Inspiration Spill
Brace your eyeballs, I’m about to unload some serious visual stimulation.
I think the most difficult task at hand as a designer is to keep that creative vein flowing. So when I’m stuck in a rut there are a few books and magazines I turn to for some inspiration. Namely Elephant Magazine (elephantmag.com), LAD’N (ladn.eu) and Sagmiester’s poster book ISBN 0810995883
Aside from print, there are some website weapons I like to keep at my fingertips to get that creative clock ticking. So, here is the first (maybe last) installment of the grand inspiration spilling.
ELEPHANT BLOG
Just like the magazine, the blog has so many interesting articles about contemporary artists, mostly in Europe, but it provides some stimulation and a wider art perspective. Visually, the work is creative, innovative and often proses new ideas.
FFFFOUND!
Ffffound is simply wonderful for an image overload. Binge your heart out and get lost in a world of curious photography, design, architecture—you name it! Ffffound has it all and I often find some essential mood board images here.
THINK
Sometimes the best inspiration is derived from other forms of art and media. Watching a darn good movie can often so give your brain sponge a good squeeze. This is a good list for starters, but I often find myself most inspired by films with a thought provoking theme or script.
FRIENDS OF TYPE
Not much to say here, the site does most of the speaking. Incredible typography with a creative and relevant style. There is an overload of sub-par type so it’s nice to see a collection that really filter through the over-produced and expected design. p.s. Eric Marinovich is too good.
OTHER AMAZING TYPE BLOGS
TYPETOKEN
I LOVE LIGATURES
TYPEWOLF
IT’SNICETHAT
It’s Nice That is the perfect blog for some amazing articles on designers from every realm of the field. It also helps to keep you relevant with all the big namers in the game. Who’s Jean Jullien? Noa Snir? You’re soon to find out and become so inspired. If i had to choose, this could be my favorite of the lot. I’m always amazing and exhilarated.
BENCH.LI
Literally the editorial designer’s dream, scanned and uploaded into one glorious URL. The next time a publication project comes your way, take a click over here and get some good direction and inspiration. Most of the work is very swiss in style and usually older. This beautifully eliminates the overstated trends that seem to so often take away from the content of the publication design in our present-day. Bench.li captures the essential and important aspects of design.
AIGA
The classic, the obvious, but the important choice. AIGA consistently highlights a wide variety of inspirational works, artists, and ideas. A wonderful archive and collection. I just wish they would eliminate the dumb triangle and circle picture preview shapes. Aside from aesthetic, AIGA, you’re gold.
DESIGNSPIRATION
Easy. Just type in what you’re wanting to design (poster, type, etc.) and a behold; a variety of beautiful design is presented. Be wary of credit where credit is due, but this is a valuable tool.
THE DIELINE
The Dieline is such an important niche that I’ve struggled so hard to find. Dieline gives us copious amount of packaging design examples and case studies. It’s always amazing to see what talent is out there. Filter through and find yourself among some of the best beer labels, office supplies, pizza boxes—whatever you want. Such a gem.
GURAFIKU
Japanese design has a huge impact on my personal design style and is a constant source of inspiration for me. Shigeo Fukuda to this day has to be my favorite designer. The balance of simplicity and use of economy in his style is so alluring to me. Gurafiku catalogs a history of Japanese design and it’s a bountiful source of inspiration.
What can I say? I warned you. There’s a lot to get through here, but hopefully it’s not cumbersome and instead, gives you that over-the-counter creative dose you were needing. So go on, make something.