As a designer, there are days when it's tempting to just churn out something that looks nice, without any thought given to the creative process. To keep a fresh outlook on our work and maintain a true sense of purpose, we have to keep up our educational process. A designer should never lose his or her passion for learning.

Many options are available to designers that want to continue their educations. There are a plethora of design magazines and online zines to peruse for information and inspiration. Participation in online forums and continuing education classes are additional options. Undoubtedly, a heightened sense of awareness, in other words, keeping our eyes and minds open, is a constant source of education and inspiration.

There is one method in particular that I've been fortunate to experience, and that is having access to lectures by veteran designers. My alma mater here in Montreal, as well as other post-secondary institutions, have been indispensable in providing opportunities to hear some wonderful designers speak. The speakers often bring slides of their own work to provide the audience with some visual stimulation. We are visual animals, after all.

A few months ago, I attended a lecture by renowned Canadian designer Rolf Harder. In addition to being a very affable speaker, he showed us some of his incredible work. It's fascinating to see such attention to detail, with a real sense of a designer's hand being in the work. He's from a generation of designers that never set eyes upon a computer until they were well into their careers, yet they've adapted to the new tools while maintaining their personal style and sense of creativity. Apart from his own work, he included some slides profiling the work of promising, new designers, proving that there is still hope of high-quality design in our profession.

I would have to say that until this point, I've found the most inspirational speaker to be none other than David Carson. His fresh approach to design and wonderful sense of humour make for an educational and entertaining evening. Carson is one of those designers that never attained a formal education in design, yet he remains one of the most innovative and respected, if somewhat controversial, designers around today.

Carson seems to hold onto that curiosity and need for experimentation that we have when we're new to design. but which often gets stale when designing on a daily basis. He often uses photography to document interesting, quirky things around him and he showed us some of his off-the-cuff snapshots. Just these slides alone made audience members realise that Carson keeps his eyes open to anything, an indispensable trait to a designer.

I highly recommend taking the opportunity to attend one of these lectures, if it presents itself. Being witness to someone else's creative process, especially that of a designer who has been in the business for many years, is a truly invaluable thing. There is nothing like hearing from the horse's mouth what thoughts were running through his or her head when they came up with a brilliant solution for a project. Sometimes it's a matter of realizing how deceptively simple an idea can be, even though the journey to get there was all uphill. If you're having doubts about your place in this profession, a little inspiration from someone who's been there may be all you need.