My Favorite Places to Find Design Inspiration

Part of staying creative for me is continually looking at design inspiration. Whether it’s staying on top of the latest trends or specifically looking at how other designers tackle particular problems, I have several go-to sources to get my creative juices flowing.

01. Pinterest

Pinterest has become my top favorite place for design inspiration over the years mainly because of how their algorithm works. The more of a particular item you pin, the more you see it in your home feed. In my case the more designs I pin, the more designs I see.

Their search function helps to suggest terms in order to get you seeing exactly what you want. I love it for getting inspired with client projects because I can search for industry-specific design inspiration. For example, if I have a nutrition client I can search for “nutrition website design inspiration” and get some fantastic ideas!

I also use Pinterest to share inspiration with my clients. This can be me sharing pins with them to see if we’re heading in the right direction or them creating a board to share with me. Either way, I have secret boards for all my clients where I keep all my inspiration related to their project.

Follow me on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lovelygeek

02. Dribbble

Dribbble is very popular in the design community and is a great place to find designers showing off their skills. As a designer I find Dribbble the most helpful when I need ideas on how to solve a UI/UX problem, like if I need ideas on how to design a stepper or a unique way to make radio buttons stand out a bit more.

Like Pinterest, it’s a great place to find industry-specific design inspiration. It’s also fun to just follow other designers that you admire and keep up with their work. I love following Jerrod Maruyama as he’s been responsible for some of my favorite Disneyland merchandise, so I enjoy being able to see what he’s working on.

Follow me on Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/LovelyGeek

03. Awwwards

Awwwards is another popular gallery in the design community, and it’s a big honor to have your site featured there. Some of the most innovative website designs from around the world have showcased their work on Awwwards.

While I love keeping up with trends and overall inspiration on Awwwards, I do tread carefully. Some UI/UX decisions are a little outrageous to the point where it’s not usable for the average user, or while something looks really cool it could blow a client’s budget out of the water.

More

In addition to these sites, I subscribe to a few newsletters roundups like Panda Newsletter and Web Development Reading List. Sidebar is also a good daily digest of all things web design.

There are so many places to find design inspiration on the web. However, to keep me from getting overwhelmed, I tend to stick to my top four. Usually, I find plenty of ideas just between them.