Fantastic Websites for Graphic Design Inspiration

I can’t tell you how many times I am in desperate need of design inspiration, almost on a daily basic actually whether I am designing a website, graphic, or business card. Just like writers block, it is perfectly normal for designers to get the same type of block as well. Here are a few websites to get those creative juices flowing:

Pinterest is one of my favorite social networks to use to keep my design inspirations all in one place. They do have a “Design” category to browse, but also check the “Popular” category. Often great design inspirations will show up there simply because people love to "repin" them so much. Great for all design aspects whether you are designing an invitation, logo, brochure, website, and much more.

A great site of random, amazing graphic design inspiration work. Also a community so you can log in, upload your own, comment on other pieces. Users will sometimes offer a free download of their work depending on what it is.

I love this website layout, everything looks so fresh, clean with new graphic design pieces uploaded every day. Get inspiration by looking through their logo designs, illustration art pieces, website showcase, business card designs, typography, and photo categories. In some categories there are over 3,000 pieces of art upload, in just one category!

FontsInUse is an archive of independent typography designs from all over, online and in the real world. A great way to glance at different fonts and see how they look in other settings and layouts.

Both a mobile app and also available on the web that inspires you rethink the way to write and share text online through design. When you first sign up and login, be prepared to write a quick note, or text and you can choose different design aspects and colors to style a simple line or word of text. Truly easy to use and save what you’ve created and later come back to get design inspiration.

This website can be addicting once you start browsing! Behind each piece of artwork is a story or information about the design. For each design you browse there is a post that will either show more pieces from that artist or how they brought the piece together. A great resource for graphic design inspiration whether it be illustration, typography, photography, architecture, fashion, and much more.

DesignInspiration displays so many different pieces of art in a simple clean layout on 300 pages of the website. Just keep navigating through all the beautiful pieces and surely you will find graphic design inspiration.

Not only a great resource to get design inspiration, but also a great resource in learning from the tutorials they offer in Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, and Pixelmator. Many different designs added every single day displaying the work of different artist from all over with special daily inspirations added as well.

Nounproject is for both the simple or complicated projects, displays lots of different icons and symbols, free to download under their Creative Commons Attribution. Whether for yourself or a client, sometimes all that is needed is an icon for the logo, or a symbol for the finishing touch to a brochure.

Displays all different creative fields of graphic design from all over the world, in all different spreads, colors, and styles. Users submit their work to get feedback, appreciation points, and it’s a community so you can join, follow designers and save certain art to your profile.

And yes it can be at times! A simple website that shows different aspects of art, some a little on the interesting side. A great place to get design inspiration from off the wall artist. From there it links out to different websites the art comes from, some with even more artwork to see.

Instead of showcasing different pieces of art, they showcase the actual artist instead, and usually includes a brief bio or where the art is inspired from.

It’s almost like a graphic design inspiration in the form of a blog. Each piece is displayed in it’s own page once clicked and tells the story, information, and usually how the art came together. Their slogan goes perfectly with their website and that is “A visual perspective on communication”.

A community for artist to connect and learn from each other while enjoying new pieces of art in the form of digital art and photography. Displays graphic design inspirations that I have not seen anywhere else, lots in the form of people or fictional characters.

Contains over 1,800 uploads from various graphic design artist who specialize in all different styles. Artist submit their work to be rated by stars. Logos, icons, business cards, posters, and more are submitted for review, another great graphic design inspiration resource.

Focuses on design for music, but how often do you pick up an album cover and think to yourself that is a pretty cool design? I think that from time to time, plus with the vintage style being so popular, you can find great design inspiration from this website.

Another design blog that focuses on bringing the creative work of artist together whether they specialize in photography, graphic design, illustration, web design, advertising, etc. A great graphic design inspiration resource with many different designs and articles to learn from as well.

Keep in mind these are wonderful resources to get an idea for your own design project, but be sure your art comes from you, don’t duplicating. Not only are these websites great resources, but they can also be great at giving feedback. Join any of the graphic design communities to stay involved to stay up to date with tips. Be careful, if you are like me, you will get hooked once you go on one of them. And remember, have fun and find your style, do what you enjoy doing.