Get Out Of That Rut

Design Bridge’s creative director of brand language, Holly Kielty, explains how to escape the hell of a blank page and a blank brain

- Holly Kielty

You can find inspiration in anything”, said Paul Smith. And he’s right, of course. But how about we get specific, because whether you’re in a creative rut, suffering from writer’s block, or just not quite cracking that brief, sometimes you need to take direct action.

MEET YOUR PUBLIC

OK, OK, you hate your commute, we all do. But try to see it in a different light. Take out your headphones, put down the Kindle. Listen to people’s conversations, their opinions. Think about why they’ve chosen the shoes they’re wearing, the lipstick they’re applying. Take a trip to parts of town you’ve not ventured to and walk among the markets and parks to bus stops and stations you wouldn’t usually wait at. You won’t get to grips with what motivates people in the real world by sitting at your desk.

BE INSPIRED BY THE INSPIRED

We’ve all got our secret creative crushes, and I say embrace them. If you’re a sucker for Starck, or a bastion of Bowie, go all out. Buy the books, listen to the music, see the films, wear the fur coat. Sometimes it helps to have a creative middleman (or woman), because then you can trace their inspiration ‘ancestry’ – see what led them in certain directions and explore where they’ll take you. Whenever I’m really stuck for inspiration, I’ll grab Diana Vreeland’s books and off I go, to the end of Prohibition for Tanqueray, or the suave gentlemen’s clubs of Piccadilly for Floris. When it comes to journeying into your imagination, it helps to have a travel companion.

GET THEE TO A BOOKSHOP