Design inspiration from websites and blogs

The are times when you need to get some fresh ideas and inspiration for your designs. It’s often helpful to look at other people’s work and ideas in order to get some creative stimulus. There are now a growing number of websites and blogs that feature cutting edge work and ideas that can spark our creative juices.

The sites we are featuring range from portfolio sites, news portals, sites on typography, colour, illustration, to photography and design tutorials.

Each has a different perspective on the design world.

Here is a list of some of the best we have found.

smashing magazine

Smashing magazine blog is enjoying its time as the big daddy of all design inspiration sites. They select the best examples of design from the vast world wide web. Updated several times a week with fresh news and ideas on all areas of design, there’s always something new and interesting.

ffffound

ffffound website is a vast collection of photos and illustrations from around the world. Each photo is grouped with others of similar themes or concepts and you are able to navigate the site by following related themes, taking you to unexpected places. Great for ideas on imagery.

You might also find our previous article top 10 sites for images of interest.

ilovetypography

Typography is a very important and often overlooked part of design. There are some great examples in this blog of how typography can be used to enhance your message and make your design more attractive.

coroflot

Portfolio websites are often a great place to look for design ideas, with many designers creating experimental works to showcase their talents. Coroflot is one such site that is full of ideas.

psdtuts

You often need use Photoshop to create interesting visuals, and the psdtuts blog is a great source of not only tutorials and techniques but also concepts and ideas.

designdiary

The design diary blog features great designs from around the web, a great one to keep checking for more ideas.

logosauce

Logos are very important for building a brand and the principles of logo design are also great for little icons and graphics. The logosauce website has the cream of the crop.

behance

behance is a new portfolio showcase website that is rapidly rising in popularity. Only the best designs get featured here, so there is much to inspire. The content is updated every few hours.

colourlovers

Colour schemes are really important and you’ll find many ideas on colourlovers, a blog entirely devoted to colour schemes and articles on colour. Great stuff!

We also have a larger list of websites that focus on colour combinations

thelittlechimpsociety

The little chimp website features design news and updates from designers around the world so is always a great place to look for ideas.