Spotlight Search: Design Inspiration...

Wouldn't it be great if when you hit that inevitable mind block during a project you could hit a couple keys and search for inspiration. Most designers after being in the real world for a while build up a bunch of prior concepts that they can return to for help in tearing down the walls of a mind block. Maybe those more experienced know of places on the web that can either offer advice or inspire you so that you can beat that lingering brain fart. One thing your not really taught in school, that you most likely pick up on the job, is where to look for new and fresh ideas. So I thought I would share a few sites that might help when your feeling creatively challenged (these are most likely familiar to a lot of you out there but maybe not).

1. HOW Magazine - A design/Creative/Business magazine/website with a lot of great articles online to help offer ways of breaking through some of the most common design barriers. It also has great information on the global design community. Most of the articles are pretty interesting and worth checking out.

2. DeviantART - It's kinda like a social network for amateur and professional artist alike. It's a great way to see what some of the young undiscovered talent is doing out there. It can help when trying to get a read on what the younger generation is into and doing.

3. DesignFLOOD - More for the web designers among us but who says print designers can't take inspiration from websites. It's a site that has multiple pages of links to some of the most creative websites I've seen. You can vote on which ones you like and don't like. It's another great way to keep your finger on the pulse of design.

4. CMYK Mag - Another heavy weight in the design magazine/website arena. Basically HOW Mag and CMYK Mag are along the same lines although they may not appreciate me saying this. They have different writers and therefore different articles but both appeal to the same demographic.

5. Best Brand of the World - This site isn't really about inspiration but it can be a big help when doing logo designs or using corporate logos in a project. If you ever need a logo (ex: VW, Smirnoff,etc...) look here. It's my bet that they have it along with all the restrictions that go along with how you can use the logo. Best part is that they tend to be in vector format so they can be resized easily.

There are countless others out there that are great for inspiration and help it's just a matter of finding or hearing about them. If you have any sites that you think have been invaluable to your creativity or design and you want to share them, post them in the comments or shoot me an email and i'll include them in a later post. I'll keep looking and my ears open for any more sites and when I find them, I'll post them.