Nature as a Designer

Nature is the greatest, highest, most creative designer by far (Numero Uno!) - I kept thinking watching all of Spring’s many dazzling pop-ups.

Looked up nature from the inspiration-design point of view and found a gem of a thought from Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO, linking highest creativity not only with inward inspiration, but with outward observation. I couldn’t agree more.

So, a creative challenge for you, if you feel like a bite: doesn’t matter what kind of work you do, look around you, look closely at nature & see if there’s something in there - a principle, a manifestation, a thing of beauty or despair, a problem, a solution - that might inform your own work. Even if you don’t find a direct link, intense observation beyond just appreciation might trigger something.

In Tim Brown’s words:

“The most inspirational people are the most observant people who are able to take from the outside world and convert what they see into something that drives their creativity. The simplest and most effective way of doing that is to notice things, and to notice those things that might be relevant to the thing you’re thinking about or the problem you’re trying to solve or the idea that you’re working with. There are countless cliche examples of this, everyone from Picasso to Leonardo, people we think of as being individually creative geniuses who in fact were extremely good at taking inspiration from the outside world and having it drive their own creative engine. Borrowing from the outside world is at the heart of all things we do creatively to be inspired.”