My toolkit

December 29, 2005

I used to think it was cheating by starting off a new web project by looking at some design galleries for inspiration. Not to copy, but just to get my creativity started up. Now, I realise that almost all artists, in whatever field they specialise, need to see new things regularly to keep them inspired and thinking creatively. I have a little scrapbook I snip out cuttings from magazines, rave invites, photographs, postcards and so on that I often flip through. I also have a long list of online galleries I’ll go visit - which got me thinking about my toolkit: the sites I find invaluable when creating new blogs or websites. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things, so I’ll be back to add to it.

For inspiration

For fonts

For images

For colours

For lists

For filler text

For checking

What’s in your toolbox that I’m missing?

Comments

  1. I use some of the above and also…

    For Inspiration I like to look at a couple of designers works I really admire…

    http://www.joshuadavis.com
    http://www.cubancouncil.com

    http://www.bwgreyscale.com

    …also some Fashion sites and magazines because they generally have some amazing designers esspecially for advertising and things…

    http://www.deviantART.com

    …there is a lot of wierd stuff, but some of the web design and vector illustration galleries have great stuff in them too.

    http://www.macchinafotografica.net

    …I love to look at her photographs, the composition and the colours are amazing and can sometimes give ideas.

    — Pete..., December 29, 2005

  2. I find deviantart too weird - I’m sure there’s lots of good stuff hidden away but I get freaked out by some of it hehe.

    Macchinafotografica has some amazing photos!
    Thanks for those other links, will check them out :)

    — Rachel, December 29, 2005

  3. For inspiration I’m loving Web Creme, CSS-Mania and Screenspire because they are all updated much more often with quality new designs than some of the other more established inspiration sites.

    — Anthony, January 3, 2006

  4. I agree that screenspire is a great site :)

    — Rob Poitras, January 4, 2006

  5. [...] My toolkit — cre8d design blog Designinspirationen (tags: webdesign inspiration links) [...]

    — :: La vida pirata 2.0 :: Bericht aus Bonn…und der Welt // von Karsten Kneese » links for 2006-01-04, January 4, 2006

  6. Thanks for your list. Here are a few more you might enjoy…

    For inspiration : http://www.dark-i.com/ , http://www.cssbeauty.com/ , and http://cssliquid.com/

    — Charles Mihm, January 7, 2006

  7. [...] cre8d design - Rachel Cunliffe has just published a tutorial on installing WordPress 2.0 - a day too late for me :-/ - and runs a web studio which focuses on Blog Design. Rachel also has a neat toolkit which I’m sure I will find handy too. [...]

    — Basis of the site is done! at Cameron Incoll, January 20, 2006

  8. fantastic collection!

    — Stephan L., January 20, 2006

  9. The guy who used to own Screenspire now posts screenshots here: http://tom.ma/screenblog/

    — Anthony, February 21, 2006

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