Some experts tell us, that we shouldn’t use design portfolios to find inspiration. Instead, we should find our own voice. Going to design portfolios of other designers is not just hindering the development of our own style, using other people’s ideas to find our own is also some form of immoral thievery. I disagree.
Steal whatever you can steal
I am a fan of classic rock music from the 70s. One of my favourite bands is Led Zeppelin. A couple of years ago, a new band appeared on the scene, called Greta van Fleet. The band sounds exactly like Led Zeppelin but is made up of some teenagers half my age.
Some people didn’t like the obvious similarity between their sound and the original from the 70s. But I was grateful for it. I loved Led Zeppelin, which is why I wanted more music of that style. Greta van Fleet gave me what I wanted – only under a different name.
And even if you accuse the band of thievery, they still manag to steal on a level most people can't operate on at all. Said in other words: Stealing from Led Zeppelin, and doing it good, is an art form in itself.
You need to copy others to find your own style
I’m committed to be a livelong learner. And whatever I started, I never sat down and invented something unique right away. I learned to play the guitar copying Jimi Hendrix, I learned to draw copying master drawings, I learned the piano playing Beethoven, I learned design copying designs I liked (online and offline).
Everyone wants to be the one who breaks the rules and invents the next trend. But to able to break rules you first need to know which rules exist. And to be able to create a new trend, you first need to understand which trends have already been invented.
You learn by doing, and the most effective way to learn is to do what people before you did who are already successful at what you want to learn.
Most designers have to pay bills
Mainstream entertainment always gives us stories about the revolutionary artist, that singlehandedly created a new way of expression. There is something heroic and glamorous about these artists. Granted, I want to be such an artist myself.
Yet, most creatives never create a unique, revolutionary, or new style. Most creatives just have a job that pays the bills and provides moments of small victories and fulfilments every now and then.
Should all these creatives reject trends others have invented? Should they still pursue going down new roads, even though no one wants to know where these roads are leading us? And should they continue designing in trends no one is following and paying them for?
I said it in other articles before: If you’re a professional designer, you’re not a designer first anymore. You’ve become a businessman first. And doing business isn’t always heroic and glamorous. Sometimes doing business is copying someone else to pay the bills.