Inspiration Article Archive

10 Expert Tips for Designing a One Page Portfolio

November 28th, 2009 90 Comments

Once upon a time, designers would lug unwieldy physical portfolios from interview to interview to showcase their work. This tactic is steadily being replaced with sending out emails containing links to an online portfolio. A portfolio website is becoming an essential marketing tool for every designer and can be the single biggest impression upon which you will be judged and hopefully, hired.

This article contains several tips and examples to help you create an amazing single page portfolio.

30 Beautifully Designed Tumblr Themes

November 24th, 2009 60 Comments

Tumblr is an easy to use, fast-growing blogging platform with a strong emphasis on simple, no hassle content sharing. I would describe Tumblr as much more attractive and streamlined than Blogger and a lot simpler than WordPress (though not as powerful).

Like other blogging platforms, Tumblr makes it really easy to change themes on the fly without messing up previously posted content, and with over 275 themes to choose from, you get a lot of variety. However, sorting through hundreds of mediocre themes to find those few golden nuggets of design goodness can be quite the mundane task. That’s why we’ve done the work for you and created this collection of 30 beautifully designed Tumblr themes.

25 Awesome Tools for Choosing a Website Color Scheme

November 16th, 2009 113 Comments

As a designer, color management should be an integral part of your workflow. A website’s color scheme helps shape its identity and therefore should not be carelessly thrown together. Here are 25 online, desktop and iPhone applications to help you live and breathe color management no matter where you are.

Find Web Design Clients Free With Haystack

November 6th, 2009 8 Comments

Today we’ll check out Haystack, a new web designer directory site from 37signals. We’ll go over what it’s all about, their pricing structure and how to get yourself listed!

The Ultimate Guide to CSS Gallery Inclusion

November 3rd, 2009 5 Comments

Design Shack started out as a simple CSS gallery, featuring well designed websites that caught my eye. Tens of thousands of designs have been submitted over the past few years, and each one has been considered carefully for inclusion. The sad fact is that only around 5% of submissions stand out from the crowd.

This could be due to any number of factors; the site didn’t get the basics right, didn’t have anything remarkable to show, or (occasionally) was let down by content. This guide will walk you through how to make sure you stand a great chance of inclusion, avoiding all the pitfalls so commonly stumbled into by designers. At each stage, we’ll take a look at one great example, and one that’s not so good.

50 Outstanding Free Design Textures

November 2nd, 2009 37 Comments

A few good textures can take a boring design and turn into something stunning. As a designer, you should seek to build a library of all kinds of textures to complement a range of styles. Here are 50 completely free and ready to download textures to get you started.

Where to Find Inspiration Online

October 30th, 2009 1 Comment

A trip to your local book store’s magazine rack used to be the quickest, easiest way to find rich, diverse inspiration without a significant fee. Recently, the web has completely changed the way designers, developers, artists, writers and photographers search for influence. Now anyone with an internet connection can access a virtually unending stream of content that saturates the senses and breeds innovation. The best part: most of it is free.

70 Beautiful Handpicked CSS Galleries

October 12th, 2009 29 Comments

CSS Galleries are an amazingly rich source of web design inspiration, and a fantastic way to promote your design skills to the world. Although you shouldn’t worry too much about where you are (or are not) featured, it’s good to know where to look.

We’ve scoured the web and compiled a comprehensive list of 70 great CSS galleries. Some are incredibly popular, others represent smaller niches in the web design industry.

35 Marvelously Minimal Websites

August 5th, 2009 26 Comments

Here’s to the design minimalists. Here’s to focusing on functionality, simplicity and basic design principles. Kick the tires all you want on these sites today – you’re still going to love using them tomorrow.

This is our roundup of 35 stunningly simple, marvelously minimal web designs. Enjoy!

37 Beautiful Letterpress Business Cards

June 5th, 2009 26 Comments

Designing business cards can be tricky, because it’s always difficult to make one which stands out from the hundreds of others in circulation! Letterpress definitely brings a new dimension to business cards.

If you are looking to have a few printed, here are a range of catchy letterpress designs for inspiration. The idea of depth and an embossed logo add a completely new element, and could well be the best way to really make an impression.