My sister told me to stop looking at design trends for a month | Graphic Design Inspo

Brian Smith · 2026-03-15T15:40:10.425827+00:00

We were talking last week and she said, 'You're just copying a look, not making anything new.' It hit different because I realized my portfolio from the last year all has that same soft 3D glass effect everyone's doing. I decided to try her idea and for 30 days, I'm only looking at art books and old movie posters, nothing online. It's been 10 days and I'm already sketching shapes I wouldn't have thought of before. Has anyone else tried cutting off trend feeds to get better ideas?

the_lee6mo ago

Yeah that "copying a look" line is so real. I had to do the same thing, just look at stuff in the real world for a while. It feels weird at first but you start seeing shapes and colors differently.

4

nathan_lopez696mo ago

Used to think you needed to know every trend. Your post made me see how that just makes everything look the same.

3

amy9746mo ago

My 90 day offline rule changed everything.

2