Reader’s Poll! Where Do You Get Your Web Design Inspiration?

This week’s poll is all about sharing your own methods for finding sources of web design inspiration. Whether you find it online, in a museum, or out in the great outdoors, every designer has his/her own way of finding new and interesting ideas to keep their designs fresh. Read on to answer the poll and find out where other designers are getting their own sources of inspiration!

Inspiration : A Web Designer’s Lightning in a Bottle

Finding great sources of inspiration to fuel your design sessions is a vital skill for web designers. Whether you work alone in your home-office, at the local coffee shop, or at a big corporate design studio, being able to find inspirational material will help you to keep you ideas fresh, innovative, and relevant.

You can pick up to 4 answers:

A Few of My Favorites

I’ll be honest – I don’t have lots of subscriptions to expensive design magazines (I subscribe to just 3 or 4 of them), and I don’t get around to museums half as much as I should… but where I do get inspiration has become a bit of a “creative routine” for me. Here are my two pics, post yours down below in the discussion area ;)

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  Online Design Galleries & Awards Websites

  This answer will probably be high on the poll… simply because it’s the most accessible source of inspiration for web designers. Online design galleries are fantastic ways to not only share your own work, but to check out what other designers are up to and find ideas for new projects that you might be working on. Here are just a handful:

  Visit Creattica
  Visit Behance
  Visit Designer’s Couch
  Visit FFFound
  Visit TheFWA
  Visit TheCSSAwards
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  In The Great Outdoors (while Exercising)

  There’s no website for this one… in fact, that would be a little bit contradictory, now wouldn’t it? Sure, there are apps that might help you find a great spot to hike, rock climb, or go for a swim, but cutting loose from technology and getting outdoors has always been one of my favorite ways to develop new ideas. Maybe it’s because I sit around all day while I’m working, but finding a way to get outside and use my body is one of the best ways to escape the creative doldrums.

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  Flipping Through Design Books, Annuals, and Magazines (Used!)

  I don’t subscribe to some of the bigger design mags out there (Print, Eye, etc.)… mostly because they are expensive to pick up at the moment of publication. What I do have is a huge library of USED books, magazines and design annuals. Amazon.com offers an awesome selection of used design books, and most of the expensive design magazines can be picked up for a couple bucks on sites like eBay once the publication date has passed. If you ask me, truly good quality design will stand the test of time… which means that if it was really great when it was published, it’ll also still be great in a month, a year, and even a decade.

Let the Discussion Begin

The poll is a little bit generalized… mostly because listing the 100′s of different websites and other specific sources of material would make it just too long for the poll template. With that said though, I’d love to hear more about specific places that you get inspiration (and I’m sure other reader’s will find this stuff useful as well!). So, what are your favorite inspirational:

• Design Books
• Websites
• Museums
• Activities
• Tools

Post them below in the comments!