Design inspiration

April 10, 2006

Lately I’ve been finding inspiration over at Screenblog - a collection of screenshots by Thomas Marban and HOW magazine’s gorgeous design annual. New York Times’ redesign is a beautiful example of a webpage which feels like a newspaper which feels like a blog. It’s really easy to get insular with blog design and it’s wonderful to see designers like Jon Hicks bucking the standard “Web 2.0 design” and forging a new retro-feel logo.

If you’re a designer or a blogger, where do you get your design inspiration from?

See also
Comments

  1. I love the new hicks design site, and the NYT redesign, thanks for linking them up.

    I start at designshack and style gala now, but if I catch a blog that is really sharp and has some links, I often click through to see what other bloggers who aren’t featured in the usual showcases are doing design wise.

    I’m just putting the finishing touches on a new one for Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants, and that came largely from her telling me what she liked on other blog styles, and then just getting feedback throughout so they could make suggestions.

    — Pete, April 10, 2006

  2. For a long time I just kept turning to online resources if I needed a bit of a kick, inspiration-wise (you know, the usual sort of thing - StyleGala etc).

    And then I went on holiday, didn’t touch a computer for 8 days, and gorged myself on galleries, architecture, and the like, something I haven’t seriously done since I graduated 10 years ago. And my design work since I’ve been back has shown a marked improvement (admittedly it’s only been a fortnight, but still…).

    So now I’m making a conscious effort to stop being so blinkered, and to get back to what I was actually taught to do in university; stop looking at what my peers are doing, because most of them are just looking at what their peers are doing.

    Plus it gets me out of the house, which is always a good thing.

    — Stephen, April 11, 2006

  3. Great resource, Rachel. I’m one of those who likes to see what other folks are doing. Sometimes just a single design element is enough to trigger an entire design.

    — farlane, April 11, 2006

  4. Stephen - great tip :) I’ve been doing the same lately with quality print magazines, art books and online art galleries. I’ve been going through a phase of studying Rothke’s work too.

    It’s so refreshing to get out and get inspiration from outside sources.

    — Rachel, April 11, 2006

  5. Well I read ‘A List Apart’ and ‘Coudal’ frequently, I also like the work of Michael Angeles at URL Greyhot. As far as content, sometimes reading or a lecture will get me thinking.
    I recently removed a lot of the advertising that I had on my blog.
    I am trying to decide how to reshuffle my blog and my websites, connect them and simplify them.
    I am kinda slow on excecution possibly because I am not a designer or programmer so it might take me more time to digest the technical part.

    Serge
    Biz:
    http://www.njconcierges.com
    Blog:
    http://sergetheconcierge.com

    — Serge Lescouarnec, April 12, 2006

  6. I actively avoid online “gallery” type sites when I start a design. I find if I let the design evolve to a certain point I can get much more value by, at that point, looking for “finishing touch” inspiration. Hopefully that means that my sites are a little different from most, rather than hoping on the latest bandwagon.

    And yes, I think the new hicks design logo is ace, except for the colour choice…

    — Gordon, April 12, 2006