Web design inspiration

1. Google/DuckDuckGo/etc.

   When looking for ideas and inspiration, I usually start with a search engine and a few choice keywords. That generally opens the doors to an unlimited supply of awesome resources. Then drilling down into various results and refining my search terms yields even better, more relevant content. Generally it doesn't take long before I am equipped with plenty of information, ideas, and inspiration.

2. YouTube/Vimeo/etc.

   I find movies and video super inspiring, so I tend to spend a lot of time surfing popular video sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Not everything is worth watching, but there are plenty of great, inspirational gems that really get my wheels turning. For example, if I need some inspiration before drawing or painting, I like to watch some videos of people sharing their skills and ideas. It's also interesting to see how other people have things set up, which devices they are using, and so on.

3. Flickr/iStock/etc.

   Photos, graphics, and art play a large role in my online work, and I find a lot inspiration in the work of others. Browsing through the endless ocean of great images at Flickr and stock photo sites is almost always an inspirational experience. The problem is that there is SO much amazing work out there, that sometimes it can have the opposite effect and zap the creative process.

1. Smashing Magazine

   If you're wanting to keep up with design and development as a whole, SM is a must have resource.

2. Code Visually

   This is a website that posts up some of the coolest new code tools and resources, which let me always expand my skill set by trying the new stuff they publish.

3. TutsPlus

   I have been a fan of Envato since they first started FreelanceSwitch, and have loved their growth over the years. Their network of sites are a powerhouse for design and development, and should be on anyone's must-read list.

1. Awwwards

   Inspiring examples of forward-thinking, cutting-edge websites, especially listed under their Site of the Day and Site of the Month categories. Most of the sites featured seem to be doing something different or unusual in terms of layout, CSS animations, etc.

2. Siteinspire

   Many of the sites on here feel timeless and honest: Simple, clear and lack over-decorating. Inspiration that lies on the backbone of great design in terms of layout, spacing, color, etc.

3. Pinterest

   Lately I've been finding some fine web example splattered throughout Pinterest. Their 'related pins' underneath each pin help to discover other fine examples as well and keeps you jumping down the rabbit hole for hours.

1. Dribbble

   Yes it gets slated a lot for being too superficial but I find it to be a great resource for inspiration; there are some insanely talented visual designers on there and I find it to be the best place to know what is 'on trend' (whether that means you avoid it or embrace it).

2. Designspiration

   I was going to say niice.co for my second option, but it seems to take all their results from DesignInspiration. Aptly named, you'll never know what you come across – digital equivalent of rifling through a thrift store looking for priceless antiques.

3. Greyscalegorilla

   Nick Campbell is such a genuinely cool guy and the tutorials and products he's created over at GSG is awesome. Cinema 4D is a very approachable app in itself, but Nick and his team actually make it fun to use. They touch on After Effects a lot too, which is great for designers these days to get a handle on.

1. Layervault News

   This is Reddit for designers. A great community and a must visit the first thing you do every day. All sites, articles and designs of importance are posted here.

2. Design Details

   Brian Lovin, a product designer in SF, goes through, in detail, newly released products and explain what he's lovin (pun intended) and what’s questionable.

3. Pttrns

   For inspiration on certain functions, or flows I always visit Pttrns. What’s great about it, is that it’s searchable by function / pattern but also by app. It’s great for getting inspiration and ideas on all the different ways you can do a certain task.

As a designer who also is a developer, the 3 sites i visit the most connect graphics and programming:

1. Codrops

   Codrops offers the best tutorials and examples on graphic and CSS design. They're well structured, commented and easy to understand (let's say i "grew up" playing with those).

2. HackingUI

   HackingUI shares the best insights, case studies and designers' experiences (also great resources for people using Sketch app).

3. Betterment

   Betterment has articles that go beyond technical issues, sharing stuff design philosophy and inspiring stories: it's very motivating!

1. Sites we like

   Out of all the thousands (millions?) site galleries out there, this is the one I most frequently visit. They update very often, plus I feel like we have a pretty similar taste when it comes to web design.

2. Codepen

   Since I’m also developer, I often visit codepen to see what’s going on in the development community. You can get lots of great ideas here, and prevent yourself from reinventing the wheel since all code is freely available.

3. Build

   Build always delivers top quality across all areas. Hard to not get inspired when you visit their site.

• Pinterest

  Pinterest if I want a lot of general UI/Design inspiration.

• Smashing Magazine

  I use Smashing Mag etc more for brushing up on my skill set.

• Otherwise it's really just through links I find via FB, or a google image search.

I don't really need much else usually.

Here’s a list of resources I use to stay as far away from the status quo as possible. They might not be the ones I use on a daily basis, but they’re certainly the ones I find the most interesting.

1. DesignSpiration

   Designspiration is a dump of everything graphical. Graphic design, print, photography, typography, web, apps, icons, logo’s etc. Designers communicate through a visual language. The core question then has to be how one communicates a certain message the clearest and with the best matching emotional ‘feel’ to it. Now the web is mature and is becoming more of a canvas than an excel sheet, we don’t have to look at websites to draw inspiration from when creating a website. I strongly believe that inspiration for a website can come from a mobile app, that inspiration for an app can come from a poster and the inspiration for an icon can come from typography.

2. Hoverstat

   Movement, transitions and animations are crazy important on the web and in mobile applications. We’re coming back to the extend of how animation was once done in flash. Movement can however be really functional and is not only eye candy. So when I’m sometimes looking for nice and nifty transitions, or am looking for the perfect easing, I hit up hoverstat.es, which is a resource showcasing a wide range of movement in interaction design.

3. FastCoDesign

   I think designers are hybrid people that tend to look with a creative and visual mindset to the world around them. This means not only at the web, but also at products and innovation in general. Reading and getting inspired on a deeper level of design understanding, Fast Company Design is my ultimate resource. Ranging from features of amazing architecture to diving into the way places like Google tackle their projects. Best of all, it’s always well written and I always have the feeling I am reading something useful.

1. Medium

   It's not a proper design blog but what I like about it is that you find many authors posting there interesting articles that they publish on their personal blogs. For example: https://medium.com/@javiercanada.

2. SiteInspire

   For latest webdesign trends. I like their weekly newsletter.

3. ProductHunt

   Design can't be abstracted from context. And here I see how it is used to explain and convince in each trendy new digital product.

1. SiteInspire

   This is my go-to site. The organization is great and the topics are well-curated for my needs. I only design on the web for personal reasons, so this one usually covers all my bases.

2. Dribbble

   A simple answer, but I love seeing the process of people in their web-based designs. Kinda helps the thought process flow in ways I wouldn't think when I can take a look under the hood.

3. Siiimple

   I've always just liked this site. Site Inspire is the one I use for when I need help, but this one is fun just to get the creative juices flowing.

1. Shopify Blog

   I am more a product/entrepreneur these days... Shopify is a great canadian company doing some awesome things in e-comm. Their blog has some great tips on running online stores, but also about product creation and general design.

2. Layervault News

   Pretty much where I keep up with all the news in design, usually has a good handful of links everyday

3. BestWebGallery, TheBestDesigns or Dribbble

   Where I can get any inspiration from a design perspective not specific to one (shameless plug I run BestWebGallery).

Sometimes, under deadline pressure, there isn't enough time to wait for the inspiration to show up. In that case I need to speed up the process. Sometimes I go to certain destinations looking for "The Detail that will inspire me to do something completely different. I often use Google images (for real!), sometimes Deviantart or Behance.

Google can be very useful, depends on how you use it. Deviantart and Behance have one advantage and that would be the quantity of available original graphic artworks. Because of them I spent less time on finding „The Detail“ on some picture to make some new story out of it.

1. SiteInspire

   One of my favorite sites for inspiration is the aptly named siteinspire. its a user curated site of modern and exceptional ultra modern websites. it's akin to window shopping really letting you know whats possible.

2. Tuts+

   Resources for learning are a different beast, i prefer sites like tutsplus for peaking my interest in topics, as they cover a massive array of topics. I enjoy digging into a topic further but you'll need to do some serious googling to take it to production.

3. ProductHunt

   A recent new resource for inspiration is product hunt. its a user curated list of products with a bias toward web apps. its a great way to see some of the most interesting work being done and even (hopefully) making a living on it.

1. Sidebar

   It's heavily curated by keen editors and provides me ton of inspiration for problem solving. The featured sites are (mostly) visually beautiful, but their powerful ideas are what get me going.

2. Awwwards

   This sites makes me uncomfortable every time I look at it... because I get jealous and cranky and in awe of the beautiful UX work I see. This site help to show me what's possible and both inspires and makes me feel like there is a mountain to climb before I can even consider myself to be on the "cutting-edge", whatever that means!

3. Behance

   I'm old school and have had an account portfolio with BeHance since 2006. Big catalog that goes way back and helps when searching for specific design solutions that others have employed.

4. 3rd place runner-up: Dribbble.

1. Dribbble

   Though not purely focused on web design, there is a lot of new and different work being shown. I think it helps provide a sense also of trends in UI and aesthetics because you'll see some similarities across projects. Additionally, they feature animated GIF's with some really great examples of bits of UX and interaction by a user.

2. SiteInspire

   A very nicely curated index of web and interactive design that focuses on simplicity and cleanliness, avoiding featuring site with overly excessive gimmicks. Making for thoughtful and functional sites to be inspired by.

3. Typewolf

   What I like here is the unique take on website design by focusing strictly on the typography and fonts used in the design. It is curated for quality and is very helpful in seeing different fonts in use. There are also comments and font pairing recommendations from the author.

1. MindSparkleMag

   Here is always very fresh web. Usually they take works from Awwwards. But for me it is more convenient to watch it at Mindsparklemag.

2. Dribbble

   Of course, I spend here the most time - the huge flow of works where you can immediately understand what is actual today.

3. Sidebar

   Always a good selection of articles and news about design.

1. Panda (Designer News / Dribbble)

   I use a Chrome extension called Panda that is a great source for design news and popular designs that can be from Dribbble, Behance and more. Highly recommended.

2. Buffer App

   This is a great place to find new articles and resources. It also makes it easy to share and track great resources.

3. Twitter Lists

   Curate your lists for the best and fastest news possible!

The websites/blogs I use traditionally for web design inspiration are (in no particular order of importance):

• SiteInspire

  I like the sites that are listed, particularly because the curating process includes sites that are modern in their aesthetic but also with a strong focus on responsiveness. This site also features a sorting engine that is impeccable and allows for quick browsing into different categories.

• TheFWA

  This portal has been around for many years, and has been an inspirational resource for me, particularly because on top of their site and mobile app choices, they also feature great articles with professionals in the Design industry.

• Behance

  I've been using the Behance Network since 2008 and it has evolved into a reference in the design world, as a way to showcase work from designers from all over the world. I like browsing through the curated talents and disciplines, and also following directly the work of designers and other professionals whose work inspire my own (and challenge me to a certain extent).

1. Patterntap

   When I’m looking for inspiration, it’s usually not for a general aesthetic or complete website, rather, specific UI components. I enjoy browsing how others have tackled headers, footers, navigation, and the like, and Pattern Tap allows me to do that easily with their filters.

2. Codrops

   Sometimes I need inspiration, and others I’m curious to know the limits of what’s possible. The team at Codrops always post fantastic explorations of interactive methods, most of which push the bounds of what we think is possible with HTML/CSS/JS.

3. iPhone apps

   Though the majority of my work is for websites, I always try to find inspiration through native apps. A lot of interaction principles and conventions can be shared between the two, so I try to diversify my sources for inspiration beyond websites.

1. Fromupnorth

   I would choose www.fromupnorth.com because of the variety of design styles with different mediums.

2. Behance

   Second would be www.behance.net mostly because I like to see what people design in every type of field, not just mine. I also like when they showcase portfolios.

3. Thedieline

   Third would be www.thedieline.com because personally I like combining three dimensional forms with graphics and this site portrays peoples designs very well.

1. One Page Love

   When single-paged websites were only starting to emerge in the Philippines, I needed inspiration. This was my go-to website for web projects. The graphic design and typography in the posts are also pretty impressive.

2. Awwwards

   This one needs no explanation. If you're an award-giving body on web design, I think it just goes that you know what you're doing.

3. Icon Finder

   All of the websites I make require social media icons. When I found Icon Finder, I saw other icons themes I can use in my other projects. Never checked other icons websites again.

I guess my top 3 favorite resources would be the below:

1. Awwwards

   Staying up to date with the latest trends of web design and what would make a website an award winner.

2. WebDesignServed

   Researching specific features like styles, website structures, and types of websites (Corporate,fun, static, interactive, single page...).

3. Dribbble

   More detail-oriented inspiration for elements and user-friendly solutions (buttons, menus, widgets, icons)

1. A List Apart

   I've been following them since around 2004 and they helped me to really get my footing and learn the fundamentals of design and code. A List Apart is where some of the greatest designers and developers come together to share their knowledge about the trade. Everyone should attend one of their An Event Apart conferences, if given the chance.

2. Thoughts by Jessica Hische

   Jessica Hische is the go-to gal for all things typography. She combines her witty, conversational writing style, typography and illustrations to explain design in terms that anyone can understand and appreciate. Her blog is filled with musings about about the daily life of design work from design itself, to managing clients.

3. Smashing Magazine

   This makes many designers' list of top blogs for good reason. It covers all facets of web including coding, design, mobile, and user experience design. They have a great e-book series as well and every month I look forward to their desktop wallpapers submitted to them by their readers.

1. Dribbble

   Dribbble - because it has a lot of great designers with great projects. Besides a great place to meet new people.

2. Behance

   Behance - same as dribbble.

3. DesignModo

   Designmodo - Because they give specific examples… “16 websites with gorgeous typography” or “best website designs of 2014” - this is good place for inspiration.

• Behance

  I really love Bechance. it’s not strictly web design but it’s a great source of inspiration. sometimes, seeing peoples work is just what I need to get me motivated and seeing all the spectacular work there just inspires me.

• Pinterest

  I am also addicted to Pinterest (who isn’t right?) I always find a collection I haven’t seen before, they have a lot of web design boards and its just great!

• WDL

  The last one is Web Design Ledger (WDL), they just have great stuff there, articles, inspirations, i always find something new and exciting. LOVE IT!

1. Layervault News

   A daily feed of the latest news about design and code.

2. SiteInspire

   A curated list of the finest websites by @howells, he always picks the best.

3. FontsInuse

   I come here to find the finest fonts and combinations

1. SethGodin

   I try to read this every single morning. It’s a great motivator to start my day. It’s also great because I can share it with my non-designer friends.

2. ZenHabits

   One of the more insightful blogs about intentional living. Being a freelancer it’s important to me to make the best of my time every day. I used to think that meant working 24/7 — Now that ideal has become living a balanced, healthy life. A must read if you’re freelance.

3. 99U

   Excellent creative inspiration on a variety of topics ranging from creative process hacks to business pointers. They also put out great talks by industry giants such as Seth Godin (above), Sagmeister, Etc.

1. Best Web Gallery

   It has a wide variety of great websites. I mostly use this for marketing landing page inspiration.

2. Dribbble

   Mostly to get my juices flowing when starting the hi-fi designs of a new project.

3. Pttrns

   Just like to see how different apps are approaching the iOS platform

Actually there are a lot of websites I visit regularly, it depends on the kind of inspiration I'm looking for. The three below are between my favorites. I love the contents of course, but I appreciate as well their overall user experience.

• A List Apart

  Alistapart for best practices

• Typewolf

  Typewolf for typography

• Dribbble

  Dribbble for concepts and UI design

• FFFFound
• DesignSpiration
• Codepen

I like them because you can find there very different design to inspire you, the range is quite big from interface design to art same with the codeine from pure development to some nice art projects.Also they make daly updates and any time is something new.

1. Codepen

   It's community driven, and everyone's experimenting and pushing the limits of code.

2. Abduzeedo

   My first and most loved resource for inspiration. It covers all design from illustrations to web.

3. TutsPlus

   A great for site for people to learn, but also a great resource to learn about new tools and software.

1. Siteinspire

   I love the way Daniel Howells curate the site. Most of the stuff he features are stuff that I like design-wise: grid-oriented, minimalist, experimental and fun.

2. Dribbble

   I love the UI elements and icons people post on dribbble. They’re fun to look at.

3. A List Apart

   Very informative and educational.

1. Design is kinky

   This website has a value in curating the content and I've become a follower many years ago. The content is not specific about web design, but arts in general inspire me.

2. From up north

   What I could say, I'm a big fan of North Kingdom and happy to know what these guys are looking around.

3. Ideo Labs

   I'm a great enthusiast of Design Thinking and these guys inspires me to think in another way.

I also visit almost daily Behance and Pinterest.

1. Smashing Magazine

   I love their posts, because they usually provide background info, examples and hands-on tips, to get you started.

2. Dribbble

   I visit Dribbble mainly for inspiration and as a source for UI and graphics design patterns.

3. Bjango Blog

   In-depth Photoshop tips and tricks… even for longtime Photoshop users.

1. Dribbble

   it has a lot of high-quality web design content submitted by talented designers.

2. Best Web Gallery

   This is an awesome web design gallery that features top-notch, inspiring web designs. However, the site is not frequently updated with new designs like other design galleries. Quality over quantity seems to be the motto on this site.

3. The Best Designs

   This is another great web design gallery which has found an excellent balance between quality and quantity.

My favorite three sites for web design inspiration would be Designspiration because of it's range in styles. I enjoy finding examples that are very minimal and direct but with a touch of whimsy and personality. My second would be HUGE, the digital agency. HUGE would be in itself an inspiration from their bold and punchy website down to their work and clients. It's informational but not cluttered. I gather what they have accomplished with their clients immediately and also can navigate their own site seamlessly. Lastly, the third I'd choose would be We And The Color. What I like about We And The Color is that it's a hub for all things design but also show cases designs and companies that I wouldn't normally cross paths with.

Well for the most of my inspiration I use Designspiration.net, Behance, Fromupnorth.com or even Pinterest. But if I have to answer your question and be specific - resources for web design inspiration, I would say:

1. Siteinspire

   Because of the dominant Simple & Minimalistic website examples. I love to keep things simple.

2. Behance

   Because of the variety and more detailed project descriptions.

3. Land Book

   Because of the focus on landing pages only. Nowadays frequently requested by clients. I´m not sure if it´s still up to date but I used to follow that site a lot.

I remember the time when CSS Galleries were very popular for design inspiration, and my favorite gallery of all time was CSS Beauty. We also had CSS Zen Garden, CSS Mania etc. I wanted to mention these websites because I grow up as a designer following beautiful designs in these galleries, and I'm kind a sorry cause they are not up to date any more...

Although it's a similar concept, Awwwards.com has some advanced features and high quality design galleries and it's great resource for inspiration and trend tracking.

Smashing Magazine is always a good link when you're stuck somewhere!

At the end, maybe will sound silly, but lately for my inspiration trigger I simply use - Google Images. I imagine one design detail (e.g. red, silky background), and search that word on GI. It's amazing how fast you can get inspiration for your design just looking at beautiful pics...

1. Codrops

   Because it has lots of random collection of CSS and jQuery code snippets and always up to date in their Collective category.

2. Onextrapixels

   As it features many websites in Inspiration category that focused on specific web design element which enhances a web design. Such as its color schemes, its video background, or its theme.

3. Spyrestudios

   It's often published inspirational website collection which is viewed in many creative aspects from time to time.

How I do things is a bit different than the methodical process the question suggests. Honestly, when I start a project, I never feel the need to define in what category the brief in-hand falls. Accordingly, whether if it's an editorial or web design project, I always tend to find the inspiration I need, if I need it, mainly from other areas or other designers' work, and the type of work I'm viewing at that moment doesn't necessarily have to even remotely match with mine. It can either be a contemporary art work or a sentence in a book that I simultaneously read that 'kicks it off', so I can easily say that the process evolves naturally and very randomly. The fact goes as I almost don't surf around the inspiration websites at all, as I like more looking at a particular work that I've seen before that comes to mind and hopping on and off the relevant and irrelevant links from there.

If I had to choose the one out of many inspiring resources, it would have been the Delectable as I find majority of the featured works intellectually satisfying and very similar to how I might like to do it if I had done it, approach-wise. Besides the trends and hip-but-shallow formal references, this website expands my comprehension regarding the possibilities and capabilities of what we call web design today and gives me the chance to compare how I and the others would define the very same thing.

• Awwwards

  Because of the new stuff that is made all over the world.

• SiteInspire

  Different languages and ways to draw a website.

• DesignSpiration

  Visual inspiration

1. Behance

   This is a platform for different areas of design and offers huge variety. Besides, it gathers designers from all over the world with their own style, background and culture. I find this quite beneficial.

2. Pinterest

   Same reasons as for Behance.

3. Smashing Magazine

   Provides up to date info and super good designs.

1. http://www.fastcodesign.com
2. http://ui-animations.tumblr.com
3. http://www.devsign.co
4. http://www.hudsandguis.com
5. https://dribbble.com

Animation is very important to me, so seeing things in motion helps me connect more to what an end-product should feel like, than static images might. Best inspiration can often come from design that isn’t particular to your field, as well (such as film, products, or even the coders perspective).

For designers looking to get inspiration I would suggest Behance network where you can find tons of cool stuff from other professionals, just to get you motivated to create great stuff. Behance is just a great way to discover great work and talent and possibly collaborate with others.

*and* Prosite service for those who are like myself looking to showcase their work in easy way without having to worry about coding. And, yes, I'm aware that Prosite isn't the only one offering that kind of service.

As regards to other websites/blogs, I try to keep my mind open to different stuff, I follow and visit different sites in pursuit for the information and knowledge that will help me in my own projects. So just to choose 3 is kinda impossible task for me.

I can't give you much examples, I don't follow a lot of galleries. But what I like is http://www.siteinspire.com, http://grid-based.com and http://behance.com.

1. Codrops

   Since there are many examples and experiments that one can download and start playing around with quickly. I have used several of their demos and tweaked them for what I needed to do.

2. Google Design

   I am starting to style using Material Design and to give information movement. Simple, elegant, fast.

3. Bootstrap

   Since with bootstrap, you can determine what is seen on PC, Tablet, phone, etc. Tailor content to the device size, and make your site snappy, and keep your site looking good and operating well, not matter the device that is used!

1. app.itize.us

   app.itize.us is great for web design as it brings trends to light for designers to help the user experience.

2. designaemporter.tumblr.com

   designaemporter.tumblr.com is one of my favorite resources. It is a greatly curated site with the abillity to sort by type of design but nothing more. This allows a broad range of designs to help influence your work rather than a narrowed search.

3. Dribble.com

   dribbble.com is another favorite. As an exclusive design network (you have to be invited to take part) there tends to be higher quality work than sites like behance.

1. Awwwards

   Simply the best selection of amazing webdesign.

2. Dribbble

   It's always interesting for small design pieces, like forms, actions.

3. Niice

   I'm pretty new on Niice, but it's really good when you need to set a Moodboard, or just a visual concept, I need to explore it in deep.

Out of the list is Smashing Magazine, A list apart, or UXMag.

1. Dribbble

   Dribbble is particularly good for UI elements. If you're looking for a cool way to design an accordian, you're sure to find something there (along with pictures of actual accordians).

2. Awwwards

   Awwwards is full of links to the shiniest, flashiest websites out there, utilising the most cutting edge techniques on offer. It's great to see how far some designers are pushing the envelope, though you may struggle to find anything relevant for content-heavy websites.

3. Smashing Magazine

   Smashing Magazine has kept on top of the latest web trends for years now and it's an invaluable resource when weighing up the suitability of techniques both new and old.

1. Advanced Photoshop

   Advanced Photoshop showcases the work of tremendous designers from all around the world, so I don't have designed filtered through the trends here in the United States alone and it makes a difference. Also they provide great articles and have a print magazine that I buy pretty frequently.

2. Behance

   Behance is similar in this regard and showcases work from designers all over, but in multiple disciplines and allows you to network and become a part f a real creative community.

3. YouTube

   YouTube seems like an odd choice for this question but it's not if you think about it. YouTube is a place where you can see speed art and design and learn from someone's process, there are also a ton of tutorials to help you grow. Also its a chance to see the personality behind other designers and artist and learn more about them.

1. Pttrns

   The site is a well curated catalog of mobile and tablet UI patterns. There are over 3,000 patterns (and growing) in the library. A great resource when designing small screen UI.

2. Pinterest

   Another great resource for UI design patterns. You can find everything from UI toolkits to beautifully designed sites and apps. A lot of great UI boards curated by community members.

3. Zurb's Patterntap

   A good collection of patterns with some nice filtering functionality (type, style, and device).

I don’t find inspiration from other websites, occasionally I’ll see a website I love, or one that is exceptional, but generally as a rule my inspiration is found outside the Internet. I like old industrial design, factories, safety equipment, etcetera. I love Hospital design, signage, typography, clinical and clean. I enjoy clever print design found in magazines and niche board games. But most of all I draw inspiration from nature, the design of fruits and veg, and trees, and animals. The Landscapes, the sorrow or joy in another’s face. Empathy and observation are a designer’s greatest tools to seeing inspiration in the mundane and ordinary.

1. Site Inspire

   I love that they break it down into so many different types of categories, from type of content, format, style, and even platforms. It's an easy and fun way to explore and get inspired.

2. Behance

   I love Behance, it's a wonderful community of creatives, where you can not just get inspired by others work, but talk to them about. It's nice to be able to see their full process, from concept to final.

3. Designspiration

   This is one of my favorite inspiration sites overall. It's a lot more random, but that's what I like about it. I'm always finding something new and different, that I don't think I'd find anywhere else.

1. The Guardian

   The Guardian, because any good designer is aware of what's happening in the world.

2. Skysports

   Sky Sports, because I need a break now and then, and I watch my fair share of football.

3. Feedly

   Feedly, so I can see the blogs I subscribe to in one place.

I can collaborate with 3 websites that I consider useful and inspiring for an industrial designer:

1. Core77

   News and information about good international design world.

2. DesignBoom

   Current and good information on different topics such as architecture, art, technology, etc.

3. Notcot

   Wide spread creative and artistic activities that complement our mental activity, our thoughts and stimulate us to reflect.

These sites are good to stay updated, but still real inspiration we find when we go to the park or when we see children playing.

Twitter (via a client, obviously), because that’s where are the good stuff gets shared. Dribbble, when I’m bored and need an injection. A List Apart, mostly out of habit, but it’s really good and thought-worthy, which on its own get the creative juices flowing.

1. Web Design Ledger

   Among well-known and often visited websites about design I can recommend WDL. For trend spotting it is great.

2. A List Apart

   When I am seeking for articles I go to A List Apart. I like texts about typography which is very useful and important to my design work.

3. I also follow some inspiration boards of other designers with good taste. For example this Slovak blog: Malydizajnblog.sk

1. Colossal

   I love this site b/c it’s always inspiring different solutions.

2. Character Design (on Pinterest)

   Excellent resource for anatomy and character design reference.

3. Behance

   I post on here and I love following other artists on this network. Always inspiring.

My approach in seeking inspiration is to take a broad view and look at a variety of design disciplines, and beyond the design field, for inspiration rather than focusing on just web design or on just logo design. Places I look at regularly and would recommend to web and graphic designers:

• FastCompany

  I like what FastCompany does with graphics, using patterns and photos, large header images and typography in the layout of its site. Its content covers design, creativity, business, and technology, from a pop culture point of view.

• @Issue

  ATissueJournal is about design in general, not just Wordpress and web design. It has a design-for-business focus and spotlights case studies - the thinking behind the design solutions.

• Smashing Magazine

  Smashing Magazine is a good source for visual inspiration, design principles, tech trends and tutorials. It provides a good balance of visual and functional topics.

• Behance

  Behance is a must for high-end (meaning significant, well-conceived and well-crafted, seriously fun, functional, and beautiful) design, illustration and photography inspiration. Work in progress is often posted, and you get to see behind the scenes - the process of creation. Behance showcases creators, not curators.

• The Daily Heller

  For historical context, The Daily Heller looks at design in the context of history, economics and social impact.

1. Yanko Design

   Very great ideas on poduct design, packaging and industrial design.

2. Under Consideration

   Very up to date and useful to find branding design and corporate identity.

3. Toxel

   If you want things out of ordinary you should check this out.

1. Dribbble

   I love browsing Dribbble for design inspiration, especially for things like complex UI solutions, use of color, and illustration inspiration. Some of my favorite designers on Dribbble are Meagan Fisher, Ryan Putnam and Kelli Anderson.

2. Tumblr

   I like looking for design inspiration in mediums like art, creative gifs, IRL signage, and even memes. I do a lot of this on Tumblr. Browsing posts really boosts my creative thinking and stimulates what little artistic side I do have.

3. Television

   I get a lot of inspiration from motion graphics, banners, even ads (bottom thirds) sometimes, especially when it comes to branding. Visual identity and design is crucial to any communication around new programming and attracting a specific audience. I learn a lot about communication design from the boob tube, believe it or not.

1. Smashing Magazine

   Great variety of resources, tips, tools and insights from a diverse community of designers.

2. Good UI

   Simple and effective UI design techniques that challenge me to constantly consider the weight of my design decisions.

3. UX Booth

   Quality posts that keep me grounded in user centered design.

For me I look at sites for two different reasons when I am designing for web. First I look at sites for a wide range of images/articles for inspiration and design elements for the site. Then I look at sites to focus on web design for latest trends, functionality, and structure.

The sites that I probably look at the most are Pinterest, designspiration.net, and bashooka.com. I find that looking at a variety of things from fashion to design and even crafts or scrapbooking helps open my mind to more creativity. This allows me to pull small elements from a variety of resources to give my designs a more unique look. Each of these sites give me this wire range elements for inspiration.

1. Pinterest

   Pinterest has the most range in terms of what I can look at for inspiration. Which is great because inspiration can come form any thing.

2. Designspiration

   Designspiration is like Pinterest for designers. It focuses purely on design and is a great place to start narrowing down my inspiration and refining a moodboard.

3. Bashooka

   Bashooka focuses a lot on web, mobile, UI/UX design. This is a great site to stay on top of the what the latest functionality, structure and animation trends are. Here look for more refined inspiration to change my concepts/moodboards into highly functional web designs.

If I could only choose 3 websites i'd choose the following each day to stay up to date and inspired with the world of web development:

1. Sidebar

   It is quick, easy, and can come straight to my email each day with the few links that day that matter (and I can quickly tell from the headlines usually which matter and which don't - very few matter to be honest, so this helps me weed out the noise)

2. CSS Tricks

   I usually end up here every other day anyway, and I am sure you do too if you do anything regarding CSS haha

3. JavaScript Weekly

   I love javascript and I like to keep up with it, which becomes harder and harder every day as more and more people make awesome things for it everyday :) - this is a good resource to filter the noise in the javascript world and find what matters each week

I visit so many sites daily. My 3 sites would probably be the following:

1. SmashingMagazine

   I’ve been following Vitaly and his team for years and the content they publish has really improved and matured over the years. I especially enjoy their UX articles. SmashingMagazine is regular stop for me.

2. UX Booth

   I may be a bit biased on this one since I’ve worked on their last redesign and I still work on the site on a regular basis, but the content that UX Booth publishes is always very well researched and of really high quality - every article they publish is a must-read for me.

3. Panda App

   Panda aggregates recent articles and news from many design and tech-related sources like Sidebar.io, Designer News, Hacker News, and Product Hunt, as well as inspiration sites like Dribbble, Behance, and Awwwards. No need to go anywhere else really.

1. Dribbble

   Been there since day 1 and I have to say they still managed to keep the quality high. I love to get inspiration there because I can sort them in folders and give them feedback.

2. Sketchapp TV

   A relatively new project which features one free .sketch file a day. It has premium quality and I really love to get inspiration for UI / UX design there.

3. Behance

   I love the case studies on there. People are able to show much more information than on Dribbble. That's the reason for Behance.

1. Site Inspire

   Site Inspire has a bunch of well designed, interesting web sites. Their categories make it easy to search for specifics and they're constantly updating. Plus their site is organized and displays its content uniformly.

2. Webby Awards

   The Webby Awards are a great place to be inspired by new ideas and great design. It's also great to see web design as an appreciated art form!

3. It's Nice That

   It's nice that has been a long time running blog that curates some of the best design and art I've seen. Even though it's not entirely focused on Web Design, they feature off the beaten path jems and provides an enjoyable read.

4. Cargo Collective Gallery & Tumblr

   I enjoy seeing how Tumblr & Cargo Collective users have created and edited their blogs for personal creative control. It's also been kind of peculiar seeing theme creators develop into small web businesses.

As far as inspiration goes, I tend not to look at other people's work for inspiration. This will sound corny, but I really try to get away from the screen and find inspiration in the real world whenever I get the chance. However, when I do turn to the web, these are my three favorite sources:

1. The Invision Blog

   I've been using Invision as my main prototyping tool for quite some time now, and as of recently I've started following their blog because it's such a great source of ideas, inspiration and knowledge.

2. Little Big Details

   I just love this website and I love the quirky and fun stuff that the creative minds come up with on their websites and apps. It always makes me smile and gets my creative juices flowing.

3. Designmodo

   Designmodo and I have a long history - I've been following their blog for years. It's where you'll find useful resources, tutorials and freebies, as well as inspiration - all in one place.

1. DesignSpiration

   As a graphic designer I believe that design plus usability is the best combination, this website has them both. It is simple, minimalist and very easy to use, you can create your own profile to like, save projects or upload your own.

2. Line25

   What I like about this site is that it provides a different selection of good websites every week, so it keeps you on track regularly; it also gives you great tutorials about which fonts and colors to use.

3. Web Designer Depot

   I love the design of the site, it captures your attention and inspires you just by itself and its use of fonts and illustrations. It has a lot of options to choose from when looking for an specific topic like design or usability, or coding. Besides, who doesn't love the freebies section?

It’s was a difficult selection but here go my favorite sites for inspiration.

1. Awwwards

   Whenever I’m starting a new web project, this is where I go to check the latest amazing sites and get inspired.

2. Dribbble

   Amazing platform not only to get inspiration, but also to follow your favourite designers, build up your network and even ask for input on your work from fellow designers. A daily visit for sure.

3. Graphic Burger

   This is the place to go to build up your resources. Free mockups, icons, websites, apps, all in editable formats. Follow their subscription and be amazed every day!

1. Mobile Patterns

   For inspiration for mobile and mobile web design patterns.

2. Layervault

   Essentially the hacker news for designers, daily inspiration from here.

3. Sidebar

   Daily curated design newsletter.

The only site I visit for inspiration is SiteInspire.com, which I think is the absolute best out there in terms of how it selects websites to feature and the way in which it features them.

My inspiration sources of web design:

1. flatvsrealism.com
2. parallaxis.it
3. leaderbagco.com
4. theringbarlondon.co.uk

I picked those websites because the last 3 are reflecting my point of view of being minimalist and at the same time fulfilling visual expectations. Typographic approaches, use of colors and visual balance are perfect. Website directs the viewer and gives an experience from the beginning till the end.

The first website (www.flatvsrealism.com) is one of the best storytelling websites I have ever seen. I think it is a good and unique inspiration for designers.

• Designer News
• Swiss Miss
• Minimalissimo

1. Pinterest

2. Dribbble

3. And my own photography that I take with my phone as I'm out doing things.

1. Behance
2. CGSociety
3. CGMeetup

1. LayerVault

   Perfect place to find the design news I need to know fast and before every other design blog posts its.

2. Selectism.com and Style.com

   Get a lot of inspiration from fashion trends. Great place to explore shapes, styles, and colors.

3. Medium.com

   Nice sized articles to make sure you learn something new everyday.

4. SiteInspire.com

   Quick place to glance over great simple sites which don't have all the bells and whistles.