Creative Market Inspiration and the Joy of Finding Something to Make

Sometimes creativity begins with an idea. Other times, it begins with simply looking.

You might be searching for a particular font, an illustration for a project, or a little inspiration for something you haven’t quite imagined yet. Then one idea leads to another, and before long you’re wandering through colours, graphics, templates and designs wondering what you could make with all of it.

Be Inspired - Get Creative

That is part of the appeal of Creative Market. It is less about finding everything you need for one particular project and more about discovering what might be possible when someone else’s creativity sparks a little of your own.

A Marketplace Full of Ideas

Creative Market brings together design resources created by independent designers from around the world. There are fonts, illustrations, graphics, templates, photographs and all sorts of other digital bits and pieces that can become the starting point for something completely different in your own hands.

And therein lies the danger.

You can go looking for one font and emerge sometime later contemplating an entirely new project you didn't know you wanted to make.

I may know something about this.

Still, it helps to have at least a vague idea of what you're looking for. Think about the style, colours and purpose of your project before disappearing down the creative rabbit hole. You don't necessarily have to stick to the plan — where would the fun be in that? — but it gives you somewhere to begin.

Look Before You Buy

Take some time to look through the previews and descriptions rather than choosing the first lovely thing that catches your eye. Consider whether the colours and style will work with what you're making and whether the files supplied are in formats you can actually use.

Quality matters too, particularly if you're creating something that will eventually be printed.

Check the resolution, included file types and reviews where they're available.

A beautiful graphic isn't terribly useful if you discover afterwards that you can't do what you had planned with it.

And Please Check the Licence

This is probably the most important part.

Purchasing a digital asset doesn't necessarily mean you can use it however you like.

Different products and licences can have different conditions, particularly when something will be used commercially or become part of a product you're giving away or selling.

Always check the current licence attached to the asset before using it.

That's especially important if you're making digital printables. There is a considerable difference between using an illustration as one element of your own finished design and simply redistributing someone else's artwork.

The artists and designers creating these resources deserve the same respect we'd want given to something we created ourselves.

Make It Yours

One of the things I enjoy about digital creative resources is seeing how something made by one person can become part of something quite different in the hands of another.

Depending on the files and licence, you might change colours, combine elements, add typography or use a graphic as the beginning of a larger design. Programs such as Canva, Photoshop and other design tools make experimenting relatively easy.

If you're combining several elements, keeping some consistency in colour, typography and style can stop the finished project looking as though you simply threw everything you liked onto the page.

Although, admittedly, sometimes throwing everything onto the page is how an idea begins.

Finding Creative Market Inspiration

Perhaps this is what I like most about finding Creative Market inspiration. You might arrive knowing exactly what you need, or simply wander through the designs until something catches your attention and sends your thoughts in an entirely different direction.

Fonts lead to graphics. Graphics lead to colour combinations. A colour combination leads to an idea for a printable, a website image, a card, a journal page or something else entirely.

Creativity has a habit of wandering.

Sometimes the thing you eventually make bears very little resemblance to the thing you originally went looking for.

And perhaps that's the point.

A Thought to Take With You

Inspiration doesn't always arrive as a fully formed idea. Sometimes we find a tiny piece of something that catches our attention, follow it for a while, and discover an idea of our own waiting at the other end.

So go looking.

Just don't blame me when one font turns into an entirely new project.

Namaste

Deb xx

Thoughtful writing across life, mind, and meaning.

P.S. This post was originally published in 2023 and has been given a little Deb Eternal refresh. The creative tools may change, but apparently, my habit of going looking for one thing and finding ideas for six others has not.