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How to find inspiration for your designs

By Alex Woods on January 27, 2012

Whether you’re a designer or simply creating a website for your business, you’re going to need lots of inspiration to keep you going.

 

It can be hard to come up with original and innovative ideas which will make your website and designs stand out from the rest. Sometimes all you need to do is search the internet or pick up a magazine to get those creative juices flowing.

 

Inspiration comes a lot more naturally to some than others, which is why we have provided some sources of inspiration to get you going…

Blogs

Design blogs are a great source of inspiration. All you need to do is type ‘design blog’ into a search engine and you’ll be presented with an array of inspirational and creative websites. Blogs are a place where designers can share each other’s designs as well as their own easily.

 

Bloggers are also able to post tutorials and articles which can help and assist with anything from coding to what colour to choose for a website. There will often be whole sections dedicated to inspiration as well as web reviews, interviews and tools. It has everything you need in one place meaning that you’re bound to find some inspiration soon enough.

 

A lot of blogs will also have design forums where you can interact with other designers and people building websites. You can post topics for discussion to get advice, tips and feedback. This is a more personal method of gaining inspiration.

 

 

How to find inspiration for your designs

Create an inspiration board

Inspiration boards also known as mood boards have been used for years to help artist and designers muster some inspiration. It’s also a handy tool for gathering all your thoughts and ideas while putting them in one manageable place.

 

There are two types of inspiration board you can make. The first is the traditional method of manually creating a board. You can do this by cutting out pictures and designs from magazines and sticking it to your board. Pieces of material and whatever else you can find can be added and stuck on to create a collage of ideas.

 

The second method is to make a board online by using Photoshop or a similar program. A lot of people prefer this option as it is quick and easy to create. Changes and modifications can be made with a few clicks which is appealing to those that like to change their mind! The finished product also looks rather impressive in digital form.

 

Create an inspiration board

Magazines

There are loads of design magazines which are packed full of features, interviews, reviews, articles and news which are sure to inspire. Most of them will offer a subscription so you won’t have to spend hours searching the shops for a copy. The great thing about magazines is that you can keep them and go back to them later on for ideas. They can also be used to provide cuttings for inspiration boards and projects.

 

Magazines

Apps

Why not try an App on your mobile phone for a bit of inspiration. This provides the ideal solution for inspiration on-the-go. There are many to choose from which can be downloaded straight onto your phone. Most of the apps feature a stream of images which you can scroll through.  Check out the Fancy App which features anything that is cool and inspirational.

 

Exhibitions and shows

Exhibitions & shows

If you want to take a more active approach in getting inspired then get yourself down to an exhibition. A lot of shows are free to go along to and you can look at your local ‘what’s on’ guides to find the nearest ones to you. Exhibitions can involve anything from still art to videos giving you a wide variety of material to draw inspiration from. 

 

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Now that you're feeling all inspired, how about having a go at creating your own website...

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