SNIPPET #6

Latest in the series of excerpts from the "Design Methods" chapter of the up-coming Alice Through the Proscenium:

Inspiration – Many designers start with a “found” something, a painting, a song, a seashell, something that for mysterious reasons feels as if it fits this project - that seems to connect you to it.  A totem.  A talisman.  Some things just seem more important than they should be, having hidden potential to explain the universe, like Newton’s apple.

Guides –  No physicist would dream of physicist-ing without knowing his Newton.   Find out what earlier designers can teach.  Study example.  (Though not earlier designs for this specific play, not yet.)  Fellow designers or books can give advice.  There is no over-abundance of useful theater design books (hence this one), but other arts can help.  Writer’s guides, for instance, often extrapolate well to the visual arts; at some deep level, design is design.