Once again, honesty and substance from the great Frank Chimero, “graphic designer, illustrator, teacher, writer, & creative person in Portland, Oregon”.

What inspires you? How do you find inspiration?
Everybody’s inspired by the same things: the stuff they come in contact with. No exceptions. If you’re not inspired, you either need a vacation and to leave the house and expose yourself to more/different stuff, or you need to be sucker-punched in the gut. Just something to snap you out of the routine that’s numbed you to all the interesting stuff out there.

Be open. Boring question, boring answer. No secrets.

What do you do if you can’t think of an idea?
I bash my head up against my desk like everyone else. We’re all the same.

How do you promote yourself?
Unsexiest answer ever: be better.

Do something interesting and do it really well. This is way harder than promoting yourself. Service your clients really well. Come up with damn good work that has thick value.

Do something compelling. There’s a trillion people writing blogs that need something to write about. There are magazines hungry for content. There are hundreds of thousands of people bored on the internet wanting something to look at or do. For the most part, people have exceedingly low standards on the internet. But, I think people are hungry for better. Make something better. People will notice.

The number of people that are consuming creative work keeps growing (because it’s fun and nourishing). The number of people doing solid, compelling creative work is staying the same (because it’s hard work). You do the math.

How do you find the time to do this stuff?
“This Stuff” is important to me.