Inputs

If you're only input is your industry, your output will eventually look like everyone else's.

If writers only read writers like them, designers only study other designers, and filmmakers only watch films in their genre, eventually everyone starts making versions of the same thing.

The most original work comes from diversity.

A writer finds an idea in architecture.

A designer finds a new color palette in an old movie.

A filmmaker steals a mood from a song.

Books.

Films.

Science.

History.

Psychology.

Nature.

Travel.

Strangers.

It all goes into what we pull out of ourselves.

When we only study what's around us, we become a copy of a copy.

Originality is the unexpected combination of things that already exist.

Your output will only be as interesting as your inputs.