Visual Feeding: Concepts, Importance, and Disadvantages

Nature has always been a source of inspiration and revelation for poets. From it, they drew their similes and images, and from its details were born their most important metaphors and most eloquent descriptions.

The eyes of the girlfriends are like the eyes of the Oryx. Their round faces are like a full moon, and the hardness of the knights that exceeds the hardness of the rock and other compositions that were the result of poets contemplating the vastness of the surrounding nature and quoting images from it and merging these visions with their subconscious, and then spilling it out in a wonderful saying.

This inspiration for ideas from what the eye sees has become nowadays called visual feeding, which is an integral part of the work of designers, photographers, and writers. Therefore, it is based on the importance of this part. We will devote this article to talk about it, its concept, its importance, and some of its drawbacks.

What Is Visual Feeding?

Visual feeding is feeding the eye with aesthetic and creative views to fill the human visual memory with beautiful and diverse models that will later be cumulative raw materials from which he draws their creative ideas.

Visual feeding is often associated with design and writing work. Designers of all specializations, including logo designers, advertising designers, graphic designers, and websites, all need to see and refute the work of their creative colleagues and search for details and references to their colors and shapes to deduce the link between them and benefit from it in the algorithms that link them to color and shape in the output of their unique creative content.

Likewise, looking at nature and seeing its manifestations and parts plays an important and useful role in drawing inspiration from ideas and the consistency of colors. Nature has always been man's first teacher. For example, we mention the Shell petroleum company logo, which performed its task of sticking in the viewer's mind due to its simple design inspired by the shell and its fiery colors that refer to petroleum derivatives.

If the designer of this logo had not seen and contemplated the fire classified from the elements of nature, he would not have thought of it. Perhaps the combination of "yellow and red" colors leaves an impression of fire, heat, and energy more than any other colors. He successfully communicated his idea to everyone who saw his logo, and the natural visual feed was a winning card in his design.

Then, the use of the term visual feeding to express the filling of memory with beautiful patterns and images is inspired by the importance of the process of nutrition for the human body, just as nutrition in its general concept, which means food and drinks, reflects its quality on human cells and health and provides them with growth and vitality. The quality of the viewed material is reflected in the designer's or writer's creativity.

Therefore, visual feedback has become the mainstay of creative businesses with many implementers, and finding a unique and creative idea amid competition is not easy. Here, the role of visual nutrition is to mix what each individual sees with their analytical capabilities. Everyone can see the same scene, but their impression and analysis will not be identical.

The act of visual feeding in the generation of creativity in designers is quite similar to the act of reading for writers, as it is recommended for everyone who wants to be a writer to review the works of previous and contemporary writers and local and international literary works. This is to form a diverse cultural background and fill their memory with vocabulary, similes, metaphors, and images that will later be raw materials for their ideas.

This is because when a writer reads another writer's argument about a particular controversy, they forms their own opinion on the same topic. They may agree or oppose their colleague's view, be neutral and see the issue from a completely different perspective. This creates a new material for creativity, the root of which is inspired by another work its branches are completely new.

Likewise, for the photographs and scenes seen by the designer or photographer as well as by the writer, the images they see, the colors and natural forms of them, or those made by others play the role of an instigator of ideas in his head.

The Importance of Visual Feeding

The importance of visual feeding lies in its being the first instigator of creativity, the spark that ignites dozens of creative ideas in the meditator's mind, and the point from which hundreds of brainstorming questions and hypothetical scenarios emerge.

Perhaps the importance of visual feedback is highlighted by the following points:

1. Helping to Understand the Work of Others Properly

Visual feeding adds to the designer or writer’s experience from reading a lot. This makes it easier for them to understand the work of others and the representations they show in their writing and design works. This experience also shields from mistakes already observed in others' actions.

For example, the one who uses visual feedback from nature understands the phrase: “The effect of persistence is like the effect of a drop of water on rock,” with the importance of perseverance in sculpting the impossible, no matter how difficult it may seem.

2. Activate Brainstorming and Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills

Watching the works of others during visual feeding would develop the analytical thinking skills of the individual. When they see a creative design, they reflect on its folds, colors, and shapes to analyze the dimensions of the design and know the message that its designer tried to convey, which gives them an insight into analyzing matters, which they invests in creating their designs.

Visual feeding also develops the individual's critical thinking skills after a cumulative experience of observations that makes them distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of the designs they see. It motivates them to generate unique creative ideas from contemplation and thinking about the surroundings.

The visual feedback gives the individual the freedom to imagine being the owner of the task of implementing the design or expressing the idea, so they start brainstorming their perceptions and ideas to create an innovative, creative design.

3. Generate Creativity

Visual feeding gives the individual extensive experience and knowledge, which causes them to think outside the box which prevents them from falling into the trap of repeated and forged ideas.

As an example of this, I saw once on the Instagram account of a women's hair stylist a picture of an autumn scene containing yellow, orange, and brown fallen leaves, accompanied by an explanatory phrase asking: "Can you guess the result of the combination of these color gradients on the hair?" The result appeared hours later on a model's hair, dyed with the same color gradations and exquisite consistency that impressed all followers.

Then the hair stylist comes back and derives from the image of twilight and the image of nature in the snow, hair colors that are unique and beautiful.

4. Keeping Abreast of Developments in the Field

Visual feeding would keep the individual informed of all the updates and developments in the area in which they work through their constant knowledge of the recent productions of others, which keeps their ideas modern and up-to-date.

Disadvantages of Visual Feedback

After all the benefits of visual feeding we have listed, some people may ask: "Does visual feeding have disadvantages?" The answer is: “Yes, in the event of poor implementation.” Here are some of these disadvantages:

1. Copying the work of others

Imitating other people's work, designs, or expressions with intent is a theft of creativity. However, often because of the quick view of many models, some images are stored in the individual's mind and they unintentionally apply part of them or imitate them in their work. This does not fall under creativity theft, but it is one of the negatives of visual feeding.

The reason for reaching this state is the wrong use of the visual feeding technique and a quick view of other models without contemplating them and examining their details to fix their association in mind with their creator. If the designer discovers this defect, they will doubt any creative idea that comes to their mind, which may affect their self-confidence.

2. Getting Frustrated

One of the disadvantages of visual feeding is that it can sometimes cause frustration for beginners. For example, when a junior designer is familiar with creative work by veterans in the field, they will automatically compare themselves to them, which can cause them some frustration.

Tips for Useful and Effective Visual Feeding

To maximize the benefit of visual feeding and inspiration from nature and other people's experiences properly, we recommend:

1. Allocate daily time for visual feeding, and devote special time to this task with high focus and a present mind.
2. Contemplate each design or natural scene and try to delve into its details and trace its lines and gradations of colors.
3. Analyze the work you are watching, and try to imagine the drafts that the designer has ripped to the final picture in front of us while trying to understand every detail of the work and the idea that aims to communicate it.
4. For beginners, we advise them to visually feed the work of professionals in the field to capture and learn their strengths. As for professionals, there is nothing wrong with visual feeding of less professional works to discover their flaws and find out their weaknesses.
5. Another tip for beginners: Try to reproduce the designs of professionals seen with visual feedback for training and rehearsal only and to gain experience in performing professional designs.

In Conclusion

Visual feeding captures beauty in the works of others and the surrounding environment. It is a stimulus for creativity and a valuable mine for inspiration in all creative fields. Therefore, it should always be used to have a renewable stock of creative ideas.