Inspiration is everywhere
Creative inspiration is everywhere and comes from so many different things; a conversation, billboard or a glance from a window. But, when we’re stuck in front of a screen all day, inspiration can sometimes be hard to find.
Always here to help – Mindstein have pulled together a list of some of our favourite design and creative resources to help inspire you. Whether you’re into illustration, graphic design, typography or photography, you’ll find something below.
| 99u | 99U is Adobe’s career resource and annual conference, helping creatives of all stripes supercharge their work and make their ideas happen. Our digital publication features the stories behind the careers of leading creatives, plus guides and tips on everything from navigating entrepreneurship to achieving work-life balance. The annual Adobe 99U Conference in New York City brings our resources to life, with actionable talks, hands-on workshops, and access to creative studios and cultural spaces. |
| Abduzeedo | Abduzeedo is a collective of individual writers sharing articles about design, photography, and UX. It was founded by Fabio Sasso in 2006 as a personal blog, later growing to become a digital publication with several writers from all over the world, working independently. |
| Adobe Color | The best colour inspiration tool there is, and ever will be |
| Aint-Bad | Aint–Bad is an independent publisher of contemporary art. Founded in Savannah, Georgia, the collective is dedicated to supporting a progressive community of artists from around the world through online web features, printed periodicals, monographs, and exhibitions. |
| AisleOne | A visual journal on design, photography, film, music and culture. |
| ArtStation | A site rich with downloadable content for game developers, 3D artists, architectural gurus and designers. |
| Awwwards | The awards of design, creativity and innovation on the internet. If you need some online inspiration – here it is! |
| Beautiful/Decay | Beautiful/Decay began as a small black and white, DIY, photocopied ‘zine in 1996, releasing three issues in its first incarnation. In 2001, it was resurrected as a full color art and design publication featuring some of the most cutting edge and exciting work by artists and designers from all over the world. |
| Behance | Seriously? If you’ve not visited and subscribed to Behance, you shouldn’t be here. |
| Booooooom | Over the last decade Booooooom has established itself as an authoritative voice in the new contemporary arts scene, highlighting emerging talents, and launching the careers of many young artists internationally. |
| Brand New | Offering up opinions on corporate and brand identity work. |
| Brand, Packaging & Opinion | Richard Baird is a London-based freelance designer and writer working within the field of identity design. He’s written for Brand New, Design Week and The Dieline, has had features on Creative Review, It’s Nice That and Dezeen and also runs LogoArchive |
| Canvas Saatchi Art | A great, up-to-date blog from Saatchi Art |
| Central Illustration Agency | A site of curators who pour over the world’s gallery and social output so you don’t have to, offering a honed stable who, young or not so young, have all survived their first rodeo. |
| Colossal | Called the “Tate Modern of the Internet,” Colossal is an international platform for contemporary art and visual expression that explores a vast range of creative disciplines. |
| Creative Boom | We’ll say it again – if you’ve not visited and subscribed to this site, you shouldn’t be here. |
| Creative Review | Your world online. |
| CreativeBloq | Creative Bloq delivers a daily mix of advice and inspiration for digital and traditional artists, web designers, graphic designers, 3D and VFX artists, illustrators, and more. |
| CSS Nectar | A website and blog for web design inspiration |
| Demilked | Fantastic! So much great content in this one. Go check it out. |
| Design Boom | Designboom is based in milan, beijing and new york and has gained a global reach of 3.5 million readers and 450,000 newsletter subscribers. |
| Design Cloud | Designcloud is a collective attempt to inspire and stimulate the minds of our international readers by featuring the best of art, design and innovation from around the globe. We hope that by sharing these projects we can encourage others to create more amazing work. |
| Design Made in Japan | DMIJ (Design Made in Japan) is an attempt to map the design landscape in Japan with the help of designers, bloggers/writers or otherwise design interested individuals either living in Japan or abroad. |
| Design Milk | Always fresh + never sour, Design Milk fills your thirsty cup to the brim with design finds from around the world. |
| Design Taxi | DesignTAXI is the leading online reference source for the creative world, reaching millions of industry tastemakers and influencers monthly. |
| Design Week | One of the big boys. |
| DeviantArt | Bloody bonkers! Love it. Find anything – and we mean ‘anything’!!! |
| Dezeen | Dezeen is the world’s most popular and influential architecture and design magazine. |
| Digital Arts Online | Comprehensive coverage of the art of graphic design, 3D, animation, video, effects, web and interactive design. |
| Directory of Illustration | Find the world’s leading illustrators and animators here. |
| Dribbble | Dribbble is the leading destination to find & showcase creative work and home to the world’s best design professionals. |
| Eye Magazine | The international review site of graphic design and visual culture. |
| Eye on Design | Apparently it keeps one eye on design! |
| Fonts in use | An indepenent archive of typography. |
| Format | A team of experts at the intersection of the tech and creative spaces. There words not ours. |
| Global Street Art | Love this one. There mission = to live in painted cities. |
| Hi Fructose | Hi-Fructose focuses squarely on the art which transcends genre and trend, assuring readers thorough coverage and content that is informative and original. |
| Httpster | Httpster is an inspiration resource showcasing totally rocking websites made by people from all over the world. |
| Hyperallergic | A leading voice in contemporary perspectives on art, culture, and more. |
| iGNANT | Love at first sight. You really need to visit iGNANT. |
| IKEA Hackers | Brilliant ways to hack your IKEA furniture. Extremely addictive. |
| It’s Nice That | A supporter site that boosts your creativity and gives back to the community. |
| Made by Folk | Setup by Glenn Garriock, Jack Daly and an ever growing group of designers, illustrators, coders and makers eager to collect and share the best design work they came across, |
| Medium | Here we go again. If you don’t know Medium – leave. Right now! |
| Mirador | We curate the most inspirational works out there and share them through this collection of projects. |
| Mr Сup | The work of Fabien Barral who creates beauty from old school letterpress type. Bloomin’ lovely. |
| Daily inspiration for print lovers. | |
| Red Lemon Club | Fresh ideas for creatives. |
| Shillington blog | Trend watching design blog. |
| Swiss Miss | A design blog/studio blog. |
| The Design Blog | The Design Blog brings you carefully curated design inspiration, featuring works of designers and design studios from all over the world. |
| The Design Files | The Design Files is Australia’s most popular design blog. |
| The Inspiration | Pure inspiration covering advertising, art, design, film, photography and more. |
| The Inspiration Grid | Daily design inspiration for creatives. |
| Typewolf | What’s trending in type. |
| Visuelle | Great resource for digital, illustration, motion and typography – and some! |
| Web Design Inspiration | The best website design ideas – apparently. |
| Wrap Magazine | If you’re after illustration overload – visit Wrap |
