A few months ago, I declared Google Reader bankruptcy. I started to feel like I was falling into a creative rut. Everything I looked at online felt the same. I was struggling to make my work feel new and fresh. What did I do? I decided to start paying attention to new things.
They say “you are what you eat.” I think the same thing applies to design. The more you pay attention to a particular style, the more likely you are to produce something with a similar feel.
I needed new inspiration to challenge myself with. I deleted all my feeds in my Google Reader. Slowly, I’ve started to build up my feeds again, but I’m far more selective about what stays and what goes.
On Design
- WordPress Essentials: The Definitive Guide To WordPress Hooks
- Free Download: Cheat Sheet For Designing Web Forms
- Not Your Parent’s Mobile Phone: UX Design Guidelines For Smartphones
- Good Books on Design Sketching
- 8 Things I Thank Steve Jobs For
- Design Management vs. Design Thinking
Smashing Magazine
This site always has some great posts and inspiration. A few from the past week:
The Design Cubicle
Brian Hoff is one my favorite designers. He has such an appreciation for typography that carries through in his website design. It’s been a while since he’s posted on his site, but his last post was a good one: What does a website cost?
Lottie Loves
This site has a DIY feel. Just the same, there are some great pictures for inspriation.
The Design Files
All different kinds of pictures to look at and interviews worth reading: Craig Redman and Gavin Youngs and Lily Coates
Hey Look
This site is part DIY, part branding, and (my favorite) part color
Design Sojourn
This site has some great write-ups on design. Recently:
sfgirlbybay
First of all, this is just a well designed site. They have some beautiful pictures that they’ve found, fantastic interior design, and plenty of other great findings.
Kelli Anderson
This is a designer that I really like. Her homepage is made using Google Maps. She just has some beautiful work.
Logobird
As the name suggests: logos!
Eat Drink Chic
This site has a vintage feel to it, but has a little bit of everything: fashion, prints, and collections
PatternTap.com
This site looks at several patterns within web design. For example: navigation, forms, and buttons
Dribbble
One of the things that’s interesting about following the Dribbble feed is you can quickly sense design trends.
typegoodness
As the name suggests, this site has type goodness (go figure!)
Design*Sponge
This is a blog about interior design. They just released a beautiful book.
Eight Hour Day
This is a studio that does beautiful work, but also posts some fantastic inspiration on their blog.
site inspire
This site rounds up some great looking websites.
Beautiful Pixels
This site looks at beautiful interface design.
Swiss Miss
Swiss Miss always finds some of my favorite things ([the bear sleeping bag](http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/02/the-sleeping-bear.html) is still top on my list)
Lovely Package
This site looks at beautiful package design.
decor8
This is all about decorating and interior design.
The Best Web Designs
This site is exactly as the URL suggets: The Best Web Designs
On Productivity
John Chandler
John writes about once a week about creativity and productivity. Some of my favorite posts that he’s written have to do with process and organization:
Life After College
Even though I’ve been out of college for several years, this blog has plenty of advice for getting organized. Jenny Blake is a former Google employee and uses Google Docs and Spreadsheets better than anyone else I know. She’s made her templates available and explained how she stays organized. (My Gmail + Boomerang trick came from her)
On Web
Think Vitamin
All kinds of goodness here — everything from developing iOS apps to business insights.
ChangeOrder
This blog has some great writes ups on everything from writing software to designing studio culture
Web Design Ledger
A good round-up of inspiration, tools, and freebies.
Method & Craft
Method & Craft has interviews with all several talented designers. Some of my personal favorites: Jessica Hische and Joshua Blakenship. Oh, and there are also some great tutorials there too.
A List Apart
This site always has articles that push the boundaries of what we’re able to accomplish with HTML and CSS. In fact, I believe it’s one of the first, if not the first place that I heard about responsive web design.
Web Designer Wall
Another great resource. This site makes understanding coding principles easy for designers (like myself) to understand.
On Blogging
ProBlogger Blog Tips
This is a great resource of bloggers, if you’re just getting started or been doing it for years. I’ve also bought several of his resources, including The Blogger’s Guide to Online Marketing, Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers, and 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.
Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan is my favorite blogger on social media. A month ago, I signed up for his paid newsletter on blog ideas and have yet to be disappointed. I’ve also read his book with Julien Smith entitled Trust Agents.
Copyblogger
This is another good read for those that want to get better at blogging.
What Other People Think
ON 10.12.2011 Jenny Blake THOUGHT:
Thank you so much for the shout-out — I’m honored to have made the cut POST Google Reader bankruptcy!! (I’ve had to do the same thing)
Love your blog design too
ON 10.12.2011 Amy THOUGHT:
@Jenny Thanks for the comment! I’ve been meaning to e-mail you back after I signed up for your e-mail newsletter. — You do social networking better than anyone else I “know” because you do it in a way that’s personable and unobtrusive.
ON 10.12.2011 John Chandler THOUGHT:
Thanks for including me! Glad to know my mutterings are helpful to you.
ON 10.13.2011 Brian THOUGHT:
Hi Amy,
Thanks for including me on your list and linking to a few of my posts. I’ll be keeping an eye out on your site as well.
Good Luck!
Brian
ON 10.13.2011 Amy THOUGHT:
@John and @Brian Sure thing! Keep up the good work!