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As soon as we hang up with our clients on their design call, I immediately want to dive into the variety of magazines I hoard. While Virginia and I often kick around ideas for our couples initial concept / brainstorm, I often love to dissect their Google Drive Inspiration Folder and Pinterest Board. On the calls, I pay attention to buzz words that allow me to “feel” what it would be to walk into their reception space. Their descriptive words along with their photos help me to build an image of what their ideal day would look like. So much inspiration is coming from things that have already been done, which is great. There is a reason that its inspirational. Our goal is use that and do something different, never done before.
The way I prevent myself from copying others is by not looking at others’ work. I use the design boards and inspo folder images and hunt for magazine elements that would fit into those design boards. I have in my mind what I am looking for as I flip fast through magazines. I focus on color elements, textures and typeface that might be a good fit. I am pulling and just tearing out pages and pieces of paper that make sense in the moment and piling them up.
I typically go through the magazines in a minute or two not over thinking and not second guessing whether or not to include something. I try to go with my gut rather than my brain while I am in the moment. After I have a decent stack, I use a 8.5 x 11 printer paper as my blank slate and I clip and arrange whatever makes sense together. Again, this is something that is a gut reaction. I am looking for colors that flow or shapes that fit together. Sometimes there are things that don’t make sense so I just toss them.There are times where I have to go back and find more to hide the blank space. My goal is to fill the page, and in doing so it will fill my inspiration starting point. I use a glue stick to tack them down and then laminate it to keep in our couples folder.
My next step is to look at the mood board and pull ideas from it that are interesting or elements that stand out in an unexpected way. I Iook at textures and lines, architectural shapes and the overall vibe. I love this part of the design process. I often sleep a few nights on the mood board because I find it really cool how this actually draws out unique ideas that are almost underlying and not planned. This is where Virginia and I work together to dream up the invitation suite elements.