Inspiration is hard, and at times seems impossible.
There are times when everything I put together feels great; I have one of those Mozart moments where that first version is the best version and the last version. Then of course there are times when getting something as simple as a donate button or a 125x125 ad to look the way I want it to seems impossible. It’s simple to do, but when it just doesn’t look like something you want to take credit for – inspiration feels completely unattainable.
To reduce these moments of frustration (and the accompanying mouse banging) I made it a point recently to include design blogs and resources into my daily feeds and "reads", and while I’ve yet to put together any awe-inspiring donate buttons, the exposure has done a lot to get ideas boiling. I’d like to share 3 of my new favorite resources.
Webdesigner Depot
Of all the websites I cover, Webdesigner is the one I frequent the most. They’re consistent with getting an interesting post up every day, and they tweet (http://twitter.com/DesignerDepot) several times a day, often linking to designs/photos/images and tutorials I would not have come across unless I was following them.
Beyond being a design blog however, the real hook for me to this site is that everything isn’t just centered on designing, but design. An example of this can be seen in a recent post titled “Apple vs Microsoft - A Website Usability Study” [link]. Typically, comparison of these 2 companies puts their respective OS’s against each other (which in turn starts a flame war in the comments section with Apple fanboys and Microsoft users), but instead, this post compared their product websites. Each “pride themselves on producing cutting edge consumer and business products”, but which reflected it better on their website? Which had a better search function? Which showcased their products best? Which flowed best? But most importantly – why and how did they achieve it?
WebDesigner Wall
I often wish I knew everything there is to know about web design. To be like a Superman, tights, cape and all (while sitting at my desk), but instead of super powers, I’d be a super web designer. Back to reality though, there’s just no time.
WebDesigner Wall topics are wide ranging include product reviews, giveaways and job listings, but my favorite thing here are the tutorials, all categorized perfectly in their tag cloud. Topic tags include core elements like SEO, design trends and design processes – all easy to filter through and find on the sidebar. Now when I have 30 minutes to spare, rather than getting lost in Digg, I find performing their quick tutorials hugely helpful. (That is to say, Digg is my kryptonite, and WebDesigner Wall is my Lois Lane.)
Six Revisions
Six Revisions to me is less like a blog, and more like an online magazine.
Like the last two, it has tutorials and freebies, but it offers it in a more robust way. The articles are longer, that is, they’re usually more thorough and the freebies (mostly textures and Photoshop brushes) are displayes and hosted for download on their own site. My favorite thing about Six Revisions is that the topics, while still web design and development focused, are all so randomly relevant. That is, one day it’s an article about improving web development [link], another day about time tracking apps for billing [link], and then the next day they're providing links to shortcut and design cheat sheets [link].
Staying up to date with topics that come up often as a developer has been much easier with since discovering Six Revision. (It also helps that their founder is on Twitter (twitter.com/jggube).)
Thanks for a intresting read, always learn something new and I will return to your blog. Thank You.
Posted by: Tiger-Host | June 28, 2009 at 04:54 PM