From references to creative direction

Begin with a question

A visual reference can be striking without being useful for the work in front of you. A pose might be close to what you need while its gesture is wrong. A room might have the right palette but tell you little about the light you are trying to understand.

The question comes first: what are you trying to decide? Naming a material, a movement or a relationship between shapes gives research a direction. It also gives you a reason to set an image aside.

Make usefulness visible

Imagine researching a warm, quiet interior with a strong sense of light. One image could help you understand a sharp shadow. Another could clarify how plaster catches light. A third could be useful for the proportion of an opening.

Those references serve different purposes, even if they look similar at first. Explaining the reason to keep each one can turn a collection of images into a set of deliberate observations.

What does this reference help me decide?

This is the question we want Aediris to support. Similarity can help locate a reference; understanding its role is what makes it useful in a creative process.

What we are exploring

Aediris is in conception. The starting point is understanding how artists already search, organise and use references, before deciding which parts of that process a tool could support.

The illustrated sequence on the project page follows one question about gesture and balance. Prepared references help explain a possible path from an intention to a few useful observations.

This is a way to discuss the idea. There is no public product to try yet.

The direction remains yours

Useful research leaves room for interpretation. A reference might reveal a possibility, challenge an assumption or help you articulate something you already sensed.

The ambition for Aediris is to support that process. The choice of what matters, what to keep and what to create remains with the artist.

Explore the Aediris study ↗