5 Tips for Design Inspiration: Staying Current With Style Trends

Inspiration for design comes sporadically and unconventionally. This unpredictable nature of inspiration can present a challenge in the structure and planning of your design concept. Add to this that trends are constantly changing and emerging, and it becomes difficult to stay on trend while keeping with your own inspiration as a designer.The most successful designers have a creative process to fall back on, a series of steps that will steer them in the direction of their next great concept. By following the 5 steps outlined below you can bring a sense of order to your creative process and ensure you're staying current with style trends.

5 Tips for Design Inspiration

1. Start with ColorsA lack of inspiration for designers can lead to monotony. Experimenting with new colors and schemes is the easiest way to spice up designs!Following Pantone's Fashion Color Report each Spring and Fall ensures that one is always using the most relevant hues. Pantone announced Radiant Orchid, as 2014's color of the year. Attributed with emanating "great joy, love and health," Radiant Orchid is fabulous and springing up everywhere in this year's trends and on the runway.At the end of each year Pantone announces the color for the upcoming design season. Staying up to date with colors will keep you current with this year's trends and ready for the emerging trends of next season!2. Look for Recurring Themes As a designer, keeping an eye on emerging trends can help you notice recurring themes. While many of the similarities may be extremely subtle, recognizing a recurring pattern can go along way into sparking one's own creativity.Themes can show up in colors, fabrication, prints and silhouettes. This year fur is everywhere and the "varsity style" is back in vogue. Keep your eye on the trends in runway and in the fashion magazines, and you will begin to notice that this year's runway trends set next year's street style.3. Identify Aspirational CompetitionWith the vast array of designer runway shows, perusing through all of the different looks can be overwhelming. Start to follow 3-5 designers that appeal to your own design aesthetic and which you consider to be your competition. While you may not be in the same boat as Chanel, focusing on the aesthetics similar to your own line can offer you direction that is in tune with your ideal target customer.4. ShopShopping may seem like an obvious tip for designers, but I can't emphasize enough how important it is. Shop the market, and then do it again and again and again. Shopping the retailers that appeal to your target customer, will help you to understand their wants and needs. Study the inventory and be on the lookout for niches your brand can fill.By visiting these select stores, you will begin to gain an understanding of what's selling, what's lingering on the rack, and which items are being marked down or getting moved to the sales racks. As nebulous as it may seem to make a "study" of shopping, it will help. A quick word of caution: Remember you're there to research, not to buy! ;)5. Go Where Your Target Market GoesThis important step has gotten easier in recent years with the boom of social media. Take the time to plug in to relevant social media outlets for your ideal customer. For example, if you're designing for the tween or teen market, following One Direction or Selena Gomez on Instagram or liking Teen Vogue on Facebook, will take you a long ways toward connecting with your hip, young target audience.Keep in mind that many fashion trends are either inspired by or at the very least emphasized by external sources, such as celebrities, music, politics or literature. Keeping a trained eye on some of those outside sources will help to translate pop culture into designs and future best sellers.So with these tips, go out and explore. Here's to your inspired design!

Let's hear from you. Do you have any helpful tips that you use for designer inspiration? Tell us in the comments!