Travelling and exploring places lets one know and feel different places, cultures, people and their lifestyles around the world. Every part of the world follows a different tradition, a diverse background and history, climatic conditions, geography, etc., which leads to change in their day to day habits.
As a person travels, not necessarily abroad, but it can be any random unexplored and a place never been before, it teaches him/her a lot which changes the mindset and thoughts. The mind of a designer may work better if he/she experiences or feels something new and innovative from time to time. It may boost up the creativity levels. One may try to replicate the designs or manipulate the concepts or methods in their way. It can enhance the designing skills.
The world is prodigious, and we know a tiny part of it. This is the first and the foremost impression we have when we start travelling initially. The designs adapted throughout the world are so vast that it keeps on changing from place to place, even the designs of doorknobs, water closets, power outlets, locks, cars, advertisements, clothing, cars, etc. also differ fundamentally. All of this gave a designer a whole new perspective to look at and thought upon. Hence, the knowledge level also increases as we get to know things. As a designer analyses different designs, he/she tends to think and design differently.
Travelling provides us with knowledge, experiences, exposures, opportunity to meet new people, feel new places and whatnot. It develops and enhances our minds and creativity. We come across new things that yield a fresh inspiration for us, especially when it comes to designers. Each time a designer takes up a new project, he/she tries to approach it in such a manner that the large scale project is broken down into simpler manageable chunks of work. One needs to hold on to his/her ideas and conceptual sketches throughout. In order to understand how, where and when travelling plays a significant role in designing, first let us understand the design process. The design process can be divided into six parts: Defining the problem, a designer should have a clear idea of the problem; Collect information, collect sketches, photographs and data that give inspiration; Brainstorm and analyse concepts, make conceptual sketches of the design out of the pre-collected data and sketches; develop solutions, the formation of design through the preliminary conceptual sketches; Gather feedback, try to talk to people to know the faults and defects in design to improvise it; Improve, reflect the input in the design if it is convincing and catering the problem. Here, when we talk about collecting data, travelling and exploring places comes into the picture. There it helps the designer what is going around the world.
When one travels, he/she comes across and experiences something or feels some space and atmosphere for the very first time in our life, which gets our ideas and creative juices flowing. Travelling gives us inspiration from new cities, nature, geography, architecture, diverse culture, fashion, personal beliefs and so forth. Besides all of these being just an indirect inspiration for one person, it can be a direct visual design inspiration from different construction techniques or a local clothing trend or maybe the colour scheme for some other person.
Many people, at times, compare watching travel shows on the television to travelling and taking those wonderful life experiences. Watching a travel show on television is one thing, while travelling to various places across the world and exploring them on our own is an entirely different story. Nothing can compare to the feeling of roaming on the streets of Los Angeles at midnight or taking up a cruise stay in Singapore. This is something that no book or a travel show can offer, and nobody can feel it for you except for you doing so. One starts valuing his/ her own culture, language, etc., as well as that of the place he/she is visiting. Little things like bottled water, internet connections, etc., also matter a lot.
Apart from inspirations, travelling helps one refresh his/her mind and break the monotony of the daily routine, which hampers the designing skills or many a times creativity up to some extent. One needs to be motivated and excited for his/her work in order to get the most fruitful outcomes. Also, there is a proven fact stating long and forced work sessions tend to decrease one’s interest in work. Taking designing as a profession into consideration is highly applicable because the design is something that comes from within and cannot be done within stringent deadlines and forced work schedules. The desired or expected results may not be the outcomes if one gets bored of his/her work. Thus, a break from work is a must. Taking off a break and travelling to some of the other unexplored cities, countries, etc., may prove helpful to refresh minds. It energises the soul and helps to think better. It makes work more enjoyable.
When it comes to architecture, it is the most creative and innovative field in today’s era. It is seen and felt that post modernisation, countries like India, is highly influenced by architectural designs accepted in the West (the United States of America). Architects like Laurie Baker, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, etc., travelled from there to India, due to which spread and exchange of designs took place.
Hence, travelling is not only fun, exciting and a cool thing to do but also helps one to improvise and design better things. It is an actual win-win situation. The point is, do something, anything, to explore someplace and something new and innovative.
