Inspiration is basically what jump-starts your creativity when you cannot think of anything to make. However, finding it is not as easy as it seems, and often times it depends more on chance than anything else. I have put a list together of ideas and options that will increase your chances of finding inspiration. So, here it goes.

• Keep a notebook

Keep a notebook, and just sketch out your ideas. Since sketching is a lot faster than doing complete design mock-ups or rough drafts of art, it is much easier to quickly pump out ideas. The nice thing about drawing designs out is, when you keep them small and quick you are able to look back at them differently, giving you more original ideas.

• Recycle ideas

Keeping a notebook is also helpful, because, not only is it in one place, but you can take advantage when you have inspiration, and sketch down as much as possible as quickly as possible. Then, later when you need inspiration, you can just use your old ideas. One other option is to, when you have the time, look through all your art or designs…

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Jon Wipple has just recently written a very detailed analysis of different vector art software products (Intaglio, Lineform, VectorDesigner, and ZeusDraw). This article goes into depth and compares everything from Memory and Performance to Preferences to the different Toolsets. Its a great article that I recommend you take a look at.

Drawing Conlcusions

One of the goals of this blog is to provide new inspiration for you as a designer. Obviously one of the best places for design inspiration is from design. But it does not have to be from the same subcategory of design. Industrial Design is a great source of inspiration for anything, however it is commonly overlooked. Here are several pieces that I have found inspiring.

Modular Lighting
This piece is Ross Lovegrove’s System X that uses X shaped lights that you can link together to form different shapes. What I found particularly inspiring about this is the organic grid like pattern they form of bright white against a darker…

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I recently saw this book in the bookstore and was instantly fascinated by its typography. Not only was it inspiring, but also interesting. I found this book to be well designed, and I personally liked the bold colors on the covers.

I recently came across the amazing Sydney-based artist Nanami Cowdroy. Her style is both unique and captivating and it has left me staring at the simple beauty of her artwork, I highly recommend taking a look at her portfolio, its quite spectacular.

Continuing along my series on minimalism, I decided to discuss the pros and cons of a minimalist design. The arguments for both sides are valid, however, personally I lean a bit more to the “minimalism is good” side of the argument.

What is minimalism?

Minimalist design is, in short, design that has only the needed elements. In other words, minimalist design is a design that has been simplified down until it has only exactly what it needs for usability and nothing else for extra style or flare.

Although this may seem like a lousy excuse for being lazy, it is not. Minimalist design, just like any other form of design, covers certain principles and elements of design. Space (particularly negative space), balance, emphasis and contrast are all used in minimalist design.

To be minimalist

Yes, I will admit, there are many designs out there that fail to heed the necessity of the elements and principles of design, leaving their minimalist design to be simply whitespace. White space when used properly can look nice, however misusing it proves to be a critical mistake of many designs…

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To start off my short series of articles on minimalist designs, I collected over 40 minimalist web designs to showcase what minimalist design looks like for those of you who are not familiar with it, and to provide inspiration for those of you who do. So, I present:

1. Ninezero - Simple and Clean. It has an effective use of simple images.

2. Seo Design Studio - Communicates effectively.

3. Feelwire - Neat Javascript effect.

4. SimpleBits - Clean use of short entries.

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