If you’re anything like me, you can’t design without listening to music. To find out what some of the internet’s current web and graphic designers are listening to and what really gets them motivated to design, I’ve interviewed a small number of them to find out. Click “More” to read the rest of the article and interviews.  Let’s get inspired!

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Designing. Music. The two go hand in hand. No, I’m serious. If I want to do any sort of work at all, be it designing or coding or sketching out ideas, I have to have music. For awhile it was Tamaki Nami and Koda Kumi and anything JPop; cute asian girls who can belt out perky songs while dancing like crazy really helps my motivation. Then I went through an 80s phase where Journey was at the top of my playlist, closely followed by a step forward into some crazy hip hop that I almost never listen to. I don’t know, I guess I needed a good beat.

Now? Now I’m listening to the Innocent Mission and Kate Rusby and basically any female folk singer. My music tastes are far and wide, and Pandora Radio has been my best friend lately. It has broaden my horizons, so to say.

This led me to thinking though. What do other designers listen to? This in turn led to, What would a compilation of designers’ playlists sound like? So I have proposition for all you designers out there: Design Music!Inspiration.

Design Music!Inspiration

This is a project open to any designer. Comment on this post and I will send you a short list of interview questions that have to do with your musical tastes. I will then ask you to choose one song that sums up all the music that you find design inspiration in. In a week or two (depending on how many responses I get), I’ll put it all together in a post that will contain each interview as well as a playlist of the ultimate Design Inspiration.

Ready to begin? Then let’s go! Comment and let me know if you want in on this great great project; this Design Music!Inspiration!

Designers Signed Up:

Jess of Delicious Design Studio
Rachel of Antithete
Cristina of Darth Cena
Jan of Dawghouse Design Studio
Gaya of Gaya Design
Lelia of Lelia Thomas (if she has time)
Meggan of Oipom.com
Nicole of Nicole Charshaf

The best way to get the word out? Tweet this!

(Edit 5/10/09: Smashing Magazine has put a pretty great article along the lines of my post. It’s calledDrawing Inspiration from Music. Check it out!)

Ash and I are currently in Wisconsin. We got here Thursday night at about 9:30pm. I didn’t make any mention that we were going to be here because the whole point was to surprise my fifteen year old sister who was in a musical this weekend for her school. She had really wanted us to come and see her but we told her we couldn’t. She was certainly surprised when Spunky came racing into the house and scared her! Her musical was on Friday night and the whole family went and she was great! I’m so proud of her.

Even though I surprised Emi, I’m pretty sure I got the biggest surprise. My dad bought Ash and I and him tickets to see Great Big Sea at the House of Blues in Chicago yesterday! It was unbelievable. We were only a few feet from the b’ys as they played their hearts out and I actually got teary when they came out on stage. I have been trying to see them in concert for the past seven years and I’ve had tickets twice and something always came up and I couldn’t see them. I kept thinking on the drive to Chicago that something horrible would happen and we wouldn’t see them. There would be an accident or the band was sick or our tickets were bad or something. I’m so glad I didn’t jinx myself.

We were planning on going back today, but the weather was pretty bad, so when we were discussing what we should do, Ash suggested we just stay till Friday and then go down and spend the weekend with Ted, her step-dad. Everyone loved that idea so here we are, still in Wisconsin. We’ve already got the week planned and Ash and I are going go see Shelly and the baby tomorrow (we saw them yesterday but only for a short time). We’ll see what else we end up doing.

The dial-up here at the house sucks and goes in an out, but when we head to Shelly’s I’ll bring my laptop and take advantage of her wireless so I can get classes started and possibly get some of my designs that I made up in the shop (and get some stuff down for clients – I haven’t forgotten). It’ll be good.

Today, we’re taking it easy. Yesterday’s concert wore us all out and my legs are killing me from jumping and my voice hurts from screaming and my hearing hasn’t completely come back. Still. It was amazing. Totally worth it.

It’s kind of cliche, you know, saying that the stars make music. Or laugh like children. Or tinkle like bells. But it never really occurred to me that they do make noise!

Team Records Music from Stars

You’ll also note that the sound of one star is very slightly different to the other. That’s because the sound they make depends on their age, size and chemical composition. The technique, called “stellar seismology”, is becoming increasingly popular among astronomers because the sounds give an indication of what is going on in the stars’ interior.

Go to the article and listen to the four audio files. Isn’t it amazing? We can actually hear the stars. We can hear our own sun. Absolutely incredible. I thought it was worth sharing. I think our sun has the prettiest song, but the cluster of stars you can listen to really made my jaw drop. They sound like horns honking on a busy street. Crazy.

So, what did you hear today?