{"id":14405,"date":"2025-09-15T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T08:30:14","slug":"designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDesigners need to broaden how and where they get inspiration\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eye of newt may be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of a spell\u2019s ingredients, but using the same recipe over and over only dulls the magic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Creativity works the same way. It thrives on fresh perspectives \u2013 yet too often our industry recycles the same voices and calls it revolutionary. Rebrands blur into one another, design trends loop endlessly, and there\u2019s a spell of sameness in the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we want to make work that is distinctive, resilient, and impactful, we need to invoke wider sources of inspiration. <\/span><\/p>\n

That means stepping outside the circle of advertising and design, and looking instead to the messy, unpredictable, and diverse world beyond it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking the spell of sameness<\/h5>\n

Creatives have always drawn from a wide well of inspiration \u2013 music, fashion, architecture, literature and nature and more. The strongest ideas come not from staring harder into the void within our own industry, but from exploring unexpected places. Fresh perspectives spark connections that our own echo chambers can\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why SheSays created Night School<\/a>, a free, month-long online learning programme designed to upskill and uplift the creative community. <\/span><\/p>\n

A key part of its curation was to bring in unconventional teachers \u2013 from a dominatrix to a Samurai Deshi to a British Museum curator and a real-life mermaid \u2013 inviting them to share their lived career advice with a creative audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The point wasn\u2019t smoke and mirrors style novelty. It was to show that by widening the input, we open up new ways of thinking about communication, leadership, resilience, and storytelling. Real magic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Widening our design inputs<\/h5>\n

The same principle guided the design team behind the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

The identity was built on a tension between the familiar and the fantastical. The inspiration came from both everyday school structures and the otherworldly aesthetics of Tarot and witchcraft. <\/span><\/p>\n

The result felt both familiar and intriguing: a reminder that identity work doesn\u2019t have to be locked to design trends. By combining cultural references, opposites met in the middle to create something new.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Night School identity<\/p>\n

For Night School\u2019s senior motion designer, Den Salazar<\/span>,<\/span> bringing the visuals to life meant embracing imperfection. His inspiration came not from other brand films but from sketchbooks, chalk marks, folklore, and nature. In this particular project, it\u2019s the unpredictable flight of moths that breathed life into the campaign mascot, Nyx.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lesson is clear \u2013 looking beyond polished references grounds creative work in something more human and resonant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The video lessons of Night School were shaped by video editor Faye Wessely, whose aim was to ensure the content didn\u2019t just look good, but be inclusive and engaging too. Subtitles, graphics, and careful pacing made the content accessible for different learning styles. <\/span><\/p>\n

Accessibility itself became a creative influence \u2013 a reminder that design isn\u2019t only about aesthetics, but about who gets to be part of the conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaboration as alchemy<\/h5>\n

Working in silos limits us. Collaboration across disciplines, backgrounds, and perspectives multiplies creative possibilities. When writers, designers, editors, and motion artists brought their skills together, they didn\u2019t just produce assets \u2013 they built something bigger than the sum of its parts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s true for any creative project. Diversity of thought and practice is what fuels originality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Curiosity is one of the strongest spells in the creative toolkit. Widening inspiration sources \u2013 whether that\u2019s looking to other cultures, disciplines, or lived experiences \u2013 does more than add variety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It makes work more resilient to sameness, more inclusive of audiences, and more relevant to a fast-changing world.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also makes creativity more sustainable. In an era of AI disruption and rising burnout, human creativity must be grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and accessibility. Narrow inputs risk making us obsolete \u2013 wide inputs keep us inventive and adaptive.<\/span><\/p>\n

The temptation is always to stick to what we know \u2013 to scroll the same platforms, look at the same case studies, replicate the same trends. But sameness is safe, not creative. Real breakthroughs happen when we lean into difference \u2013 voices that unsettle, ideas that challenge, disciplines that collide.<\/span><\/p>\n

The future of our industry depends on it. If we want to tell our own fortunes as creatives, we must be open to listening, learning, and evolving with diverse perspectives. That is where the real magic is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Terri Witherden is senior brand designer for Night School by SheSays .<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\nWhat to read next: <\/strong>\u201cAmid this terrifying climate crisis, designers need to step up\u201d<\/a> | \u201cThe best start-ups are built on brand, so designers should have a stake\u201d<\/a> | \u201cBetter not louder\u201d \u2013 How designers can make PR work for them<\/a> | \u201cChaos in a trenchcoat \u2013 How designers can succeed in a start-up\u201d<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eye of newt may be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of a spell\u2019s ingredients, but using the same recipe over and over only dulls the magic.\u00a0 Creativity works the same … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[145],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cDesigners need to broaden how and where they get inspiration\u201d - Blog TSK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cDesigners need to broaden how and where they get inspiration\u201d - Blog TSK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eye of newt may be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of a spell\u2019s ingredients, but using the same recipe over and over only dulls the magic.\u00a0 Creativity works the same …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog TSK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T08:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/\",\"name\":\"Blog TSK\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/designers-need-to-broaden-how-and-where-they-get-inspiration\/\",\"name\":\"\\u201cDesigners need to broaden how and where they get inspiration\\u201d - 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