How to Come Up with Metaphors

Metaphors are a great tool in design. There’s a great study about it.

When I think about metaphor, I think of it as inquiry—the action of thinking through a question. For me, inquiry is a lengthy process. It starts with choosing an image, a kind of vessel that holds meaning. The world is filled with beautiful images, but some are more attractive than others; they carry certain signs of fascination that make me want to stay with them. I might, for example, notice a pile of mackerel in a grocery store and feel that it somehow speaks to the concept of grief, even if I do not yet know how.

From there, I move into observation, where I begin describing the image in an exploratory manner. I often imagine myself as a kind of scientist trying to measure and record what is seen because, at the end of the day, it feels like an investigation that requires research and study. But unlike science, my observation is subjective. It mirrors my own psychic state and cannot be neutral. That also means each observer—myself included at different times—can arrive at different findings, an interchangeability of tropes that lets the same object carry many meanings.

This is where the analogy between science and literature becomes useful for me. In science, findings are usually static; we do not often see two scientists arrive at completely different results under the same conditions. Literature, however, represents an object as more than just a chronicle of its physical reality. It allows for multiple angles, multiple truths.

My own journey to crafting a metaphor is rarely smooth. I often end up throwing out many drafts. I do not usually recognize the meanings behind an image the moment I encounter it. Instead, my perspective begins to form slowly as I keep describing it—in the store, on the way home, or when I am sitting at my desk. Still, I would say this process is enjoyable: a sequence of perceptions and meditation that attempts to rejuvenate my feelings and my knowing. By the end of this process, there is often a terrific thrill as an idea finally begins to unfold.