ASLU 107: Making Sure Your Next Big Idea Is There When You Need It!
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This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations
When you create for a living you don't always have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. If a client is waiting, or a product launch is due, the work has to get done in order to get paid!
So how do you make sure you've got a steady supply of inspiration and ideas at your finger tips when you need them?
This week Melissa and Heather talk about the tools we can use to capture inspiration on a daily basis, store it and refer back to it when we need it!
This episode isn't about where to find inspiration - it's about how to collect it and store it so you have a treasure trove of ideas waiting for you when the need arises…
This Episode Is For…
This is a great episode for creatives who:
do regular client work
launch products based on their creative work
have a digital content creation business that relies on a steady stream of fresh content
do regular craft or maker shows, have gallery showings or regularly need to present new work
want to know how other creatives capture and catalogue or store ideas and inspiration for future use
are looking for tools to help them capture and store inspiration
are just nosy about other people's systems! (we totally are lol!)
If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a link to this week’s episode. You can also listen via the player below or on your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more). Just search for And She Looked Up!
capture ideas
when they come to you
in this episode we discuss:
there’s no one right way to collect and store inspiration - some are messy, some love lists and spreadsheets and some are in the middle!
various digital and analogue methods of capturing inspiration
some our favourite apps for storing and organizing ideas - including keeping source information
how our phones are incredible tools for collecting and organizing our ideas
methods of visually organizing our inspiration - pin boards and vision boards
physical tear books and scrapbooks
the physical act of collecting and filing physical items for reference later and how it sits with you
sketchbooks, notebooks, journals, and planners - places to collect random doodles and notes. Even index cards will work!
colour-coding for easy recall and reference
the importance of function over style - what actually works for you??
Twyla Tharp and Pat Flynn’s shoebox/banker box method
finding ways to physically capture the idea so your brain can release it and get back to work knowing it’s been physically stored away - catch and release!
using the lock screen on your phone or tablet as a reminder!
make notes when you meet up with your peers - ideas will come up in the conversation that resonate with you. Don’t be afraid to write them down in the moment so you don’t forget
keeping old notebooks
do you already have systems you’re not even aware of?
have a “travel kit” that lets you capture ideas on the move beyond your phone
setting up systems to remind yourself to go back and look through your idea collections. Have a monthly research day.
Mentioned In This Episode:
- Find Heather at heatherlynnetravis.com or on Instagram @heathertravis
Digital Tools Mentioned
- Instagram Save Function
- Apple Notes
- Asana or Trello (or AirTable)
- Google Docs, Google Sheets, Excel etc
- phones and tablets
Analogue Tools Mentioned
- Moleskine Notebook This is the notebook Melissa uses for her custom journals (in squared)
- sketchbooks
- notebooks
- journals, planners, bullet journals
- binders with clear pouches
- pinbaords
- index cards
- colour - pens, highlighters, index tabs
- post-it notes
Books Mentioned
- The Creative Habit Twyla Tharp
- e: A Novel by Matt Beaumont (the book all written in emails)
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