Hot-Wiring Your Creative Process: Strategies for Print and New Media Designers

5. Varying Degrees of Derivation

UP AMONG THE FIRS WHERE IT SMELLS SO SWEET

OR DOWN IN THE VALLEY WHERE THE RIVER USED TO BE

I GOT MY MIND ON ETERNITY

SOME KIND OF ECSTASY GOT A HOLD ON ME

—SONGWRITER BRUCE COCKBURN

One of my goals as a creative person is to balance my input and output. If I never output any original media, then I’m merely a consumer. But if all I do is work, without taking time to receive inspirational input, then eventually my output begins to go stale and dry up. So I read books, look at artwork, watch movies, go hiking, have conversations with friends and family, and generally live my life.

The truth is this: Unless you live quarantined in a white room, you are perpetually exposed to input—whether from graffiti on a subway ...