The creative bug. Some days you’ve got it, some days you haven’t. In a creative industry though, you need it every day. It’s demanded, rightly so, by the paying client and there are rarely concessions for “off days”.

So how do designers, daily dependent on the next big idea go about reigniting the spark? For some it’s a change of scenery; a walk along a beach or in a park, or perhaps a drive out of town into the countryside. For others, a fresh look at the brief, a scrawled brainstorming diagram or conversation with a colleague or friend. For many though, inspiration often takes it’s form through other people’s work.

Personally speaking, and I’m sure I speak for a multitude of others like me as well, I keep a selection of bookmarked websites I like to browse daily – enabling myself to keep up to date with what’s coming and going in the ever evolving world of design. There are hoards of great portals and blogs dedicated to this specific purpose, and one of the major players is the Behance Network.

Thousands of people use the site as part of their personal online marketing and publicity campaigns, posting examples of their work on their own Behance portfolios to gain exposure and acclaim from potential clients as well as possible collaborators and, importantly, their peers – the creatives of the world.

You see, although we work in a world where the “client is king”, an essential ethic in the world of commercial design (and absolutely our main prerogative), sometimes it’s not enough ‘just’ to appease them.

Networks such as Behance offer enormous benefits to their contributors and visitors, providing community and feedback, advice, encouragement and criticism. There is an absolute plethora of talent in a huge array of disciplines, enough to cure even the most deep rooted ‘creative block’, and participating in the showcase could well inspire the next visitor to produce the best work of their career!

Of course, there are limits to the amount of direct inspiration one can take from another person’s work. Plagiarism is sadly rife. But handled correctly, homage is an invaluable tool and one that has helped the art and design world to go round throughout history, and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future.

All of which provides excellent reason to constantly strive and push ourselves to produce the best and most creative work that we can, to retain a keen eye for detail, and of course, to join and participate in the community.

To view a selection of our design work on Behance, please visit www.behance.net/fuelcommunications

Posted by: Owen