In a constantly updating arena, professionals can often find it hard to keep up with the latest design developments. As a designer, you are probably constantly striving for originality whilst looking to current movements for inspiration.
The internet offers so much in the way of designed content, but it’s often hard to decipher what is actually ground breaking; in this post I’m offering a few channels for you to keep up with leading edge design.
The internet
The internet is the most obvious way of keeping up to date, but often finding the information and resource for what you’re actually after can be frustrating, taking hours of searching and filtering.
Subscribing to RSS feeds and using social bookmarking platforms are a great help as well as reading and participating on well-sourced blogs and through online design communities. Forging online relationships with industry peers and following influential designers will keep you aware of latest developments; this will also enable you to get opinions and advice on your work outside of your normal circles.
Other ways to get your creative juices flowing
As well as the internet, my advice would be to get out of your chair and venture into the real world; this may seem a scary proposition for many, but getting down to your local bookshop and browsing the shelves in your lunch hour is a good idea. Reading books and magazines can give you a more comprehensive and detailed perspectivethan online resources. A good site for finding relevant and latest publications is http://www.magmabooks.com.
There are plenty of industry magazines out there a few readily available, worth a mention are Creative Review, Computer Arts, Grafik and Eye. If you have a few spare pounds a month it’s well worth subscribing to magazines as you will often get discounts and access to exclusive online content.
If you live in a city, I’d urge you to check out exhibitions and seminars, although the subject matter may not be directly applicable to your field, I personally find inspiration for work can be found in any creative environment. Live events and networking groups also offer you the opportunity to speak casually yet constructively with like-minded people that are geared towards similar interests.
To finish up, here’s a few design galleries and other inspirational websites to get you going:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk
http://www.qbn.com/
http://styleboost.com/
http://eight48.com/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com
http://www.designer-daily.com/
http://www.awwwards.com/
http://www.gomediazine.com/
http://www.designiskinky.net/