8 Easy Ways to Refresh Your Creative Vision

From time to time all the creatives need to refresh their creative vision and take a look at their works from different angle. Admit that it’s quite difficult to evaluate your own work, especially when lots of time and efforts were put in it.

Immerse yourself in the workflow we used to loose the fresh glance and it takes us away from new solutions.

Today I’d like to talk about how to refresh your creative vision on your work and the world around, how to give a boost your imagination, and just have fun. Also, you can involve your co-workers, friends, or your loved ones into the game to have great time together.

Look at the World from Different Angle

In the truest sense of the word. Just choose a few objects that you used to see every day and try to look at them from a completely different perspective.

Photo by Unsplash

For instance, take a closer look at the wall of the house you live in, look closely at the texture and color of the entrance door, look at the desk and your room. Memorize the details, write down and sketch the new images and forms that would come to your mind. That’s a great way to find inspiration in everyday things.

Feel the Spring

Spring is time when everyone feels the beginning of something new. Select any element of nature which is undergoing spring metamorphosis and start to watch them. It could be a tree, a flower, or even grass under your window.

The point is to see what happens to your selected object day by day or hour by hour and trace the changes in any convenient form, for example, drawing, writing, or coding. Try to stay allegorically and sketchy. Your main goal is to experience the time of refreshing, and translate it into your language.

Try Yourself in a New Genre

“Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end…because in the end, it shows you a whole new world !!
Make an attempt..”

― Manoj Arora, From the Rat Race to Financial Freedom

We all know that miracles happen out of our comfort zone and maybe it’s time to experience these “miracles” yourself. People used to choose the direction and improve their skills to perfection in some narrow specialization. But sometimes it’s great to experience something new. If you’re a graphic designer, try to create design with new tools, like sketch your designs with a pen, or install a brand new software on your PC. If you’re a photographer, try yourself out in a new genre, like macro or urban photography, it depends on the type of photography you currently do.

Photo by Unsplash

Also, you can try some new ways to have fun! And it’s challenging to do something that you have not experienced before, or to communicate with people you’ve never used to communicate. Of course, you should have courage to do it. However, even if the experiment result in the greatest shame in your life you could just never meet these people again and nobody would know about it. It sounds like a plan, is not it?

So, give it a snap and google something like «Unusual things to do in my town”! Good luck!

New Sunglasses

People tend to say that someone looks at the world through rose-coloured glasses when a person is not realistic or dreamy. But why not? This piece of advice is for those who are looking for a perfect color palette.

Photo by Ryan McGuire

Purchase sunglasses with blue, yellow or red (pink) lenses. Put on any pair (strongly recommend to start out with yellow ones) and do not put them off for at least 30 minutes. See the things around you and remember the colors. Try to move a few favorite colors on your laptop or tablet. Now take off the glasses and feel the difference! Just do not use this advice too often as it risks to stop working.

There are also a lots of applications for smartphones that may help you to choose the colors from the world around and save them for future projects. Palettes Lite or Palettes Pro let you sample colors from the world, then whip them into color palettes that you can sort, save, share or export in HTML, RGB, CMYK, HSB and hex values among others. Lite allows you to save up to 3 palettes with 5 colors per palette, while Palette offers 25 colors per palette and an unlimited number of combos.

Refresh Your Working Space

Updates should happen all around you. Changes in the workplace also can be a source of inspiration. You can hang on the wall a beautiful photo in a frame or your own drawing; buy a new mouse, keyboard, headphones, sketchbook, mug, a set of colored pencils, or just change desktop wallpapers.

Photo by Damian Zaleski

Even the smallest rearrangement works.

Discover New Ways to Get Home

Another way to refresh your daily routine is to find new ways home from the office or a favourite marketplace. Change your usual routes even if the way would be longer that usual and take more time than you expect. Just don‘t be afraid to wander into a dead end or dirty shoes on the roads – and be all eyes! The new way may turns into a whole adventure.

The Importance of Fresh Air

We used to drive a car every day, even if the distance is not so huge. If you drive a car, refuse this habit at least sometimes. These days people are weaned to take a walk, but walking and fresh air is good for health.

Photo by Unsplash

Have you ever feel tired during the day even if your work includes just eight hours of sitting in front of computer routine? Scientists came to the conclusion that lacking of fresh air and light is a key cause of tiredness. The solution is simple: when you feel tired of doing something, just leave it and go outside to take a 10-minutes walk. If you can’t go outside for some reason, just open a window for a while to let the fresh air go in.

Choose the Color for Each Day

Let’s continue seeking for a perfect color. Waking up in the morning think of what color would you like to paint this day? Once you have chosen a color (let’s take sky-blue for an example), grab a camera you have and start hunting! It could be DSLR, point-and-shoot, or usual smartphone camera.

Photo by Gili Benita

Take a picture of all the things of sky-blue color at home, after do the same outside, at the office, in your friend’s house, and everywhere you go during the day. Pay attention to everything: the color of the cars passing by, flowers, napkins in the local cafe, colleague’s t-shirt, etc. In the evening when you get home take a look at the range of pictures you took and try to think of where you can use the palette you have made today.

Conclusion: You’re Genius

… but remember, even genius should refresh their creative vision from time to time. Follow the advices I’ve put together above or share your own ways of refreshing yourself in the comment section below. Don’t be shy to join the conversation!