Most people in the creative business have sources of inspiration – the ingredients for what are ultimately turned into ideas. If you’re in the business of selling ideas, isn’t it logical that you treat your inspiration like any other asset?
Above is my personal portfolio of inspiration: pop cultural, well-diversified and outstandingly positioned for the long-term.
March 2nd, 2010 at 13:27
Isn’t it funny that so many of us involved in creative business have pretty much the same sources of inspiration? My guess is that if you interview 100 creatives, many of these things (TED, Apple, Woody Allen, New Order, Joy Division, Wired, Eeames) will show up time after time…
Maybe it’s just a good foundation that you can mix up with other more obscure sources?
March 11th, 2010 at 14:04
[...] Phang, planner på Jung von Matt och mannen bakom bloggen The Planning Lab, la häromdagen upp en bild som sammanfattade hans inspirationskällor. Ett kul grepp: tydligt och lättsmält, samtidigt som det är lite gåtfullt. Vem är det på [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 16:29
[...] to one of my favorite blogs, Pers värld (in Swedish), I came across Leon Phang’s post about his inspiration [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 21:27
Nice idea. I’m going to get down to making my own.
Cheers – Tim Gregory (planner in NZ)
May 6th, 2010 at 08:31
Hi Leon, I truly love your blog and I’ve found lots of good things here.
However I wanted to say these images… isn’t it cliché ? First I thought: “Hey, I do like all this too…” and then “well, nothing new, nothing personnal, nothing original” finally it’s just good old stuff. Certainly good bases for inspiration, maybe universal successful creative people and stuff, but I guess for inspiration I would pay more attention on things telling personnal stories, a different way and beside the mainstream… OK, it’s just a spontaneous point of view…
I’ll be reading you.
May 6th, 2010 at 08:36
Hey Antoine.
It’s absolutely cliché and not unique in any way. But I also believe that ideas isn’t about copying other ideas, but about putting 1+1 together that will ultimately result in something new. In that sense, inspiration can come from anywhere, it’s what you make out of it in your strategy, planning, creation that will determine outcomes.
May 6th, 2010 at 10:21
You’re right.
Interesting subject.
Thanks for your answer.
July 7th, 2010 at 18:37
[...] by The Planning Labs inspiration portfolio as well as Sharpenr’s inspiration [...]
November 22nd, 2010 at 17:22
I quite agree with Leon……Creativity sometimes is about being able to put stuff which already exists together in a manner such that it comes across as refreshingly new…..afterall nothing is entirely new under the sun in the real sense…..deriving inspiration from the creativity of others is clearly different from plagiarism (unashamedly xeroxing an existing idea the way it is)