2020 Inspo
12 months of visual inspiration and moodboards.
Written by Craig Berry
Designer & Writer
As a creative, it’s useful to have and keep visual references as inspiration and to provoke your imagination. For me, this usually done by keeping (aka losing) a bunch of random images in my downloads folder. But this year I tried something different.
From January to December in 2020 I gathered these images (mostly through Instagram, but also via other sources) and dumped them into a Tumblr blog page as a way of making a huge moodboard. This page is now filled with images to have as a sort of online archive to look into for reference; it has also been a great way of discovery and an organic way of learning about new creatives, new artists, new brands, new perspectives and new things in general.
As a graphic designer, the kinds of things it features are what you might expect a grapihc designer to be inspired by such as visual identities, typography and other nice design things; which it does. But I am not only inspired by these things for my professional practice; in fact, these kinds of graphic design things don’t feature so often. More common are images of photography projects, fashion and footwear brands and collaborations, artworks, paintings, 3D and illustrations as well as product/industrial design, architecture along with archival film and music references.
My pool of creative inspiration to dive into is vast, metaphorically and literally. I would suggest to any creative to keep a reference bank of images like this, either in Instagram, Pinterest boards, a notes document or even just a downloads folder; the ability to quickly pull up a reference now is invaluable.
Throughout this post I have curated a selection of images from my Tumblr moodboard and grouped them into categories. Beneath this is the credit for each image linked to their page. Please check these out and discover more for yourself.
My full moodboard archive can also be found here.
Photography (header image)
My selection of photography moodboard features a nice mixture of natural, organic beauty with more harsh, industrial architecture and environments. Mixed in are some famous photographers and archival images. My favourite piece here is by Ben Richards (middle row, 3 across), who lives in Tokyo and is constantly sharing images of the city—and Japan in general—giving me a whole new perspective.
Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze
Efrem Angela
Chris Dorley-Brown
Simon Davidson
Greg White
Jörg Brüggemann
Julia Nimke
Max Miechowski
Ben Richards
Lauren Maccabee
Toby Coulson
Sue Kwon
Julia Nimke
Paul Nicholson
Tom Hegen
Sam Bush
Akira aka 35mmfullsize
Vivian Maier
Alex Dobé
Thellius Zamprogno
Fashion & Footwear
Fashion & Footwear features a lot of collaborations and special edition releases; things made with a concept and purpose as opposed to fast fashion. Streetwear, workwear and skatewear are my passions when it comes to fashion and thus my favourite here is the special edition releases for Carhartt WIP featuring the 1994 La Haine film typography (top row, 4 across); a match made in heaven for me. Read more about my love for Carhartt WIP here.
CJA Pub Shorts
Nike 2020 USA Olympics Kit
Palace x GORETEX
Carhartt WIP x La Haine
Off-White Empty Gallery
Nike Air Force 1 Type 1
Feng Chen Wang x Converse
Carhartt WIP FW 2020
Carhartt WIP FW 2020
Stussy Stones
Nike x Atmos 950
Bentgablenits Carhartt WIP
A Ma Maniere Air Force 1
Pleasures
Palace Skateboards Fruity Bits
A-COLD-WALL* x Dr. Martens 1460
Air Jordan 1 Shattered Backboard
Adidas x Humanrace Juventus
Palace Skateboards x Avirex
Stussy x Our Legacy
Graphic Design
This collection of graphic design (also featuring typography and packaging) projects suits my personality very well and it’s something that I feel that I align to. It’s predominantly modernist inspired but not limited to this. My highlight is the Etapp Kyle – Unseen EP (top row, 7 across), released on the Berlin-based record label Ostgut Ton. The harmony between image, type and colour is beautiful and reflects much of the Ostgut Ton back-catalogue. Read more about the design of some of my favourite record sleeves here.
Monotype Helvetica Now
Toy Tonics Records
Special Request – Spectral Frequency
United Sodas of America
Olga Umpeleva
Leo Burnett McDonalds
Etapp Kyle – Unseen
Grilli Type Flexa
Jamie XX – I dontknow
Andrei Robu Bourbon St
Kilo AIAIAI
Artem Matyushkin
WorkbyWorks Nice Cream
Archive Foundry New Highway Pro
Nemanja Jehlicka Nike Space Hippie
Sapsucker
8vo Stationery
Two Times Elliot
Naive Records
Art & Illustration
Art and Illustration are slightly different for me as I don’t really make ‘art’ or do illustration, but I am drawn to it. There is little similarity between much of these things here (other than the use of basketball imagery). But there is a nice mix of materials, methods and medium. My favourite here is Nikki Hock, with a piece called Latent Space (top row, 7 across). I am a believer that art—especially 3D/spacial pieces—should be experienced first hand as a multi-sensory experience and this was one of the best physical artworks I got to see this year at an exhibition.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Alex Lysakowski
Karan Singh
Studio Molen
Charlotte Posenenske
Arthur Foliard
Nikki Hock
Dan Woodger
Pixel Poppin
Yoon Hyup
Li Bolin
Jeroen Erosie
Lennard Kok
Kimou Meyer
Futura 2000
Aurelien Jeanney
Misha Rejepow
Tatsuya Tanaka
Adam Lister
Doug Aitken
Design & Architecture
My interests in design (as a general topic) are mainly product design/industrial design and architecture; most of which are Modernist inspired or somewhat futuristic. I love it when designers take something we know as a given and flip it through established techniques. My highlight here is the Mercedes x Virgil Abloh project titled Project Geländewagen (top row, 6 across). A slightly controversial one when it came out which definitely rubbed people up the wrong way and it was not how I pictured it looking when I heard about the collaboration happening. Nonetheless, I think the outcome is something different amongst the car design world.
Mary & Davit Jilavyan Sonara Art Village
Folkform Spånga Mural
TID Watches Builders Club
Grimshaw London Bridge Station
Vollebak Garbage Watch
Virgil Abloh x Mercedes
Carhartt WIP Copenhagen Store
Studio Thonik Building
LOT Off Road Mobile Home
Ivan Navarro
US Olympic and Paralympic Museum
noo.ma Met Media
1974 Ford Bronco
HAY Tann Toothbrush
Ash Pillow Chair
Minh T
Daniel Arsham Porsche 911
Nomo Studio Bridge House
Bandai America Gundarium
Atelier Lomann
Calvin Seibert
Read more blog posts on craig-berry.co.uk or my Medium page.
