I sat down with IMA Senior Graphic Designer Matthew Taylor last week in the Design Studio to take a hard look at our current IMA membership magazine (Previews) and talk content and design. A bit of history: The magazine has been around since 1988 with its current name.  (Before that, it was called the Quarterly Magazine. A bit of an improvement?) Matt was kind enough to hang out with me for a few minutes after our redesign brainstorming session to answer some questions:

Do you have a design philosophy?
I feel like George Bush in the movie “W.”. You know, when he was asked what he would consider to be his biggest mistake…I’m kidding.  As a designer, you can’t help but put something of yourself into every project. But I think the less of yourself you put into it the better. A piece can be clean and beautiful without shouting “Matt Taylor did that.” My philosophy is stay true to the project.

How does the design department at the IMA work?
The environment of the Design Studio is truly collaborative. We have exhibition designers, graphic designers, a lighting designer and a technical designer. It’s a multifaceted team. Everyone has a specialty, but we work together on projects that aren’t necessarily in our own area of expertise. We work with every department in the Museum to make well-designed, cohesive exhibitions.

What are the challenges of designing in a museum setting?
The biggest challenge we face is over-designing. You are working with a museum brand and an exhibition brand. Everything here is an art form and design itself is art. The challenge is to find a balance in your work. Part of my job is to get people to come see an exhibition, but at the same time know when to pull back and not overshadow the art with my design.

What upcoming design project are you most excited about?
Redesigning Previews magazine, of course. I’m excited about incorporating the new IMA brand that we are rolling out now into the magazine. The old magazine doesn’t live up to our new mission of art, nature and design. I would like the new design to be true to that mission and the new brand, as well as be more engaging and exciting than it is currently.

Can you describe the new IMA brand? (above)
The new IMA brand was designed by Indiana native Abbott Miller and his team at Pentagram in New York. We discussed our needs with them and why the old brand wasn’t working. They came up with something conversational, welcoming and inclusive. Using two new typefaces, Taz and Brioni, the brand has the flexibility to say the right thing at the right time. It’s got personality. We’re doing a soft roll-out of the logo to be green, economical and smart.

What’s your favorite magazine?
I.D. (The International Design Magazine)—The design is beautiful.  Great layout, typography etc. The magazine as a whole (from design to content) is always fantastic from cover to cover.

Design Inspiration

And so the conversation continues… With a content strategy that’s mission-consistent, flexible and collaborative and two full boards of design inspiration, we will bring you a new and improved quarterly IMA magazine this winter. Your thoughts and title suggestions will be considered—please add them below!

Image from iainclaridge.net

I’m not afraid to admit it: I rarely have an original idea.

And this blog post is a perfect example. As I was reading Emily’s latest musings on inspiration, it got me thinking about how my own creative process works. More often than not, the ideas I come up with are born only after I have seen/read/heard something from someone else. Most people work like this, right? Don’t get me wrong, I never want to outright steal an idea, I just like to start with a well-established ball of clay and mold/spin/tweak it until it’s my own. That’s right folks, I’m a tweaker.

I’m also the collage queen. The very first picture I ever ripped out of a magazine was of Gwen Stefani (back when she was covered in henna tattoos and wore a bindi) on the cover of Seventeen. Ever since then, when I see a person, place, or thing that strikes my fancy, I rip it out and paste together with others in a way that expresses what I am all about.

Gwen Stefani, style icon

And while there will always be a place in my heart for print, my latest obsession is something called ImgSpark, a web tool that lets you create an inspiration board of sorts (up to 1GB), for any reason you please.  I’ve started harvesting digital photos (its pretty easy, you just right-click on a desired image wherever you happen to be on the web to add it to your library.) Every image is inspiring to me in some way: be it by color, design, or general message…

Part of my collection

I can use it to get my creative juices flowing whether I’m looking for a new tattoo design or trying to decide what color to paint my bathroom. Check out my collection so far. Others might aspire to be completely original, but I’m OK with being inspired.

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

Inspiration is a funny thing. It seems to be fleeting, one of the most important things in an artist’s life. Without it, the dreaded “block” which holds an artist immobile. How do artists find inspiration?

One of the most important and well-known cycles of inspiration is between artists and musicians. Last week, I was lucky enough to be in attendance when the Indianapolis Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir performed “Towards the Unknown Region,” by Vaughn Williams. As his inspiration, Williams set one of Walt Whitman’s poems from his seminal work “Leaves of Grass” to orchestral accompaniment. The resulting work is a swelling, moving homage to life and death that perfectly captures Whitman’s tone. In fact, Williams was so inspired by “Leaves of Grass”, several years later he wrote A Sea Symphony, his very first symphony, and the work which made him famous.

After the beautiful performance, I couldn’t help but think, “Who has been inspired tonight?” It doesn’t have to be grand, and it doesn’t have to produce symphonies or watershed paintings. Inspiration can be as simple as being moved to read some poetry.

I’m heading out to pick up “Leaves of Grass.” What inspires you?

The crisp autumn breeze and smell of change in the air has always put me in a great mood and provided creative inspiration. If you’re stuck in a rut at your computer, you need to get out and take a stroll through the grounds and park here at the IMA! Your spirits will be lifted in no time, I promise. Of course, if it’s raining you can always come inside and experience the great indoors.

Unfortunately, we don’t all have the option to leave the office and get outside. So I pulled out 10 sites from my del.icio.us bookmarks and put together a list of 10 sites that bring creative inspiration directly to your browser. Here they are in no particular order:

DesignCharts
Weekly top 40 list of website design published every Monday!

Ted
Inspired talks by the worlds greatest thinkers and doers. The page I’ve linked to is a video list of the most inspiring videos.

99 Flickr Groups for Design Inspiration
An excellent big list of Flickr groups for design inspiration.

PingMag
The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things”, always features amazing work.

FormFiftyFive
A blog with “Design inspiration from around the world”. Always superb photos and graphics featured on this site.

Kaliber 10000
Kaliber 10000, The Designer’s Lunch Box, has been a long-time favorite of mine for years.

Computerlove
A social platform for creative talent. Lot’s of good stuff here.

Craftzine
Feel like getting crafty? This site makes me want to make things every time!

Web Designer Wall
The design of this site alone is pretty inspiring! Great articles and inspiration for you web designers out there.

Design Meltdown
A site with examples of design elements, trends & problems in web design.

As a Web Designer, I’m always interested to know what inspires people in the creative industry. Nature has always been a major influence on my mood and creativity. But, beyond that, I’m always a sucker for music. Something I started obsessing over lately is the idea of putting a soundtrack together for a particular design. So, depending on what I’m working on, I’ll pick out an album and just set it to repeat and keep it rolling in the background while I work until the project is complete. The theory is that this will help with consistency, but I’ve yet to determine it’s effectiveness.

So tell me, what inspires you?