Apr 12

Apr 12 The Importance of Inspiration

One of the first questions I pose to clients at the beginning of a project is, "Do you have inspiration images?" A collection of pictures saved - in the form of a Pinterest board, a Houzz ideabook, or just a folder of torn pages from magazines (I kinda dig this old school approach!) can very often convey an idea in ways words fall short.

I have learned that what a client calls a certain style may be very different from what I envision. Inspirational images are a way to keep things from being muddled by semantics. Sometimes, a client may have a hard time seeing any commonality in their saved images, but the trained eyes at AGI ;) can get a sense of a common thread running throughout the pictures. That thread allows for a great starting point in terms of the design.

As almost all designers do, we keep "Inspo boards" up in the office. One for our projects, another for overall design/lifestyle/food/fashion that we love, and could easily turn to, to get creative juices flowing.

Alison Giese Interiors inspiration board

If you're planning an interior design project, or just want to remember that gorgeous idea you saw for "one day," I highly recommend having a spot to collate your inspiration. Some particularly fun boards to....well, inspire!