Blogging is the trendy new thing to do these days. It seems that everyone you know is now a blogger and sometimes it gets hard to differentiate between what blogs might actually be helpful to you. If you’re looking up design blogs, chances are you’re stuck and looking for ideas to inspire you. There’s no point in wasting your time scouring through every other blog in the hope that inspiration will strike. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the 20 most influential design blogs that we think will get your creative wheels rolling.
1. Mirador
As the French like to say, quelle chic. Started by French duo Say What Studio, Mirador stays true to its French roots with its artistically curated collection of international design studios, magazines and projects. What makes Mirador even more appealing as a design blog is that its curated collections often include submissions from their viewers, which is a great way to showcase that newly found inspiration!
2. Abuzeedo
It’s always great to see so many different tastes coming together and Abuzeedo is all about that. Hosting articles about design, photography and UX by individual writers, Abuzeedo’s collection covers a variety of categories and perspectives. It’s online shop also allows you to get some serious retail therapy in as well as get everything to you need to help bring your ideas to life. Now that’s what I call getting two birds with one stone.
3. Creative Review
Creative Review utilises a medium that’s rarely seen in today’s digital age – print. For all you old-timers at heart, there’s got to be nothing better than a magazine full of all kinds of design inspo. But they’ve got something for everyone and their content, which contains everything from design exhibitions to the latest innovations, is all available online as well. Creative Review is a place for those who want no limit to their inspiration since their collections are not limited to any one aspect of design.
4. This is Paper
ThisisPaper Magazine describe themselves as a publication that focuses on “the interaction between timeless forms and movements in contemporary life and arts.” Started by Thisisipaperstudio, the magazine is just one part of their creation and comes alongside an online store, and clothes and accessories brand. Their website categorises work in different collections rather than themes, which will let you go through different ideas all at once.
5. Design Milk
Winner of the 2013 A’ Design Award, DesignMilk is a design blog dedicated to the latest in modern design. Carefully categorised and divided into different columns that are published at intervals, Design Milk is a design blog that will satisfy all your organisational desires. Its clean style of blogging does not take away from the new and fresh content it offers. If anything, it highlights them all the more. Offering ideas for architecture, interior design, furniture and décor, and, fashion and technology, Design Milk has something for you no matter what you’re looking for.
6. Creative Bloq
It’s always great to find a design blog that brings fresh new inspo daily, and that’s just what Creative Bloq is. A daily mix of advice and inspiration for anyone in the design field. Since it offers so much content, its alphabetized catalog of topics makes searching easy and more refined for those looking for something specific while their curated newsfeed is full of inspiration even for random searches.
7. The Design Blog
This one’s for all the young design enthusiasts since it is a design blog that focuses particularly on works by young upcoming designers. The Design Blog actually started as a personal inspiration board of Ena Bacanovic, a Croation designer. However, its fast popularity quickly meant it no longer remained personal and since the Ena has delivered the best out there for her audience.
8. Oneextrapixel
Oneextrapixel is a Singapore based leading online magazine that caters to designers and web developers. Its content is tailored to be not just interesting, but useful as well and it have many tips and tricks that can help their readers on their design journey. Not only does it have helpful advice but also allows contributions by readers and holds regular give away competitions that inspire people to do more.
9. WebdesignerDepot
This design blog captures your attention right from the start with its bright colour scheme. WebdesignerDepot reaches its followers through a blog, a newsletter and social media as well. They pride themselves on being a community where the readers become writers. Having been around since 2008 they’ve seen recent trends in the design world rise and fall and their experience offers a lot to their readers
10. 99Designs
99Designs is a design blog that goes beyond providing its readers with inspiration. It connects people. It is a platform that brings together designers and clients working on projects they love. It began through a group of designers competing to create the best designs and has aimed to provide its readership with the same facilitating platform.
11. How Design
Founded in 1985, How Design is one of those oldie but goodie design blogs that have managed to stick around despite the every-changing trends in the world of design. How Design is your go-to for everything HOW. It also provides courses and programs through How Design University which can help take yoru design skills to the next level.
12. Design Bombs
It turns out, design blogs are so appealing that even websites that start out as something else end up being one. DesignBombs followed the same pattern. What started out as a web design gallery recently became a lot more. Their categories cater to everyone and include website designs, freebies, exclusive deals and word press.
13. Creative Nerds
Creative Nerds clearly has content that is just as fun as its name since it has over 22,000,000 page views and more than 100,000 social media followers. From photo shop to the latest in the design world, Creative Nerds is a design blog that lives up to its name
14. Trend List
In a world with so much information it’s hard to differentiate between what’s useful and what’s not. Trend List aims to do just that. They try to spot the rise of graphic design trends and when and where this occurs. This is done through showcasing posters, books, catalogs, magazines, album covers, and invitations for the cultural.
15. Creative Boom
Creative Boom is more than just a design blog, it is an online magazine that inspires and supports its community. It gives out daily creative inspiration and focuses on art, film, graphic design, illustration and photography by showcasing both emerging and established talent.
16. Vandelay Design
Businesses aren’t all about only minting money and for Vandelay Design the goal is to highlight their blog and provide the creative community with the latest news, inspiration, and resources they need for success. They believe that their blog can be a great asset in helping others and is chock-full of business and design resources and thousands of design graphics. They also provide free WordPress Themes available for download for anyone who is interested. These are perfect for a photographer, church or non-profit organization but can be good for anyone with just a few tweaks.
17. Eye On Design
For cultural news and designer interviews, the AIGA Eye on Design blog is the place to go. Different to most design blogs, this one focuses more on covering the world of art and design rather than providing designers with specific tips and resources.
18. Eye Magazine
While most online design blogs focus on different aspects of design, Eye Magazine differs in two ways. One, that it is actually the online location for a print magazine and second, that it is devoted to graphic design. It is a quarterly publication and is seen not just as a readable magazine but a collectible graphic design journal as well.
19. Design Shack
DesignShack is another great design blog that designers can turn to for both tips and resources. It publishes posts on a wide range of design related topics, from design productivity to design software recommendations and tips.
20. LogoDesignLove
True to its name, LogoDesignLove is a design blog with a focus on logos. What makes it special is that it doesn’t just collect the logos but also stories of how they came to be. It brings its readers both inspiration and a history of the design world.
