60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration – Online and Off
A few weeks ago we published a list of 34 places to get design inspiration online and off and it proved to be one of our most popular articles to date. So today we journey back out to the world of design inspiration to bring you many, many more places to get inspiration – 60 to be precise.
I have literally been combing the web and have unearthed so many great sites and places that I’d never seen. From advertising to architecture, graphics to web, art to design, there’s a bit of everything. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed finding them and that they inspire some of the great works of tomorrow!
iStockPhoto.com/Design_Spotlight.php
BrushEezy.com (and VectEezy.com)
11 Inspirational Books
Letterhead and Logo Design 9
Although this whole series of books was really good, number 9 is my favourite and one I still use to this day for branding and stationery work.
LogoLounge 3: 2,000 International Identities by Leading DesignersLike the book above, this one is another Rockport classic, a great addition to any collection.
Dos LogosDos Logos, the sequel to the similarly named Los Logos, is a huge collection of logo designs. It tends more to the funky than the corporate and is packed with iconic inspiration.
I seem to be on a Rockport rampage today, here’s another great title from their catalogue, does pretty much what it says on the tin…
Oodles of gorgeous print work to flip through including some pretty creative ideas as well as a few more average formulas.
I must admit I’ve never done any bag, tag or label design… but if I had, I probably would have needed this book!
I’m not sure who the old masters of poster design were exactly, but I’m sure you’ll love the new ones as much as I do!
You know how they say you have to truly understand a rule before you break it, well Making and Breaking the Grid will help you do just that.
Not so much an inspiration book as an instructional one, this is still a must for any designer struggling with type. Once you master typography you’ll unlock a whole new room of inspirational goodness.
I often find that getting an interesting layout will then lead on to me designing out something great. It’s almost as if you just need a push from somewhere, anywhere, and once you have it, you’re off and running. In any case Rockport’s Layout Workbook is a handy book for doing just that.
I came across this book when we were compiling prizes for the FreelanceSwitch Survey. It’s a set of exercises to get your creativity flowing, perfect for those designer block days.
6 Magazines to Subscribe to for Recurring Inspiration
OK unless you are in the UK this magazine might be a little steep. Over here in Australia I just read them in my local borders because I’m so cheap! But if you can get your hands on them, ComputerArts and its sister magazine ComputerArts Projects (below) are absolutely fantastic.
Where ComputerArts is a general magazine, the Projects editions which run parallel each go into one specific theme in depth with tutorials, profiles, associated software on the discs and so on. Examples of themes include Typography, Illustration, Flash and so on.Note that it was just so appropriate for this site that I swiped the image on the right from Sam Gilbey’s Site, so go check out his awesome illustrations so he doesn’t get mad at me 
How has to be my favourite American magazine, it’s quite practical which I like, sometimes designers can get a little self-involved elsewhere…
Another super well known design magazine from the US, copies of Print unfortunately cost me a fortune over here in Australia 
CommArts is a bit of an institution these days, mixing photography, illustration and design, it’s a great read.
I have to confess, I’ve never actually read CMYK, but it had such a gorgeous cover that I had to include it.
And 4 Free Ways to Get the Juices Flowing
A mind map is an awesome tool to think outside the square for a project. It’s a diagram used to represent ideas and words. If you don’t know what this is Wikipedia has a good explanation here. Especially handy for logo and design work, as you can explore more obscure interpretations and representations.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but if you’re stuck ask everyone what they’d do with your brief. This is more effective if they’re not a designer. The more crazy ideas you have in your arsenal, the more likely it is that inspiration will strike.
Search for a quote or creative description that relates to your brief. Use the elements and metaphors you find in it as your inspiration for a concept.
Download a piece of music or album which is totally outside of your usual taste. Listen to it while you fiddle with your first concepts. Try some gregorian chant, tribal or classical music and see how it influences your style.
And That’s It!
So there you go, if that doesn’t unblock your creativity, then it may be time to take a holiday and come back to work next week! As for me, I am completely overstimulated and will now spend a few days staring at a blank wall to come back down to normality.
Leave a Comment
Good, very cool!. With this design everybody have a good design inspiration. I recommend the StartDrawwing’s design.
Brusheezy & Vecteezy
BrushEezy.com (and VectorEezy.com)
The “VectorEezy” link is not the correct one, it is vecteezy.com.
UUUOOOUU !!! Thanks, thanks and thanks
Some people may be inspired by the designs on my site
Excellent inspiration. If only I had an artistic bone in my body.
One Man. One Year. $100,000 online. I have a knack for making money.
http://www.oneyeargoal.com
Great list of resources, guaranteed to keep me busy for the next few days!
I actually do find lots of inspiration on http://www.oswd.org site. Lots of great layouts one can download and play with …. but definetelly this is a great list.
don’t suppose I can get an .html file so i can just import all these great links (from this one and article on 34 places… too) into my browser’s bookmarks can I?!
You should have added http://www.picli.com – great site
Thanks so much! Would have liked to see http://www.thefwa.com on this list too.
http://www.cssnature.org
A nice list of user submitted nature based design showcase
Great list thanks.
There’s also DesignCreme.com :]
This is awesome.
Wow a great list. Some really good sites.
Very nice list. Amazing work !
Check out LogoSauce.com. It’s be great to see this site in your list Cyan.
1200+ designers 3900 designs. Competitions with Cash Prizes.. Portfolios. Free to use.
personally, one of my fav’s is behance.com…inspiration with some substance…
I think ImagineFX (magazine) is a great one for those that do illustration and art (inspiration and resource).
Nice list of sites there, definitely adding some of those to my bookmarks
Wow…what a great collection. Thanks you very much.
Tech Thoughts
@Knedl: thanks – that’s been fixed now
Great!
Thanks for this!
Lot of useful sites not mentioned here:
Cssmania.com
Cgsociety.org
http://swissmiss.typepad.com/
http://www.motionographer.com/
http://feed.stashmedia.tv/
http://www.cgchannel.com/
http://www.notcot.com/
I could continue writing because there are hundreds. Anyway, good list
@Cyan: No problem
Great list! Checking each one out now. Just wondering though, what was Cyan’s comment about DesignIsKinky not redesigning its site about? Cheers!
thanks for this!!!!
really helps i get stuck! (like most)
Rx
Indexhibit.org
It’s also a customizable cms tailored specifically to artist/designer needs.
You guys forgot about one of my favorites: http://www.csstux.com
You didnt list Picli.com lol ?
HEY! Inspiration is a GOOD thing, it leads to copying and ripping-off 2.0.
Mil gracias por esta info.
Saludos
Bookmarked! Excellent list, and one I’ll definately be returning too. Pity I didn’t have it at the beginning of the week, when I redesigned my own site. I might have taken it in a different direction.
Thanks for all the new links, guys – this will certainly keep me busy for a few days
@Pristine: What I meant was that DesignIsKinky hasn’t redesigned their site in the 5 years I’ve known about them! Considering most design sites get face lifts almost every year I’m amazed they haven’t succumbed to the pressure yet! Plus, they’re great designers and I’d love to see what they’d come up with next
It’s also impressive the site still looks so good – it hasn’t dated at all!
thanks for all these sites!
I really enjoyed this article. I have found myself in better spirits and not so stir crazy after sitting in front of the keyboard all day.
Chris
http://blog.itrealm.net
Just wanted to say you have a great collection of sites here! Some of these sites are on my daily reading list already, but there are many that are new to me. Quality and quantity are a rare combination, and great for Friday afternoon surfing — I mean inspirational research for work.
Cheers!
here is a great site i know:
http://www.bamagazine.com/
Before And After magazines
enjoy
I visit Picli every day for inspiration. How is it not listed??
Hey Cyan,
Knock one L off of that Ventilate name and URL, and you’ll be good to go.
Should be http://www.ventilate.ca.
I never get over how elegant FS pages are
thanks for the inspiration, lots of great sites
werd.
Great work guys…I luva-dub-dub this site.
…sip…
Very nice resource.
In the future, if you’d like to include another design inspiration site, try http://www.splench.com.
Thanks again.
Thanks for this collection. Really great help.
Nice collection. Actually you have a dead link on http://www.ventilate.ca , you misspelled “ventilate” in the site’s adress. thanks.
No Picli?
Nice list, thank you. I’ll check it out.
Great links!
…but the picture of CMYK mag is wrong
Great stuff! Been digging through this for hours now!
This is an awesome list and great resource.
I can think of one more to add to the mix. The site was created by my friend and colleague, Jeff Andrews, titled, “Design Inspiration.” The site features interviews with designers and illustrators with samples of their work included.
Please, check it out: http://diinterviews.com/
Once again, awesome list and great resource for inspiration. Keep up the great work!
Awesome list, thanks.
What can we say? The list rocks, I’m sure there is still a lot sites out there. But this is a good start.
Just come across this new design blog, which looks like it has promise
http://www.dirtymouse.co.uk
I’d like to submit a blog with many design orientated information and inspiration:
http://paperclipping.blogspot.com
Don’t forget http://www.cssartillery.com
Wow a fantastic list, good thing I use tabs – I just had to open 10! lol
Thanks!
Great list, however, I’d have to correct you on link, Ventillate is misspelled and the URL also
Ventillate.ca.
Should be with one “L”
Ventilate
http://www.ventilate.ca/
WOW! most fantastic css collections of the year 2007. I like much more.
thanks
Amit Gurung
http://www.ansignauture.wordpress.com
Very stunning selections! I must commend you on a very excellent site! Keep it up!
Btw, you wrote cssremix.com on Adweek links.
Thanks! Nice list, inspiration is always necessary =)
This will come handy
What about http://www.deviantart.com? I found some good stuff there.
Anyway, now I use http://www.favup.com and http://www.designmeltdown.com a LOT.
Quality inspiration sources are always useful… Thanks!
Thank you very much for this excellent compilation of inspiring creative. I have been here a lot of new for me. Thanks!
CSSNature.org is a great niche CSS Website design gallery.
Featuring Nature Based designs and graphics.
Users upload their work, and the community votes up or down.
The best of the best get taken to the home page.
It’s great to go through. I wish I can see you again. Thanks & regards.
thx a lot!!!!! they are all great!!!!!!!!
Very nice, thanks!
Also check out http://www.cssdivine.com
not sure if anyone had mentioned tagsociety.com, but it is a good place to look around.
Sweet site! I’m soooo totally bookmarking this!
keep it up! C:
Maybe you would be interesting in checking http://css.wearethebuzz.com
It’s the most frequently updated CSS gallery worldwide!
Stay tuned
http://www.minimalsites.com is a website gallery only for minimally designed website.
I developed the site, and please check it out.
It is Ventilate.ca, not Ventillate.ca.
Just a correction
nice list of websites………..
please check http://www.usabilitydesk.blogspot.com
Very useful! Thx
I’am your fan
This rocks! Thanks so much! This is exactly what I have been looking for and you’ve just given me the entire list and even much more than expected!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORT!!!!!!!!
these designs are simply AMAZING!
it really inspires me…. it takes a lot of work and a lot more heart to do these…
simply love it!! Ü
Fantastic places to get inspired – thanks for this!
We just launched a print designer-focused inspiration site called Printspiration (http://printspiration.com) – We’re looking for great print designs to inspire others. So if you have brochures, stationery systems, posters, package design (anything that is on paper, really), please visit the site and submit your work – it’s completely free.
We’re hoping this site can provide online inspiration for print designers just like the myriad of web-inspiration sites do for web designers.
Thanks for your help,
Chuck
great… design… information… overload…
… thanks…
Oh no! This post just destroyed all my working day!
I mean, how can I get to work with so many cool sites to surf now?
Really a great collection.
/bookmarked
can’t wait to pull these out again when I am feeling …. oh so not creative!
I can think of one more to add to the mix. The site was created by my friend and colleague, Jeff Andrews, titled, “Design Inspiration.” The site features interviews with designers and illustrators with samples of their work included.
Amazing thanks!
This is such an amazing list. Thank you so Much!
nice list of websites
I think ImagineFX (magazine) is a great one for those that do illustration and art (inspiration and resource).
Nice list of sites there, definitely adding some of those to my bookmark
flikr – is the best for looking for special materials.
And I agree about ImagineFX – very useful for designers
You left off Printspiration.com. It’s pretty new and needs more content, but it’s a great premise. Check it out.
I can think of one more to add to the mix. The site was created by my friend and colleague, Jeff Andrews, titled, “Design Inspiration.” The site features interviews with designers and illustrators with samples of their work included.
Wow, this is good! Thanks for this!!!!
Thanks a lot for the wonderful information
great collection
Good info thanks for sharing with us.Nice information, valuable and excellent, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need, thanks for all the enthusiasm to offer such helpful information here…
personally, one of my fav’s is behance.com…inspiration with some substance…
nice designs
Great collection I like fav up!
Great collection and design resource thanks for sharing ‘new web pick’ stood out for me
An interesting approach to topic, interesting read and nice collection also.
Thank you for collecting such wonderful designs in one platform …
Very stunning selections! I must commend you on a very excellent site! Keep it up!
http://www.mysap-pp.com
Thanks so much for the great collection!
Fabulous collection, very inspiring! thanks for sharing such a great collection of designs.
Some great examples here, Ive mentioned a few of these in my latest blog post. However one your forgot to mention was Best Web Gallery: http://bestwebgallery.com/
It’s everything here exactly what I was looking for
I’m so happy that I step in right here.lol
Superb list, Saved me time looking around! Cheers
some bold designs, definitely some inspiration to be had here..
Thank you for collecting such wonderful designs in one platform …
Thanks so much for the great collection
Very thanks for this nice post
Wonderful blog, great to see these design as inspiration.
Thanks
rly great collection
Wow a fantastic list, good thing I use tabs – I just had to open 10! lol
Very inspiring =)
Hmm… i liked the adgenerator.thx man
awesome articles… thanks dude
Thank you for another wonderful post. Where else could anyone get that kind of info in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week, and I am on the look for such information.