I try to get as much inspiration outside the office which isn't design related. Events, people, music, food and actually anything that excites my work as an inspiration. Creativity and ideas are everywhere.

Besides that, I love design work that has a strong Idea and communicates something besides being visually interesting. Instagram and Blogs like Brand New are definitely my main source for this. A few Studios like Christopher Doyle, Two Times Elliot, Porto Rocha or Caserne to name a few are always on my feed (that's not a complete list at all).

I usually arrive at the office (I work at a shared office with a bunch of great coworkers) at 8:30 and start with a coffee and plan the day ahead.

I prefer to do the work where I really need to focus before lunch which I normally grab around 12 with my coworkers. I also meet friends or other creatives during the lunch break as I like to catch some daylight especially during winter and don’t mind staying longer in the evening. And of course a lot of music during the whole day, currently a lot of Fritz Kalkbrenner.

They definitely help to have confidence about your work and it’s nice that my work gets displayed to a larger audience. A nice side effect is that I usually get at least one or two project request if a project gets featured, not all turn into commissions but some of my favourite projects actually started like this.

For my own clients I usually have project rates where they pay amount X for a certain task, including already defined correction loops etc. This works the best for me as I believe that the value of developing a brand identity should not be tied to the time it takes to create it. The famous quote by Paula Scher perfectly reflects my philosophy behind this thinking: "It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds."

For smaller tasks like creating a flyer, I just have an hourly rate. Agency work is always billed with day rates and of course I do pro bono work for projects that I think have value to society and my surroundings.

I always have put a lot of effort in presenting my work and one day actually the guys from Supply Family reached out to me if I want to shot a collection for them. In the end we reworked some existing photography and from there on I constantly added to the collection. Over the past year it definitely became a solid base for my monthly income and it's perfect to do in between projects.

More traveling. It's the best someone can do to boost creativity, personal development and the end your output. Business wise I want to grow in some way but I am not totally sure in which way. I definitely want to do more photography and on the other hand I see that having a small team would also benefit the creative output and projects I could realize.

Behance: @lucasdielming
Instagram: @lucas.diemling
Mockups: BYLD