Inspiration/Mood Binders

One of my favorite things to do is to spend time looking through design magazines and ripping them up.  Yes, I do have a collection of magazines that I keep at hand, but space in my abode is limited, so when it comes to magazines, I am forced to recycle them after about a year.  Therefore, when I am ready to purge my glossies, I look through them one last time and tear out the images that speak to me.  Then I go through the process of organizing the images into two 3" three ring binders, scrap-book style.  These are what I call my inspiration binders or mood binders and I absolutely heart them.  Each binder contains thousands of precious images and are packed full of inspiration of all kinds.  I have sections for different rooms in a house (foyer, kitchen, closets, stairs, etc.) all the way to a section on flower arrangements and even a section dedicated to other people's mood boards!  I started this ritual of collecting inspirational images when I graduated from university.  Over the years, the binders have been edited and re-edited as trends change and my personal tastes expand.  But even though some tabs have been added and subtracted, there are some timeless images that I will undoubtedly keep forever.  Over and over, the contents of these binders lend inspiration to the work that I do.  Sometimes it is a color palette or a theme that I want to use in a room.  Other times it is a gift idea or an "aha, that's what I was missing!" type of revelation when I feel creatively stuck.  I can't tell you how many ka-jillions of times those plastic-sleeved pages have been turned over, but I relate them to comfort food.  No matter how many times or whenever I peruse through my collection of ripped out magazine pages, the eye-candy never gets old and those images make me feel warm and good.

Two things that surprise me about my inspo binders...

1. Is that even when I know what section I need to look at for a quick reminder or reference, I always end up looking through every single page.  I never seem to skip over images and think, "oh, I don't need to look at that one..."  Somehow, I end up scanning every image and find myself considering what it mean to me.  What I like about it.  How it makes me feel and if it has anything new to lend.  I know... it sounds like a royal waste of time but once a binder is opened.  It just happens.

2. Is that I always tell people that I like 'modern' design.  (I do tend to lean towards the clean and contemporary), but the truth is, if a stranger flipped through my binders, they'd find them kind of all over the spectrum with modern stuff sprinkled in.  They would probably conclude that my tastes are in fact, wildly eclectic.  So why do I keep telling people that I like modern when it is just as easy to say I have an eclectic appreciation for all types of design?  I don't know, it just happens.

Many designers create mood boards on the walls of their studios for instant visual gratification.  Unfortunately, I work in a miniscule home office and there is not a lot of vertical space to plaster full of beautiful images.  That's why my binders work for me.  Yes, I have to flip through the pages, and take the sheets out when creating an array or a visual field, but I have perfected my binder organization meticulously and this method works for me.  They are just the way I like them to be.  If you ever feel stuck creatively, or just like the idea of looking at images that inspire the creative mind, I encourage everyone to try creating a mood board if you have the space, or if not, maybe the binder system would work for you too.  I find there is nothing more inspiring than sitting at a table, surrounded by glossy images of Mother Nature's perfection and creative spaces or things that other people have designed.  As I greedily hoard my images and torn scraps of beauty, I am gratefuly reminded that there is an abundance of thoughtful, creative people out there trying to make the world a more beautiful place and also of how important it is to try to protect our earth so that these places, spaces and things of fancy can be enjoyed by future generations not only in photographs but in real person.