I’ve gotten a few questions from folks asking about creativity. Specifically, about ways to stay creative in your daily life during those times where you may not be “working” on design stuff. I thought I’d share one thing that’s helped me – Design Treasure Hunts.

Basically, whenever I’m out, I look for design treasures that are hidden in plain sight. I’ve done this at malls, the church I work at, several stores and my Grandma’s house (she had a bunch of great vintage stuff). The beauty of it is that you could do it anywhere.

Below are a few treasures and then some closing thoughts.

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From my Grandma’s house

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At work (Woodland Hills Church)

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Malls, stores, walking around, etc.

In one way, it’s just been fun to take pictures of cool stuff. But even more, I’ve found that this practice is training me to notice design and beauty everywhere (and it is everywhere, folks). I hope that as I continue to do this, that “noticing” will become more and more natural and there will be less of a need for me to be intentional about it.

I don’t care where you live, beauty is all around you. It’s time to start noticing it.

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I post all these pics on Twitter (and on Instagram, for you iPhone users) using the hashtag #designtreasurehunt if you’d like to follow along. Or if you start hunting, use the hashtag yourself to add to the stream of treasures.

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2 Responses

1. Mitch says:

   December 15, 2011 at 1:37 pm

   Dude! I’ve been seeing these on Instagram. I was curious on the why/hows of it. Stoked to read through this today.

   Reply
2. Jim LePage says:

   December 16, 2011 at 9:15 am

   Thanks, Mitch! It’s been a great way to stay creatively engaged during times ordinarily boring times… like shopping :)

   Reply