When you’re normally a naturally creative person, or working in a fast-paced creative industry, it can feel super frustrating when you start feeling stuck, and those wonderful, creative ideas don’t come to you as easily as they sometimes do. It’s important to remember that creativity is a finite resource, it’s totally normal if there are times when your creative juices just aren’t flowing. But when you have a creative job, or run a creative business, the pressure to get your creative mojo back can be high.
So today I’ll be sharing 13 surprising places to find some inspiration when you’re feeling stuck in a creative rut, to hopefully help you out of your funk.
I’m Jess, and I run a small greeting card business called Jess A Little Creative, alongside working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator in Cheltenham. With many different strings to my creative bow, it is important that I keep my creativity flowing and the ideas coming, so I can deliver the best work to all my clients.
Purple and Orange Butterfly Greeting Card, Jess A Little Creative
I’m often asked where I find inspiration for all my unique greeting card designs, or whether I ever run out of ideas. I can honestly say that after running the business for nearly 5 years, I have never run out of ideas! I keep a spreadsheet with a looong list of ideas of greeting card designs I want to create, but haven’t yet gotten around to, so there’s always a pool of ideas for me to choose from when I get some time to create.
But gathering inspiration from many different places definitely helps keep my lovely pool of creative ideas topped up, and I think it could help you too when you’re feeling creatively stuck, so I’m going to share them with you today.
So whether you run your own creative business, are looking for ways to cure a spell of creative block, or are just interested to know where my ideas for my greeting card designs come from, read on to find out my 13 surprising places to find inspiration when you’re stuck in a creative rut.
Although many of the ideas in this blog relate specifically to my greeting card business, they can be translated to any creative discipline. There are many crossovers, and sometimes getting ideas from people in different creative disciplines can be super inspiring - so go on, grab a cuppa, and get ready to feel inspired!
1. Get inspired by your friends and loved ones
When I have a specific occasion I need to design a greeting card for, and I don’t immediately have any ideas, my head always goes to my friends and family. I think about the kind of greeting cards I would want to send to them, or the kind of greeting cards that they would like to receive.
It is so important to think about your target audience and the intended recipient when producing your beautiful creative work, and I find this always works a treat for me to help me get some ideas flowing. It makes it more personal and relatable, which for something like greeting cards, is crucial.
To look at some examples, one of my most popular anniversary card designs, I Love The Life We Have Built Together, was inspired by my partner, and how I feel about sharing my life with him. And I designed this unique Father’s Day card after being inspired by my own very lovely Dad, who adores the seaside.
2. Soak up inspiration from colours around you
When you’re stuck for inspiration, it can be tempting to look on the internet at similar projects and see what other people have done. But this doesn’t lend itself to coming up with innovative or unique ideas.
Often inspiration can come from random places. And I find a big one for this can be colour. Colour is so powerful and can bring about lots of incredible ideas. You might be needing to get inspiration for a new illustration, a website design, a piece of pottery, a moodboard, and sometimes it can help to just start with a colour.
If you know your project needs to feature the colour yellow, then take yourself for a walk and look for anything yellow. It could be clothes, road signs, buildings, packaging, and it might help spark some ideas.
My typographic CHRISTMAS card was inspired by the pastel colours I saw on a lady’s cardigan at a craft market I once attended. You never know quite when you will see a colour or colour scheme that stirs an idea within you.
3. Take a walk in nature and allow your mind to flow freely
The worst thing to do when you’re feeling creatively stuck, is to sit still staring at that blank screen or blank piece of paper, waiting for a lightbulb idea to strike you.
Often your best ideas come when you’re doing something completely different. Ever had an amazing idea while in the shower, or driving in your car? When you take the pressure off your mind, and allow it to focus on something else, the ideas will naturally make their way back in.
So if you’re feeling stuck, go and take a walk in nature. The fresh air, the sounds and the smells, will help ease your stresses, release some endorphins, reduce your stress levels, and something you see may even spark an idea.
Some of my favourite greeting card designs have been inspired by nature, including this set of botanical Christmas cards. And I wouldn’t have created them if I hadn’t gone for lots of Autumn and Winter walks and looked at all the leaves and plants around me.
4. Get inspired by your dreams
Sometimes ideas can strike you when you’re lying in bed, or whilst actually asleep! It’s happened to me before, and then it becomes hard to get back to sleep as you want to ensure you don’t forget this fantastic new idea you’ve just had.
A good tip for this is to keep a notebook and pen by your bed. This is not to start a slippery slope of working in bed, but it’s just somewhere to easily scribble down your thoughts, so you can then go back to sleep knowing your ideas are safely noted down.
I would recommend paper and pen over making a note on your phone, as looking at a bright phone screen could disturb your sleep further.
5. Be your own inspiration and create a passion project
When ideas aren’t coming easily, sometimes I find getting stuck into a passion project can really help. When thinking of new greeting cards to design, if ideas don’t come instantly, I think about the kind of cards I like receiving, and see if that sparks anything.
Designing and creating for the pure joy of creating something you love can help bring some inspiration and creative fire back to your belly.
It is important to always keep your target audience in mind when creating work for clients, but sometimes having a little escape from this with a passion project, and thinking about the kind of things you want to see in the world, can spark a little idea, which might then snowball into a whole new collection for your creative business.
There Are No Words Sympathy Card, Jess A Little Creative
6. Listening goes a long way when looking for inspiration
I find this one probably the most important for helping me find inspiration for my greeting card business. What makes a greeting card successful is how much people relate to it, and the best way to create relatable designs? Listen!
I often find the messages on a lot of greeting cards are cold. Phrases like ‘In Sympathy’, ‘Best Wishes’, or ‘On Your Anniversary’. Who talks like that? It doesn’t feel real.
I created a whole floral greeting card collection based on phrases that were real, things you would actually say to a loved one, based on phrases and things I’ve heard myself and loved ones say to each other. And these are some of my most popular cards, because people can relate to them.
So when you’re stuck for ideas, go and sit in a cafe, or somewhere where your target audience would hang out, and just do some people watching, find out what makes them tick. Make it relevant to them, and the idea will be a hundred times better.
7. Things that make you smile can spark creativity and inspiration
We have a fox who wanders past our garden pretty much every day. It’s become a bit of a routine to keep an eye out for him, and we love watching him. He is a simple little moment of joy in our day, who brings us happiness. And he inspired my Winter Fox Christmas card.
It is one of my favourite Christmas cards designs I have created, because it reminds me of our little foxy friend. Things which stir happiness, can often spark creativity and inspiration.
Look for the glimmers in your life, the little inconsequential things that might not mean anything to anyone else, but if they make you smile, they might just lead you to a brilliant idea.
8. Find inspiration in the natural world
Similar to how I found inspiration from the fox in my garden, nature can provide so much inspiration. A lot of my greeting card designs are inspired by nature. Whether that is plants, flowers, animals or the sea, the natural world is bursting with colour, texture, sound, emotion, and stories, all which might inspire a great new idea.
My typographic greeting cards can be limiting as only words and phrases with certain numbers of letters will fit into the gridded designs. But I have found some wonderful nature-inspired words which fit the grid, and have become some of my favourite designs, like this Purple and Orange Butterfly Card.
When you focus on a specific theme, rather than feeling lost and overwhelmed without focus, it can help draw out some ideas relevant to your current project.
9. Be inspired by a point of difference
As I mentioned earlier, looking at similar work or the work of your competitors is a guaranteed way to find a very non-imaginative and uninspired idea. And can sometimes lead to work looking very similar to someone else’s, so be really careful about doing this!
The thing that makes ideas brilliant, is their point of difference. What makes something stand out? Why is that unlike anything else normally seen created in this medium? That is what will help your ideas become more exciting and give them more energy.
For example, when thinking of Christmas, you think of red and green, right? Which is exactly why I designed a range of pink Christmas cards. Because red and green is what is expected. It’s traditional, but not everyone will want that. There will be some people who specifically want something different, and if you can give them a design that fits with that, it will make you super memorable.
So don’t be obvious. In fact, think of the obvious and then flip it on its head. When you start thinking about creative projects in different ways, the really exciting ideas come out, don’t let yourself be limited by anything.
Mx & Mrs Non-Binary Wedding Card, Jess A Little Creative
10. Ensuring you are inclusive can spark ideas
I have always wanted to ensure my greeting card business is as inclusive as possible. I have wedding cards for straight, same-sex and non-binary couples.
The non-binary wedding cards in particular often get such lovely reviews, as people have struggled to find something appropriate.
Some of my best ideas have been sparked by thinking about a way I can best represent and give a voice to a particular person/group. Again it might give you a different perspective, leading to some unexpected and potentially exciting ideas.
11. The spectrum of human emotion can be hugely inspirational
I am constantly inspired by the power and resilience of human beings. What can be endured, overcome, and celebrated. And this inspires so much in my greeting card business.
I think about the struggles that many face, how they overcome them, what happens when they are struggling to overcome them, what can help them, and anything to give them a boost and help them along the way.
Most creative work is only made stronger by tying it into emotion, and feeling, and bringing it back to a real, genuine story.
I designed my Yes You Can card for anyone struggling with self doubt, as a little reminder of how capable and brilliant they are.
So if you’re stuck in a creative rut, get emotional, dig deep, think about what stirs those emotions in you, and it might just spark something that helps get those ideas flowing.
12. Think of ways you can bring people closer
A lot of these prompts to help spark creativity are all about making things relatable, and I often think of ways I can bring people closer together when I’m designing greeting cards, which can sometimes help spark ideas.
I’m a very sentimental, emotional kind of person, but I know that not everyone responds to that. So as well as creating some sweet cards like the Life is Better With You card, I also designed the You Are Old birthday card. For some, humour is how they show love and affection.
So think about all the different ways that people might respond to or experience your creative work, and then think of different approaches for how you could create it. It might help you think about it in a different way that sparks a different thought.
13. Inspiration can be found by thinking about what’s missing
Sometimes when I can’t think of ideas for new greeting card designs, I just think about what’s missing. What occasions don’t I have many designs for, what could be expanded on?
When you’re forced to think harder about this, it can suddenly make you see exactly what you need to be creating to expand your collection or portfolio. Again it’s often looking in the less obvious, and more obscure places, that bring about the best ideas.
Noticing an event or occasion I don’t have many greeting card designs for is often a source of inspiration, as it makes me think deeper and harder about what designs I want to create for it.
Often when I stop and think about it, an idea springs to mind! It’s just a case that I haven’t actually stopped and thought about it.
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Wow, this has been a blog and a half, thank you so much if you’ve got this far and read it all. I really hope some of my thoughts on ways to find inspiration when you’re feeling stuck in a creative rut, and my shared experiences of running my own creative business, have helped sparked some thoughts or inspiration from you to help get your own creative juices flowing again.
Something as simple as going for a walk, listening to the conversations happening around you, or focusing on specific colours or occasions can all help focus your creative mind and lead you to some wonderful ideas.
And I hope you’ve found it useful reading about how these ideas help me find inspiration for my own range of unique greeting cards. As you can see, inspiration really can come from anywhere.
If you’ve found this useful, I would love to hear from you, please get in touch and let me know your favourite ideas from the blog.
And if you’d like to follow along with my creative business journey, please join my mailing list to hear regular updates about my business and unique greeting cards.
Thanks for reading, and hope you’re feeling more inspired and creative! Jess x
