When searching the web for anything related to design you're going to run into a huge selection. I am going to give you a list of the top 5 that I regularly browse. These sites range from user-submitted work, industry professional insight, design freebies, wallpapers, tutorials and much, much more.
Whether you’re a designer or not, it's almost impossible not to get sucked into design blogs. Sites like these can take you on a route that you never expected, opening doors to things that you never thought you could achieve. That might sound a little "dream the impossible," but hey, it's design. It's a job driven by imagination and creation.
1. Designspiration
This is one of my favorites. It’s so simple, no words and no nonsense, providing modern and often times “out of the box” pieces. Everything on Designspiration is user submitted. It was created in early 2010 by Shelby White.
Shelby is a visual designer and entrepreneur. Alongside Designspiration, he also runs an art & design blog called Wanken and is also a writer for ISO50.
2. Abduzeedo
Abduzeedo is one of the most well know graphic design blogs on the web. It’s the go-to blog for design, filled with articles for inspiration along with very useful tutorials in the most widely used applications. The articles are provided by a very talented crew headed up by Fabio Sasso who, according to his bio, is currently working for Google.
3. You The Designer
Touting themselves “A Graphic Design Lifestyle Blog” they provide design tips, inspiration and freebies. A series of articles that I like to read from them is “You! Be Informed”. These are articles that are just as they sound; They take situations that are happening now and break them down to keep us informed on what is going on in the world of design.
4. Cool Hunting
Cool Hunting is much more than just a graphic design blog. Created by Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten, they cultivate creativity and innovation in design, technology, style, culture, food and travel. Browse by “design” and you will find a wide variety of design inspiration ranging from art studio visits to test driving the latest Mercedes-Benz.
5. The Logo Smith
Somewhat new to me, but definitely not new to the design world is The Logo Smith. Founded by Graham Smith who also runs a logo design studio out of the UK under the same name, specializes in putting simplicity back into logo design. He says, “I tend to focus on the clean and imaginative side to logo & icon design; often a challenging process of simplify, simplify, simplify. This generally results in a logo that is aesthetically pleasing, and memorable, without the burden of unnecessary cliché distractions, and clutter."
What are your favorite design blogs? Tell us below!
Justin Piontek owns Justin Piontek Graphic Design, based in Madison, Wis., and is a professional mountain biker. He started designing professionally for casinos and has since developed a versatile portfolio including nonprofit and retail clients, among others.
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