Where I Found Inspirations

Last Saturday, I took Dao to Barnes & Noble so he could play at the train table. While watching him, I picked up some graphic design books and flipped through them. It’s been a while since I get a chance to do that.

Back when I was working at Vassar, I often turned toward the graphic design section in the bookstore to find my inspiration. After meeting with the client to get his vision for the web site, I would sneak out to the book store to see if I could get some concepts and ideas for the layout. One of the nice things about Vassar was that we were encouraged to hone our skills in whatever way we desired. So sneaking out to the bookstore to do work was perfectly fine.

When I searched for inspiration, all I needed was a notepad and a pencil to do my sketches. I don’t want to design with the design book next to me. I might end up making something close to the original design unconsciously. Looking back at some of the sites I had done, I could still remember how I came up with these designs: German Studies, Jewish Studies and Dean of Freshmen.