When you work in a creative field, you’re expected to come up with fresh, innovative and surprising ideas all the time. There are times when you just sit down to your computer or stand in front of a wall and you instantly know what to write or paint, but there are days when you have no idea were to start. For those days when you can’t find inspiration within, you have to look for it elsewhere.

Let’s face it, hardly any idea is something that has never been done before in any way, shape or form, so it’s perfectly okay to look at what others have done when we can’t come up with something. A web designer can take a look at law firm websites and use some ideas when creating a medical practice site; a fashion designer can watch old movies to reinvent shapes or look at paintings to find interesting color combinations; an interior designer can look through old magazines from other countries to see different approach to design.

Using somebody else’s idea as your basis is not a bad thing, as long as you only treat it as a loose starting point and instead of copying, only incorporate that idea a bit. After all if you think of it, there are thousands of romance books with a happy ending, countless desks, cars and purses, and even though the purpose and the general idea are the same, all different items are unique. Don’t be afraid then to use an already existing model for doing what you need to do, just as long as you put your own heart and vision into the final project.