Catu Berretta
Hi there,
My name is Catu and I’m a fifth year Computer Science and Design major. I’m currently Scout’s Design Director :). Alongside giving critique to studio teams and having conversations about Scout studio’s future, you can find me biking on the Minuteman Bikeway and designing stuff on Instagram over at @catu.li!
This week I want to share my go-to sources for inspiration when I’m creatively burnt out. For me, these are all reminders that design can be fun, pointless, unstructured and downright weird.
⚡️Are.na⚡️
Are.na is like a decentralized tumblr where you can save blocks (anything from an image to a link to text) into channels. And what type of channels exist? There is literally no limit: from Eggs in Art and Design to Images with Captions on Wikipedia to a treasure trove of layouts, it’s just a lawless land of content. It’s amazing.
A more traditional source but I love it because they’re constantly sharing websites that are kind of wack with quirky interactions. It never fails to make me excited about designing websites.
⭐️Myself⭐️
Just kidding! But actually, there is something about looking at past work, especially when it’s stuff you made just for fun that you end up loving. Even better if it’s old unfinished work, cause you get to breathe fresh air into your design. So if you’re feeling that creative burnout, dig into your archives and try revamping an unfinished design or using finished ones as reminders of how exciting it feels to create. This is something I’ve been doing a lot ever since I decided to revive my Instagram at the start of this year. I realized I was approaching every design as an opportunity to make me seem hirable and a Good Designer™️. Shockingly enough, the pressure made me hate designing. It’s when I focused on making it a place to share stuff I had fun making, and leaning into exploring styles that excited me that I actually found myself wanting to open illustrator and create. To leave you all with a parting piece of advice, carve out a space for yourself where you can make art that is fun for you to make, without it serving a higher purpose. Maybe you post it online, or you send it to your parents so they can fawn over your talent, or you just tuck it away in Creative Cloud. It doesn’t really matter what you end up doing with it, just as long as it was fun to make.
And that’s it, folks.Thanks for reading :)
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