Free Design Resources

Design Inspiration and Techniques

8 professional designers share their most frequented
websites for design inspiration and techniques.

Nancy Taylor is the Creative Director, Designer and Owner of Nancy Taylor Design, based in Brooklyn, New York.

Nancy Taylor

Coroflot
http://www.coroflot.com
"This site is great for several reasons:
1. You can post a free portfolio and browse other people's portfolios. Coroflot lists individual designers, companies and organizations. Attention Sessions students: create a free portfolio here if you haven't uploaded your Picasso-esque award winning personal portfolio site yet! It's a free online promo piece for you while you're perfecting that work of art that will represent you later.

2. People with design work sometimes search the archives and offer you jobs if you have a Coroflot presence. I wouldn't recommend putting a portfolio up on Coroflot and just waiting for customers to email, but I have gotten some inquiries through my page."— NT

Communication Arts
http://www.commarts.com/
"The Design Interact section showcases nice new websites and industry info, while Creative Hotlist shows new portfolios and job listings." — NT

The Flashkit Board
http://board.flashkit.com/index.shtml
"I have had many tech questions answered on this board: HTML, Javascript, .asp, Photoshop, Illustrator, industry + pricing, as well as Flash questions. It is the most friendly tech board I've found." — NT

flavorpill
http://www.flavorpill.net/
"This would be a good place to submit a header design if you are building your portfolio. Flavorpill.net is an event listing company that takes free header submissions. Although having them choose your design doesn't mean that suddenly your name is in 'lights', it's pretty fun to see your design up on the web if you are looking for another link to add to your design 'collection'." — NT

squidfingers
http://www.squidfingers.com/
"I love this site for it's pattern and code archives." — NT

Designer's Blog
http://www.k10k.net/
"Just look around, there are lots of goodies here!" — NT

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Tara MacKay is a Web and multimedia designer who has designed award-winning exhibit sites for the American Museum of Natural History and the Rose Center for Earth and Space.

Tara Mckay

A List Apart
http://www.alistapart.com
"Just found this one recently, and am addicted. Piles of articles for interactive designers, covering existing and up-and-coming front-end and back-end technology." — TM

Design Interact
http://www.designinteract.com/sow
"A week doesn't go by that I don’t check the Design Interact Site of the Week. Sites presented usually exhibit the latest high-end design trends and technologies." — TM

Creative Pro
http://www.creativepro.com
"Essentially an online magazine with articles, reviews, news, interviews, etc, this is another one I visit at least weekly for the latest graphic and interactive design info."

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Brian Slawson is a designer and educator who teaches graphic design and typography courses ranging from typography to digital media to graduate-level seminars.

Brian Slawson

Scott Kim
http://www.scottkim.com/inversions/
"Scott Kim is a designer most well-known for his experiments with "inversions" — sort of a Rubic's Cube of letterforms." — BS

Various Designer Blogs
http://www.coudal.com/
http://www.typographi.ca/
http://www.designobserver.com/
http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/
"Even designers are blogging these days! A blog is a kind of online journal or diary — read some of their thoughts, tips and discussions about design culture and practice." — BS

T26 and Segura
http://www.t26.com/
http://www.segura-inc.com/
"Carlos Segura is the mastermind of the digital type foundry, T26, in Chicago. T26 is actually a collective of typeface designers from around the world who constantly contribute fresh designs." — BS
(note: Advanced Typography at Sessions include free T26 fonts.)

The Apollo Program
http://www.theapolloprogram.com/
Elliott Earls is a "designer in residence" at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. In very unusual ways, he combines design and typography with music and performances.

Motion Design Firms
http://www.brandnewschool.com/
http://www.imaginaryforces.com/
"Ever wonder who does those cool spots for MTV or eye-opening film title sequences? Two examples of motion design firms are: Brand New School and Imaginary Forces. You can view quite a bit of their work online. What is most interesting is how typography plays an active role in their motion design. Keep your eye on the type!" — BS

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Laura Schwamb is the co-founder of Steam Design Group and the founder of Sign Off, a press check, quality control company.

Laura Schwamb

Net Diver
http://www.netdiver.net/outstanding/
"Start with the collage foundation, all these sites are pretty great,
loads of fun. See them all." — LS

ic! Berlin
http://www.ic-berlin.de/
German sunglasses...beautiful site.

Urban Action [ UACT ]
http://www.urbanaction.com/flash_new.html
Clothing line that describes itself this way: "The UACT concept is to make clothes, which through a strong thematic style enable people to express their personality — to make you act."

Chanel
http://www.chanel.com/
Yes...that Chanel. (We've not seen Laura carrying a Chanel bag?! ;-)

Zakka
http://www.zakkacorp.com/home.php
The web address for this New York and Tokyo design boutique tagged as "shop and space for creators."

Gucci
http://www.gucci.com/uk/index2.html
Hide your credit card...ok, good...now click above.

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Thom McKenna is the Owner/Senior Creative Director of FlatironWorks, a graphic/multimedia design firm based in New York City.

Thom McKenna

design interact
http://www.designinteract.com/
Design Interact is a great source of information and inspiration for interactive media. Targeting information architects, designers and programmers with news and feature articles explore the creativity and technology necessary for the completion of successful interactive media projects. It gives you a nice window into the people, process and tools in interactive media and is an important source of information (and inspiration).

American Institute of Graphic Arts
http://www.aiga.org/
"AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) is a beacon of light in the designing community. The association is committed to stimulating thinking about design through the exchange of ideas and information. They frequently sponsor conferences, competitions, exhibitions, publications and websites. Their purpose is to inspire, educate and inform designers, helping them to realize their talents and advocating the value of design among the media, the business community, governments and the public." — TM

Shift
http://www.shift.jp.org/
"This is a great Japanese resource/magazine site for finding design blogs, international designers and a host of excellent graphic designers - and also a great place to make contact and collaborate with others on projects. Great digital art gallery for some digital entertainment." — TM

Heavy
http://www.heavy.com/
"Pure inspiration - with some great music that is frequently updated. Meant to showcase some of Heavy Industries talented multimedia designers, this site is a "must visit" when you have a little downtime - or need some instant multimedia motivation. (It is also consistently hilarious, but can be a bit raunchy and obscene is some of it's racier presentations)." — TM

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Donald Gambino is a computer artist, consultant, educator, and trainer. Formerly the Chairperson of the Computer Art Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Donald Gambino

Worth 1000
www.worth1000.com
A mind-blowing site that is a humorous and astounding collection of what some Photoshop Artists can do with this weekly competition. You can just view the current and archived contests - or enter and compete! ( Click on the "Photoshop" tab)

Worth 1000 — Photography
http://www.worth1000.com/Default.asp?display=photography
"Same main sight as above, but go here for a taste of straight Photography, for those interested in putting your Digicam to work." — DG

Some publications online:
NY Times — Circuits
www.nytimes.com/circuits
"A Must-read on every Thursday - or read the archives files." — DG

Mac Addict
www.macaddict.com
"One of my favorite Mac magazines." — DG

Mac World
http://www.macworld.com/
"Another Mac magazine." — DG

Wired
www.wired.com
"For all things digital and to keep current, hip, and in-the-know." — DG

Lost America
http://www.lostamerica.com/lostframe.html
"More Photography - this guy does night photography in the Southwest USA desert." — DG

Mac.com
http://www.mac.com
"If you own a Macintosh with OS X, go here and get a “dot Mac” subscription." — DG

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David Witt is a Brooklyn, NYC-based new media artist and award-winning interactive multimedia designer. He has worked for many top brands and agencies.

David Witt

Apple
http://www.apple.com
"My choice for the best-designed site on the web; Information, e-commerce and branding, all wrapped in a clean, cohesive interface (not to mention the best-designed hardware, software and OS!)" — DW

Slashdot
http://www.slashdot.com
"Think Geek! An excellent news and discussion resource for cutting-edge computer-related technology. A great daily read to keep up with tech news and announcements." — DW

Kirupa
http://www.kirupa.com
"A great Flash/Actionscript resource and community; Lots of source code and eyeballs to help debug your code!" — DW

Robert Penner
http://www.robertpenner.com
"The site of Robert Penner, one of the all-time Actionscript greats; Lots of killer Flash animation and Actionscript source code." — DW

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Fredrik Skold's expertise lies in his creative use of Photoshop and 3-D animation programs to digitize traditional photography. His clients are major media and advertising agencies.

Fredrik Skold

Art and Commerce
http://www.artandcommerce.com/anthology/archive/
"This site has some pretty high-end photographers showing their work." — FS

Getty Images
http://creative.gettyimages.com/source/home
/homeCreative.asp
"The biggest image provider. Some of my images can be found on the getty site. Search for Gamma Ray Studio Inc (my company)." — FS

Color Calculator — Next Generation Color Wheel

Designers may save RGB, CMYK, or HTML color values to an integrated clipboard and email to colleagues or clients. Rotate shapes on the color wheel to identify harmonious color schemes. Adjust saturation and lightness. Select a color scheme for a corporate identity or design project.

Color values may be selected and applied to both print and Web design — saving hours of work. A color scheme can be further refined by choosing different designs or patterns with different complexity levels.

Requires Flash Plug-in 5.0 or later!

Designer Freelance Forms

Using the right forms and contracts is critical for today's designers, whether you are a freelancer or work in a firm. The forms below have been provided by Jason Vaughn, develop of Sessions course Graphic Design Business and founder of CreativePublic.com. Customize and add your own logo and you're in business — the design business.

You will need Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand to customize these files to fit your needs.

For those that do not have Illustrator or Freehand, PDF files have been created for printing and viewing. However, you will not be able to alter the look and feel.
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Get the FREE Stuffit Expander™ to uncompress and view these files (Mac or PC)
Get the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files (Mac or PC)
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Art Approval Sheet - This sheet is designed to be attached to artwork that needs client approval. This sheet, when signed, obligates the client to accept the artwork as is or the client can denote changes needed. Use this form with all artwork so you have a binding agreement that the artwork is correct and final or that the client desires changes.	Art Approval Sheet
Creative Strategy - This is one of the most useful tools in creating properly designed artwork. Whether the client provides this information or you gather this on your own, a Creative Strategy will help solve many design issues and give a greater success to your project. You can also use a Creative Strategy to explain to your clients the benefits of why you used a specific color, shape or type treatment. Not only will this help sell your art, it will make the client feel more a part of what they have purchased. Remember that most clients know nothing of art and don't understand the aspects of design.	Creative Strategy
Invoice - Without proper accounting records and information about jobs and taxes a company can get into real trouble. Always keep strong records and keep up with your daily income. The invoices available for download are provided by Microsoft and were created in Excel – Office 98. Enable Macros will allow you to enter information and figure totals and taxes.	Invoice
Job Jacket - It's very important to keep all your projects, client approvals, changes and information inside a Job Jacket. This Job Jacket includes an area for job numbering, client information, pricing and a drawing area. Use this Job Jacket for archiving artwork and keeping your project information organized.	Job Jacket
Mileage & Expense Report - Use this report to keep track of your expenses that were used for company use such as mileage, meals and entertainment. If you have employees, they must also keep track of what they spend and why they spent it. There are 3 of the same forms available for download. The Excel Document will automatically calculate and total your expenses for you.	Mileage & Expense Report
Print Questionnaire - For every print project you receive from a client, you will need to use this form to ask them questions about their job. This is part one of a two part contract agreement between you and the client. This sheet will represent your company and what you will be doing for the client (For part 2 of the contract, download the TERMS AND CONDITIONS file").	Print Questionnaire
Web Questionnaire - For every Web site project you receive from a client, you will need to use this form to ask them questions about their job. This is part one of a two part contract agreement between you and the client. This sheet will represent your company and what you'll be doing for the client (For part 2 of the contract, download the TERMS AND CONDITIONS file").	Web Questionnaire
Terms and Conditions - This is the most important part to any project you work on. This is the overall agreement on how you do business, including billing, proofing, revisions, alterations, copyright, and much more. The Terms and Conditions should always be attached to either the Print Questionnaire or the Web Site Questionnaire. This is a binding agreement between you and the client about the project you're working on.	Terms and Conditions

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