The best design blogs open up your creativity like a doorway, leading you along unexpected pathways and then stopping you in your tracks with a stunning viewpoint you never imagined. Many of these blogs don’t simply cover web design, but instead present design as a way of responding to every aspect of the visual world. A perk to design blogs is that some of them offer not only curated worlds of imagination, but also a stack of free resources: wallpapers, textures, brushes, icons, and more. Others provide unique professional development options, including all sorts of tutorials, books and presentations. Here are six of the very best design blogs to boost your creativity in 2014:
Youthedesigner
Calling itself “A graphic design lifestyle blog,†this sleek site exemplifies the way in which good design blogs reach beyond the digital world. Recent posts feature some incredible photo realist pencil drawings and a stunning design for the logo of a coffee house in Kiev. This site functions as a resource base for the working designer, offering an outstanding array of free tools. They even have pages of free, downloadable print templates for everything from menus to event tickets to door hangers. Youthedesigner also features regular web design contests, with giveaways of premium theme designs as prizes.
Information Aesthetics
This nine-year-old blog — which is about 90 in internet years — manages to stay right at the cutting edge. It focuses on the relationship between design and information, presenting a stunning array of actual art that also conveys complex sets of data. Recent highlights include a flavor map from Scientific American in which you can view unexpected proximities, such as the neighborhoods of caviar and jasmine.
Cool Hunting
Another venerable member of the online design community, Cool Hunting was founded in 2003 and now has a global team of contributors . This site covers extensive ground, “ highlighting creativity and innovation in design, technology, style, culture, food and travel.†Their extensive design category offers a number of interviews with masters in this field, such as a discussion with illustrator Beppe Ciacobbe on visual paradoxes. These interviews are thoughtful, in-depth explorations of an individual designer’s creative process, and they are presented through a mix of text and image.
Creative Market
This year we brought you interesting tutorials, design inspiration, and useful tips and tricks. For 2014 you’ll find the Creative Market blog continue to provide some of the best content that’s not only valuable to designers, and people interested in design but everyone! We’re planning on bringing more tutorials like: How to Make Any Font a Handmade Font, along with projects geared toward charity like our ABC’s of Design Project. Be sure to subscribe to the blog today, and receive information and inspiration posts in 2014.
Flowing Data
This clever site merges pure art with a love for visualizing information. Their recent video post, “Your life in jellybeans,” is not to be missed; it’s a masterwork of data art, presenting information in a form so charming and visually compelling that you can’t stop watching. The site offers a good selection of books and tutorials for sale, as well as some playful byways to wander through as well. (A recent visualization of the top reddits of all time warns, “Let the time suck begin.â€)
Toxel.com
Simply wandering through Toxel.com is irresistible, regardless of whether you’re actively involved in professional graphic design work. To enter their “Inspiration†portal is to drop through a rabbit hole into a wonderland of the imagination. Their recent photo collection entitled “Dog Birds†truly defies description, while the sly wit of “Honest slogans†will have you laughing out loud.
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Spending time with these collections of visual wizardry should be entered into your daily schedule as a crucial part of your professional development.
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I'm a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco with a degree in Biology and a passion for the creative arts. I love building websites, trying new things, and I have a passion for social media.
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