Breaking Out Of The Box: Design Inspiration (June 2016)

12 min read
Inspiration, Design, , LinkedIn

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Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX … More about Vitaly ↬

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Quick summary ↬ There’s no doubt that simple design is hard, since it requires much more thought and inspiration. It’s about understanding exactly what your users need. Colors play a major role, and today I’d like to show you a couple of illustrations that may motivate you to try out some new color combinations and techniques. Take a look at the following photographs, posters and book covers that have been created with some really inspiring shades and color palettes, and some even show how to cleverly use negative space. From 3D illustrations to artwork created with ink and watercolors, I’m sure there’s something that’ll spark your inspiration. Be warned though, some of them may even give you wanderlust from just looking at them.

There’s no doubt that simple design is hard, since it requires much more thought and inspiration. It’s about understanding exactly what your users need. Colors play a major role, and today I’d like to show you a couple of illustrations that may motivate you to try out some new color combinations and techniques.

Take a look at the following photographs, posters and book covers that have been created with some really inspiring shades and color palettes, and some even show how to cleverly use negative space. From 3D illustrations to artwork created with ink and watercolors, I’m sure there’s something that’ll spark your inspiration. Be warned though, some of them may even give you wanderlust from just looking at them.

A Writer, A Hero

Clever executed light & shadows. The typewriter and the gun are super cool. Just enough details to be convincing.

More after jump! Continue reading below ↓

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Gebrauchsgrafik 11-1953

Created by Heinz Schwabe in 1953 for Gebrauchsgrafik. The pre computer era of graphic design when everything was created by hand using pen & pencils/crayons. The items you also see in this poster. Beautiful colors.

Dreamy Twilight

I hear the sound of the waves in this lovely scene. Another example of wondrous gradients, and color palette. Warning! You may get wanderlust from looking at this photo.

Stinkdigital Illustrations

One of the nicest 3D illustrations I have seen lately. All items are perfectly placed and laid out on the isometric grid. Perfect shadow and light, and great soft color tones too. Be sure to check out the other ones as well.

Image credit: Lesha Galkin and Olia Marchenko

Emu Bikes

A series of illustrations created for Emu Electric Bikes and their advertising campaign, showing the bikes in the various environments of the countryside, suburbia and the city. The red of the bike draws the attention. The trees and other ‘green’ have an interesting more organic shape and contrast well with the other shapes. They are in sync with the guy on the bike, and the lines of his bag.

How To Manage Your Checking Account

What an awesome idea to use a revolving door to illustrate ‘how to manage your checking account’. I also very much like how the darker color is giving the figures a bit of volume. Again, perfect shadow and light which makes it so beautiful.

Soft And Furious

Just imagine you are there. Those orange fire in the sky tones are pretty spectacular. Nature can be so amazingly colorful sometimes, especially during sunsets or sunrise places like this.

Summer Evenings

Beautiful shot to represent the best time of the year where one can enjoy those lovely long Summer evenings. Best ones are on the beach of course. Sunsets can be so beautiful. They’re moments to suck in, stand still and escape the real world.

Weekend Edit

Speaking of Summer, here’s a shot to get some wanderlust. A fine example of some clever post processing. The sky is muted, but those flowers are still vivid. Looks easy, but it is an art to find the right balance.

H’University

Very cool illustration for H’University. Loving the ripped pants and sport shoes. It has a certain coolness to it. Also the simplicity of how everything is drawn, using these dark borders, and the patterns on the clothing gives this illustration an extra punch.

Budget Party Ideas - Summer In The City

Bold geometric shapes, bright colors, and voluptuous vacationing characters are giving this illustration a whimsical and sultry personality.

4th Annual AAFOpen Mini Golf Tournament Poster

Poster for the 4th Annual AAFOpen Mini Golf Tournament. Very well executed as you can see the courses in the letters and the green jacket that the winner takes home.

Drink By The Pool

Lovely scene with a basic city skyline in the back. Works perfectly with the pink sky. The dark plants adds the perfect color balance and contrast. Shadows and textures are inspiring too.

Five Guys Named Moe

Poster for musical revue “Five Guys Named Moe” Arena Stage Washington DC. A very inspiring color palette being used here matched with elegant use of darker areas. This illustration is simply amazing. I can keep looking at it all day.

Harold Arlen

CD cover for a collection of songs written by Harold Arlen, Milan Records, France. The butterfly chair originally designed in 1938 plays a prominent role in this scene, almost as prominent as Harold Arlen himself. The backdrop is also nicely executed.

Lovely scene with a basic city skyline in the back. Works perfectly with the pink sky. The dark plants adds the perfect color balance and contrast. Shadows and textures are inspiring too.

Five Guys Named Moe

Harold Arlen

Ustaria Posta

I love the Dolomites. One of the nicest places in the world, especially through the lens of Ashley and Jered Gruber. Taken at the Giro d’Italia.

Cabins- Taschen

The blocky geometric shapes and flat colors are joyful and confident, but a certain restraint of going too detailed. They fully illustrate the natural silence and placidity of a cabin in the woods.

Cabins- Taschen II

What I especially love about these illustrations from Marie-laure Cruschi is that there isn’t as good as no roundness to be found. Everything has these sharp edges, but she still manages to keep it all elegant. Her color palettes are always so perfect too. Very inspiring.

Tree Grove Study

This looks great thanks to such a nice composition. I also admire the use of textures here especially in the sun.

Monocle 24 Radio

Illustration for Monocle 24, the Internet radio station from London based Monocle. The typography works hand in hand with the illustration. The shapes of the houses, car and boat are very original.

Honest To Goodness

Nice artwork for The Kitchen, the prepared-foods division of Whole Foods Market. The illustration is part of a visual identity system that spanned everything from identity and packaging to custom illustration and signage. I love the simple shades and color palette. The black background works really well. See it all.

Swiss Made

Interesting color palette especially with the sun being the same color as the shadow side of the mountain. Works well in this case.

Commissioned Cityscape

Much to like here in this custom illustration. Architecture plays a leading role in this piece with some of the more iconic buildings like from Yale, Chicago, and New York to create the cityscape. The face you see in the top tower is a nice touch.

Sardines

Beautiful work! An illustration with delicious details. I adore the lines on the sardines. Subtle textures just in the right amount. Who says orange can’t be combined with pink? Don’t they work well together here! It’s all a matter of how you apply colors.

Guilin

Check out this stunning photograph by Kyon.J, captured from high above the city of Guilin, China. It almost doesn’t look real.

Lauren Oliver’s Panic

The mission was to create an intriguing and visually appealing cover illustration. Mission accomplished with this collage. It draws you in and you wonder what’s the story.

Sisters: Arya & Sansa

Interesting interpretation of the Game of Thrones sisters. Excellent colors and lines at work here. All resulting in a beautiful kinda watercolor style.

Sunrise-ish

Perfectly framed and pure tranquility. Love the soft pinkish tones of the clouds against the sky and horizon. Also the reflection in the water creates this nice gradient (again).

Material I

Matthias is a regular in my inspiration stream. He just published some new work where he captured architecture, places, and scenes taken in the cities of Tokyo, Seoul, Berlin, Leipzig, Lisbon, Milano, Rome. He has such an interesting eye as he’s able to transform these places, that many of us would otherwise just pass, into interesting compositions.

Olivetti - Valentine

Olivetti has always understood the skills to use graphic and interior design to communicate its products. This poster for the Valentine typewriter, designed by Walter Ballmer (1969) is part of a new exhibition on the design and architecture of Olivetti, opening at the ICA in London and runs until July 17.

N1BAL1

The shark is back. The (cycling race) “Giro d’Italia” is done and dusted. It was another unpredictable edition with Vincenzo Nibali making a come-back to remember in the few last days. This illustration celebrates that, and refers to Nibali’s nickname ‘The Shark of Messina’.

Big Bear Lake

My niece has travelled to the Big Bear Lake this Memorial weekend, and send me this photograph of the amazing scenery along the way. Makes me want to book a trip to California.

Greetings 1983

Poster from Tom Eckersley, a giant in the British graphic design history. Clever use of negative space. Simple design is hard. This one proofs it.

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A Writer, A Hero