Being lazy ain’t so easy

Well, a recession can’t break down my appreciation of the finer things in life – hot coffee, a good book, and fantastic design, of course!!

So now that I can be a little less timid with my voice (ie “first person”) I can talk more about design and what it means for my business. That’s right – design is not just for personal introspection, but also for the admiring customers that would like to give us all money.

The great part of design is the freedom we have to create our websites, ads, publications, or whatever. But this is also the stickiest part. That is why a little inspiration can make the difference not only in quality but in time spent coming up with ideas.

I have a few websites that really get me going – so at the risk of giving away my best secrets (aka inspirations), I will share these with the rest of you!

(In no specific order, ’cause they’re all good!!)

COLOURLovers :: colour trends + palettes This is a fantastic resource that I was told about by a graphic designer-friend of mine. While the English spell the word ‘color’ in the old world manner, it doesn’t hurt the content of this site. And the site itself is a beautiful design. The content is essentially limited to patterns and color palettes. And maybe that is why it is so successful! The amount of inspiration here is not to be understated.

Design Observer This site is devoted to design, mostly in terms of publication, I think. But it succeeds in being really inspirational as it gives such a broad spectrum of design.

Veer Type This is a commercial site, as in you can buy things from it. But I choose to focus here on the type section as there are many sites selling stock photos/illustrations/flash/etc. But not enough sell that essential graphic element: type. This site is not all that beautiful in design, but it makes up for that weakness with type. Lots of type!

Art Crimes Graffitti is a criminal offense in many cities (most of those cities make it illegal for their own residents to just make living.) However, graffitti is an artform that has been around a lot longer than digital art. I have tremendous respect for the writers who create this art, and really make it theirs. So to all the writers out there – mad props!   (If you don’t get it, you never will.)

CSS Elite Generally I try to stay away form anything with ‘elite’ in its title, but a little bit of this site is really helpful for me when trying to come up with good ideas for the 1000×800 pixels I have to work with on my website designs.

For right now, that is all that I am going to list. I do not get kickbacks for any of these sites, but for the amount of inspiration they have given me – and the amount of perspiration they have saved me – I fully recommend them to other designers out there.