In his latest book, creative Hillman Curtis gives a deep insight how he gains inpiration and how he brings this ideas to screen. It shows Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer.

The first one, the process, is really a pleasure to read. Hillman describes the way he creates ideas with small stories and anecdotes narrated from his perspective. That makes you smile sometimes and causes a lind of an ‘aha-nice idea’-effect.

For Hillman the process oof creating a solution consists of seven steps: listen, unite, theme, concept, eat the audience, filter and justify. This steps may sound a little bit strange at first but after reading the sections you know what he means when talking of ‘eating the audience’.

I liked the passage about the filtering process. There is one quote I always hav in mind when designing something (no matter if it’s a layout with photoshop, a flashanimation or even an java application):

Write the story, take out all the good lines, and see if it still works. (Ernest Hemingway)

The book is fully colored and has a lot of pictures in it, showing the work of Hillman Curtis but also inpirational art works, websites and ads. So beside reading, only leaf through the pages makes some fun. By the way, I already read it twice, finding some new thoughts every time…

Conclusion: A book worth reading for all creatives who are (or are not) searching for new ways to get some new input and how to overcome the daily routines. The process part is excellent while the practice part may be to sketchy for those with a profound technical knowledge.

Hillman Curtis, MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designers, New Riders Publishing, Mai 2002, ISBN 0735711658