In the still pause before my hectic day begins again�

I am inspired by people who have maintained the discipline to attain a certain level of acheivement, and then take it to the next level. Certain designers, football coaches, musicians, teachers, come to mind. People who have not settled for others acceptance and a job "good enough", but have an inner resolve to do better. Focused visionaries. I am rarely inspired by corporations of any sort. The word brand is totally uninspiring to me now, but the word design still is.

Thanks for a great topic DCLARK. Very inspiring.

That is a great page, interview, story, whatever you want to call it. No doubt Paul Rand absolutely kicks ass. Really. There is no other way to put it.

And I didn't know that's when he said this�"The fundamental skill is talent. Talent is a rare commodity. It's all intuition. And you can't teach intuition." Probably the best sentence I have ever heard on design, and one that I use for inspiration all the time. You have to follow your instinct, follow your guts. And there is no doubt that talent goes a loooong way.

Other things that inspire me, on the account of sounding corny, my wife, making my parents proud. That is more what drives me than isnpires me. But drive is part of inspiration.

Ok. Now things that inspire me: movies, work by Rick Valicenti and the Thirstype crew, the train to work everyday on chicago's Loop, John Maeda, good typefaces, good discussions on design, anything that has to do with design specially a great book, playing a good game of basketball (either in real life or in playstation), chicago streets. Just to name a few.

Life is inspiration. Everything should inspire you.

And Rand and Maeda are certainly thought provoking folks.

BTW, DCLARK, your company has major problems with its web site. The screen resolution detection (yech) doesn't work properly.

Your pop-up generates a run-time error in IE5.5.

And, the worst sin of them all, you maximize the pop up window, completely covering my dual monitor set up and sticking your flash site dead-center between the two monitors.

So, you *may* want to have a word with your web gang ;o)

How do we define talent?

>How do we define talent?

I don't hink you can. But you either have it or you don't. IMHO.

> I don't hink you can. But you either have it or you don't. IMHO.

Again, if you have it or don't have it...who or how is this determined?

talent

Amen, brother Armin.

That statement of Rand's also jumped off the page to me, because it is true and flies totally in the face of the trademarked branding processes that has taken away the unique benefit of talented, thinking graphic designers from todays visual landscape(everything in grocery stores looking the same, cause all the product/package designs are focus group shackled)

Not to mention the fact that graphic design talent has nothing to do with knowing how to use the latest design software, a #2 pencil, or the latest sophmoric pun/gimmick.

that felt good.

If one person has a great idea but no one, absolutely no one agrees, is it still a great idea? It seems that talent is defined by two people agreeing that there is talent.

sniff. that article brought a tear to my eye.

'If one person has a great idea but no one, absolutely no one agrees, is it still a great idea? It seems that talent is defined by two people agreeing that there is talent.'

To me, talent is not the output, i.e. the idea. talent is the input - the person/s. Paul Rand is an inspiring talent because of the way he looked at the task at hand, thought it through and created solutions. I don't personally like all of his work, but I am inspired by his career and the way he approached design.

The principle of 1.618. The idea that good design has an underlying order and system. Of a sub-conscious, cross-cultural methodology which has never failed to yield works of lasting value; even for the ephemeral nature of graphic design. Empirical-truths are Inspiring. Dogma is not.

> The principle of 1.618. The idea that good design has an underlying order

and system. Of a sub-conscious, cross-cultural methodology which has

never failed to yield works of lasting value; even for the ephemeral nature

of graphic design. Empirical-truths are Inspiring. Dogma is not.

Now we're talkin'.

things that inspire me:

• my girlfriend
• movies: pretty everything but contemporary hollywood
• urban architecture
• music (only when listened on headphones)
• books (not graphics one, fiction usually)
• travelling
• minutes before falling asleep
• zeldman/davis/maeda/MIT

welcome don

> To me, talent is not the output, i.e. the idea. talent is the input - the

person/s. Paul Rand is an inspiring talent because of the way he looked

at the task at hand, thought it through and created solutions. I don't

personally like all of his work, but I am inspired by his career and the

way he approached design.

Tom,

nicely said...

>Dogma is not.

The movie with Silent Bob and Jay wasn't inspiring either.

>The principle of 1.618.

That's just what it is. A principle. Anybody with a ruler or a computer can develop a Golden section. What you put into it, from your own brain is what makes the difference. I don't think you can measure talent with the Golden Rule. Was that the point you were trying to make? : |

Something else that inspires me is chocolate. That is, like instant inspiration. A good piece of milk chocolate can get me started. Tom can attest to that ; )

>sniff. that article brought a tear to my eye.

It gave me the goose bumps. Badly.

> Something else that inspires me is chocolate.

Dark Chocolate is especially good for tight deadlines! A double scoop of Double Chocolate Chunk from Brewsters is� well it’s the definition of talent!!!

Stoked to see the response! Thanks guys!

i must say, as far as inspiration goes, i am very inspired by asterik, don. you guys are great. im not just trying to suck up or anything. you guys are really good at what you do and im very impressed.

Asterik Studio is what inspires me! Those guys have mad talent!

I'm a graphic design student in Portland, OR and I feel like I am having to jump through the hoops of everyone elses prospective of what good design is. Given I have no experience and talent that still needs to be developed but I hard to push on.

Asterik inspires me to think more out of the box. The way that they design with no same feel concept or style throught their work. That's good design. Honestly I would be honored even to talk and just pick your brain and just hang out.

Take care

NAte Whistler

Oh my! this has become the Asterik 'props' thread : O

All the props are well deserved guys.

I'll jump on that wagon. Asterik is doing some damn fine work for quality bands which makes it that much cooler. I could probably do without the supertones though. Hey, gotta pay the bills though. Nice work guys.

just remembered this Paul Rand interview.....what a great one to keep on file. wow.