The Shape of Ideas: An Illustrated Guide to Creativity by Grant Snider

“Most of all, I hope this book encourages you in your own search for ideas.”

Snider writes this in his letter to the reader, and his hopes came true for me. His collection of 1-2 page comics all center around the themes of ideas, creativity, and thinking. In a book like this I usually do a double read: I flip through quickly to get the gist of what the author is saying, and then take a slower walk through the second time around. This strategy did not work for The Shape of Ideas. I slowed down from the start and soaked up these small chunks of wisdom.

Many of the pages play off of well-known idioms like “A Walk in the Park” or “Design Like Nobody’s Watching…” Others are instructions or How-To’s. i.e. How To Look At Art. All the pages and scenes are acted out by a little dude who’s just trying to make it through the day. At times, he’s inspired and focused and other times, he needs a little pick-me-up.

This is a perfect book to keep around the house to take a gander at when you’re feeling out of sync. I’d also recommend getting a copy for the office: A dose of inspiration in the middle of the day.

Follow Snider on Twitter here for some new comics every couple of days.

Highly Recommended.