vodori

As a graphic designer, I find inspiration everywhere: music, conversations with colleagues or even a nice stroll outdoors. While these are all effective resources, I spend more and more time on the Internet in my endless search for inspiration. There are multiple online communities made by designers, for designers, to help inspire.

Below is a short list of websites I visit on a regular basis. Each serves a special purpose and caters to many facets of what I do.

Dribbble.com

Dribbble is a show and tell for designers, developers and other creatives. Users submit a screenshot of a project they are working on. Others provide them with feedback, be it useful suggestions, high praise or trash talk. Dribbble is a tremendously useful site when you need another designer’s opinion about your work. 

PatternTap.com

Interface designers for the web originally started Pattern Tap. It’s a place where designers can find the stuff similar to what they are currently working on. Pattern Tap is a great resource to see how other designers have handled their work, be it layout, use of type or even functionality of tools. It’s hard to leave the site without a new idea or concept beginning to form.

Smashingmagazine.com

Smashing Magazine informs readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web design and development. It is updated daily and is a great resource for the world of web design. Not only is it filled with useful articles, Smashing Magazine is also a great resource for free fonts, templates and artwork geared towards inspiring and taking your work to the next level.

These are just a few sites found in my inspiration toolbox. Now you can add them to yours.

-Collin Out!