3 New Design Resources You Might Not Have Heard Of
If you’re a designer, you’re probably filled with ideas that you want to unleash, toy around with, and get feedback on. But, the sun isn’t always shining its brightest. Every once in a while, you might also hit an idea road block and struggle to find any amount inspiration.
Thankfully, other designers have developed strategies to help solve your, as well as their similar problems. Here are threegrowing websites that designers are discovering and embracing. From platforms for sharing ideas with like-minded peers to inspiration warehouses, these sites are great resources with multiple uses for any designer.
Dribbble
Dribbble.com is a self-described “show and tell for designers.” The site gives designers the opportunity to share screenshots of designs they’re working on, anything from print, websites, applications, and more, and receive feedback from others on the site.
Users are organized into three categories, “players,” “spectators,” and “prospects.” Players are Dribbble memberswho can post designs and comment. Spectators are members who simply want to follow other users and find inspiration. They cannot comment. Prospects are players in the making, and must receive an invite from a player to become a player. This is the small sites way of gradually growing, and keeping exclusive and high quality.
Overall, Dribbble is a fun way to get feedback of real value, and to explore and find inspiration.
Lost Type
Can’t find the right font? You might find a great new one on LostType.com. The site was originally created to distribute a single font, but quickly developed into a site for many designers to offer their fonts. The site has an interesting model: site visitors can pay whatever amount they want for each font. If they want to pay $100 for the font or $0, they can. All the sales go directly to the font creator.
Currently, the site has 40 fonts, and this number isalways increasing. Each font is uniquely shown with a little billboard type ad. Additionally, on the site’s blog, users can find real-life applicationsofLost Type fonts, like in in-store signage or brochures. What great inspiration!
Serifs & Sans
SerifsandSans.com is a design blog supported on the Tumblr platform. Each day, several new posts of original and inspiring designs are added to the site. The posts are aggregated from designers’ personal sites and agencies across the world. Anything from graphics on a t-shirt, printed layouts, birthday and greeting cards, posters, branding and identities, fonts and lettering, and much more can be found on the blog. Easy navigation and tons of quality posts make finding inspiration easy!
Paul Premson works for Cliq Studios, a cabinet manufacturer specialising in Shaker kitchen cabinets. Paul is a big fan of Apple products and is getting into social media, read my most recent article about shoebox for iPhone here, enjoy!
