As creatives we need to constantly be filling our brains with creative input. Being creative is a habit as much as it is an action. You can’t expect to be able to just turn the creativity switch on when a project falls in your lap. Instead fill your creative tank with different ideas, inspiration, and perspectives.

The greatest ideas come when seemingly unrelated content comes together and communicates in a whole new way. Remember the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup commericals, “you got your chocolate in my peanut butter”? It’s kinda like that.

By actively filling your creative tank you not only open yourself up to bigger ideas and greater creativity, you also establish your role as a creative in your church. Here it is in 140 characters from my Ninjas in the Church talk:

know the part you play and remind others of that role in the way you live it out

And as promised, here are some of the online places I go for inspiration. These are all good starters, but again be sure to venture outside of the world of design. For me that means walking down the wine isle paying attention to the labels, looking at architecture and interior design, and always being aware of the creativity that is all around me in even the most seemingly mundane places.

Wordle – Create
illustrationclass.com
LogoPond – Identity Inspiration
Logo Of The Day
SKYplay – a photoset on Flickr
iPhone pic of the day
Obey Giant
Abduzeedo
40 Beautiful Examples of Vintage and Retro in Web Design
Most Creative Agencies
Wooster Collective
Indexed
Dwell – At Home in the Modern World
Church Marketing Lab
HOW
Communication Arts
PRINT
Design is Kinky
A List Apart
GOOD magazine
Deviant Art

And that’s just a handful of them…where do you like to go to fill up your creativity tank?

Tags: creative, design, inspiration, ninja, resources

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under creativity . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.