Fast Co.Design’s recent piece, “9 Ideas That Changed the Face of Graphic Design,” summarizes the outlet’s favorite ideas that made graphic design what it is today. Inspired by the book, 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design, authored by Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne, below is Fast Co.Design’s shortlist.

Body Type

Pictograms

Pointing Fingers

Decorative Logo Types

Metaphoric Lettering

Texts as Images

Supreme Geometry

Dust Jackets

White Space

Here’s a look at some of the inspirational images depicting the 9 ideas above.

What do you think? Any you’d add to this list?

From ideation to execution, every creative has a specific process. In a recent article by The 99 Percent, well-known musicians, comedians and writers shared their personal creative processes and success strategies.

One of our favorite quotes came from Jack White, “Force yourself. Deadlines make you creative.” In this video, check out how Jack uses constriction to spur creativity for his band, The White Stripes:

How do you create? Check out The 99 Percent article for more inspiration.

Contrary to what we’ve been taught, it is actually OK to make mistakes. In fact, in creative professions, mistakes often lead to terrific breakthroughs.

When we stumble, we encounter new experiences that we may otherwise never have found. In a recent article from The 99 Percent, John Caddell – curator of The Mistake Bank – stated that “mistakes can take us to the margins, to the unknown, the unexplored.” When unexplored territories are found, creative professionals can create work that they had never previously considered – and at times these roads play out brilliantly!

So let’s hear from you! When has a mistake helped to propel your creative work to new levels?

And if you need more convincing that creative (and really all individuals should embrace their mistakes), watch Kathryn Schulz’s terrific TED Talk, ‘On Being Wrong.’ read more…

A recent article published by HOW tackled an issue that many creatives often encounter: passion. Many creative professionals chose their field because more traditional career paths didn’t ignite their flame quite like the idea of creating something new every day. Quite simply, creatives require a healthy passion for their work in order to continue finding success. But what happens when you need to reignite your passion? read more…

Recently, The 99 Percent, a research arm and think tank of Behance, ran a terrific blog post about balancing work and life as a creative professional.

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We’re excited to announce the launch of the renovated Adobe Design Center – your hub for all things design. Adobe Design Center curates the freshest content to help inspire and educate designers creating for all types of media.

You can learn about industry leaders and get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the creative minds propelling the design industry forward. Adobe Design Center will also provide techniques and tips for your favorite Adobe products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, as well as new tools like Muse (code name) and Digital Publishing Suite.

To grab a preview, check out some of the stories that will be popping up on Adobe Design Center soon: read more…

What is it about tinkering, experimenting – and even making mistakes – that allows us to unleash our creative potential? Sometimes it seems that our greatest achievements were never quite planned, and came about as a result of pursuing our curiosity.

The reason curiosity is important in creative professions is that it allows us to explore unknown ideas. It allows us to find things that we never knew existed, and that is really what creating – or being creative – is all about.

So next time you think an idea is too farfetched to entertain, let it sit for a while. Play with it before dismissing it all too soon. You never know what you’ll find. read more…

Part of being a creative professional is sharing creative ideas and advice. No matter one’s skill level, there are always new things to learn. In his interview with Fuel Your Creativity, Zach Klein, the designer of Vimeo, shares some terrific insight into his design process and having a creative breakthrough.

Pick Zach’s brain with some of his tips in the excerpt below.
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