breaking the rules.
4. Website and style — Jonas W. Abbots
Jonas W. Abbots, a Copenhagen-based stylist & creative consultant. His minimalist website gives the content flavor by not interrupting it. Amazing work.
5. Porfolio — Julie freund
A Graphic Designer at Kontrapunkt Design Agency.
The portfolio is a great showcase of personality and style, very modern yet warm and personal.
6. Art exhibition — Modern Love
Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies) is the next major group exhibition at ΕΜΣΤ. Curated by artistic director Katerina Gregos, it launches the museum’s winter-spring exhibition cycle, which focuses on digital technology and its influence on intimate human relationships.
I used it as research for my work At Keepod firm, and it turned out that artists conduct plenty of insights for their work that designers can use. Read about the exhibition:
7. Article — A digital tool built like a physical product?
Tobias van Schneider writes sharply about how we perceive and use most of our digital products these days, and how we build them accordingly.
He mentioned that their product, mymind, is built with the same carefulness of an Ermes Chair. I always love comparing the digital and physical worlds, as the real world will always be our starting point.
Similar to an Eames chair, designed with love, purchased after careful consideration, placed in a prominent spot in the home, passed from family member to family member. We’ve always worked in the digital world, but we seek to build digital products similar to quality physical products of past times.
8. Alcohol menu — “Happy Accidents” by The Clumsies, Athens
Designed by Eleni Sakali and Alcisti Kouloubis in Greece, this cocktail menu I experienced in Greece is one of the best storytelling examples I engaged with in a while.
Highly recommend reading the menu
9. Alcohol menu — “Happy Accidents” by The Clumsies, Athens
Jonny Czar’s case study is an on-point inspiration on how to structure, engage, and make us both understand the context and still enjoy the reading process. Recommended for portfolio inspiration and writing.
I especially love the persona types, instead of typing descriptions such as favorite music and sportswear that might not be true for all people, they place the research on 4 buckets of personas, with generally different attributes needs, and motivations.
10. Portfolio — Janice Fryn
A Belgian graphic designer who specializes in visual and brand identities, web design, and editorial design. Her ultra-minimalist portfolio makes you feel like a breather online…
works with Accept & Proceed, a huge London-based design firm, which I also highly recommend checking as inspiration. They worked with Nike among other large clients.
Summing up
If you just scrolled past this list and said “There’s nothing here that helps and ignites creativity”, you need to adjust your curiosity. These links offer hundreds of sub-links, more references, additional work, more inspiration, and resource banks. Scroll back and now really look.
I hope you found this useful, Let me know in the comments.
-SH
Bonus:
