The 25 Best Design Blogs to Follow
Kristen Hicks
Good web design is something most of us encounter every day. When a website is designed to be intuitive, we often don’t even notice the design behind it that makes that happen. On the other hand, when a website is ugly, hard to navigate, or otherwise appears unprofessional, we notice. 94% of people say a badly designed website makes them lose trust in the business behind it.
Whether you’re a professional designer or website owner who understands the importance of good design, it’s always good to keep your design skills fresh and your knowledge of trends and best practices current. These design blogs are all great resources for helping you do so.
1. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is one of the most reliable and thorough resources for information on web design and UX out there. Every designer and developer, as well as a good number of business owners, can benefit from following the information published on their blog.
2. CreativeBloq
CreativeBloq is another well known and trusted resource in the design world that publishes tutorials, reviews of design-related products, and inspiring examples of good design.
3. The Design Blog
The Design Blog says what it is right there in the name. The blog celebrates all things design by highlighting good designers and good examples of design. It’s a great site for inspiration by example.
4. Onextrapixel
Onextrapixel is a blog that covers tips, how to articles, and design-related news and reviews for designers and developers. They’re a good resource for staying on top of useful tools and trends in web design.
5. Web Designer Depot
The Web Designer Depot provides posts on useful tools for designers, roundups of good design examples, news relevant to designers, and good deals and freebies that are useful for web design.
6. 99designs
The 99designs blog covers design trends, especially (but not exclusively) in the world of logos. They share examples of good design, posts on trends in the design world, and marketing advice.
7. Abduzeedo
Abduzeedo collects examples of first-in-class design to serve as inspiration for designers in a variety of fields – from apps, to advertising, to video games. If your creativity’s ever running dry and you could use an inspiration boost, the site’s a good one to check out.
8. HOW Design
HOW Design is a blog providing content on an array of topics relevant to designers. In addition to posts on design tools and tips, they also help with information on having a successful career as a designer, top design firms to be aware of, and general design news.
9. Design Bombs
Design Bombs offers blog posts on design tools, WordPress themes, fonts, colors, and more. Their focus tends towards design topics related to using WordPress, but they also include posts about more general design topics as well.
10. Creative Nerds
The Creative Nerds blog provides tutorials, design examples, and articles on great design tools and resources. Some of their content is focused on helping to round up other helpful content on the web, so they’re a good place for discovering new resources.
11. TrendList
TrendList is another great blog for finding visual inspiration through great examples. The site posts images of design examples that demonstrate current trends that designers should be aware of.
12. Good Design Makes Me Happy
Good Design Makes Me Happy is a blog run by a woman who appreciates good design (hence the name). The site is devoted to collecting examples of design from around the world that the blog owner Hannah finds inspiring and thinks other people might too.
13. CreativeBoom
CreativeBoom is a blog that covers projects that exhibit visual creativity. While its focus is much broader than web design, the blog can provide inspiration to anyone working in a field that involves putting those creativity muscles to work.
14. Vandelay Design
The Vandelay Design blog posts about resources and tools that are valuable to designers, roundups of inspirational design examples, and general tips for doing design well.
15. Eye on Design
The AIGA Eye on Design blog provides cultural news and designer interviews for graphic designers. The blog is more about covering the world of art and design than providing specific tips and resources for designers, which gives it a bit of a different bent than many of the others on this list.
16. Eye Magazine
The Eye Magazine blog is the online location for a print magazine devoted to graphic design. The blog provides posts on design and visual culture, including coverage of important events, releases, and trends.
17. DesignShack
DesignShack publishes posts on a wide-ranging array of design-related topics, from design productivity to current trends to design software recommendations and tips. It’s yet another site designers can turn to for tips and resources to help you do your job well.
18. Co.Design
Co.Design is Fast Company’s design blog. It tackles design-related news and trends taking a broad view that includes product and city design as well as visual design and UX.
19. LogoDesignLove
Like it sounds, LogoDesignLove is a design blog with an emphasis on logos. The blog collects examples of logos, along with stories of how they came to be. For some inspiration and a little bit of the history of the design world, it’s a blog worth checking out.
20. 99u
99u is focused on creative and design career information. The site’s blog posts highlight well-known professional designers, tips on working in a creative field, and examples of impressive professional creative work.
21. Typewolf
The Typewolf design blog has a much narrower focus than most of those on the list: it’s specifically focused on highlighting different fonts. The site publishes roundups of sites around the web that demonstrate typographic leadership and provides font recommendations.
22. Designer Daily
Designer Daily publishes examples of inventive design, highlights design deals worth considering, and provides posts on general tips and trends for design work.
23. DesignBeep
DesignBeep provides educational posts on an array of design tips and techniques. Their posts include topics like design for advertising and mobile, the best color schemes for web design, and free fonts you can use.
24. VisualNews
VisualNews is another site focused on the career side of things, covering information useful to anyone who works as a visual creative. The blog shares interesting data visualizations, information on the general industry and some of the best places to work within it, and tips for how to turn data into visuals.
25. Format Magazine
Format Magazine covers news in the world of visual art, photography, and design work. It highlights interesting projects for visual artists to know about, tips and tricks for visual artists of all types, and stories that relate to the intersection of current events and the visual arts.
Good design makes everyone’s lives better. Seeing great examples of it and learning more about how to do it well can benefit you, your business, and the people who come to your website.
Take some time to check out these blogs and see if they get the creative juices flowing. Your website will be better for it.