Lacking Creativity? Picture It, with an Inspiration Board
Every year as the warm weather starts to fade, I find my creative drive starts to fade with it. Can you relate? This year, let’s avoid going down that rabbit hole. When I was a teen one of my favorite things to do was cut up magazines and create collages on my bedroom walls – not only was it a fun activity, but it fueled my creativity and imagination. I didn’t know it back then, but I was creating an inspiration board (also known as a mood or vision board). Guess what I’m doing this year to get my creative juices flowing? Channeling my 16-year-old self and creating an inspiration board; you should too.
An inspiration board is an arrangement of images, illustrations, materials, pieces of text, color, textures, etc. that intend to evoke or project a particular style, concept or vision.
Credit: via Pinterest/Lonny Magazine/Lauren Saylor
Why You Should Create an Inspiration Board
- Will fill your creative tank
- Provides a visual, physical tool to plan out and work through client projects
- Fun, stress-free way of opening up your imagination to ideas, possibilities, and visions
- Can be used in every area of your life – personal or professional – to help you organize and maintain focus
Get Started Making Yours
An inspiration board can be a full wall, large poster, or notebook page – whatever works best for you and your needs. There are no rules and anything you want can go on it: clippings from magazines, landscape images, quotes, fonts, stickers, and more. Remember, this is in an inspiration board, so if something inspires you put it on your board!
The steps:
- Gather magazines you like and scour the pages for phrases, words and photos you are attracted to. An alternative to using magazines is using Pinterest. Use the site’s search function to find images, quotes, fonts, etc. that you like. Pro Tip: If you don’t want to purchase magazines, ask medical offices or libraries for their old ones.
- As you come across phrases, words or photos you like in the magazines, cut them out. If you’re using Pinterest, save pins to a board dedicated to the creation of your inspiration board. Once you’ve filled the Pinterest board, download the images to your computer and print them in various sizes and orientations.
- After you’ve gathered all of your elements from magazines or printed them from Pinterest, it’s time to start laying them out. Layout all of the pieces in a temporary arrangement so you can see what you’re working with Next, start playing around with the positioning until you like the way it looks. When you’re confident in the look and layout, attach the pieces using double-sided tape or glue.
- Take a step back, look at your masterpiece and feel your creative tank refill.
About My Fall Inspiration Board
My September was busy with family and friends visiting, so when I started pulling pieces for my board, the first thing I thought of was “calm”. I set out to find visuals that gave a sense of calm and peace along with creative inspiration. Typically, I would use magazines, but this time around I turned to Pinterest. By searching keywords such as “calm”, “peaceful”, and “serene” I was able to pull together several visuals and quotes that invoked those feelings.
Check out my Pinterest board where I collected all my elements before printing them. My sister is also using Pinterest to create a board around inspiration for her upcoming home renovation.
When I do use magazines, I tend to turn to the following for great inspiration and content: The Magnolia Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Vanity Fair. My inspiration board is still in the works, but I already feel my creativity and imagination refueling.
What are some ways you fuel your creative tank when it’s running low? If you use Pinterest, we’d love to see your boards, share them with us below.
