50 Fresh Design Blogs You Should Be Reading
The last year or two has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of new design and development related blogs breaking out in to the community. In this article, you will see a list of fresh and new design blogs worth subscribing to and reading. Our goal here is to help you discover a few sites that you might not have heard of before.
Of course, we’ve left out the staples and the big boys such as Smashing Magazine, Abduzeedo, et al. because you’re likely already familiar with them.
1. Design Informer
Design Informer is an excellent weblog by Jad Limcaco, a web designer from Long Beach, California. Design Informer shares articles, tutorials, and freebies for designers.
2. DesignOra
DesignOra is a website for creatives that covers a wide range of topics. They also offer step-by-step tutorials for designing awesome stuff. The site is regularly updated so you’ll get a constant stream of great content.
3. Onextrapixel
Onextrapixel (more commonly known as OXP) was opened to the public on the 14th of April, 2009. It was started by two enthusiastic Singapore-based designers/developers. On OXP, you’ll find inspiration sources, tutorials, freebies, tools and various other articles.
4. Three Styles
Three Styles is aimed at web developers and designers, bringing them the latest trends and tutorials. Topics range from excellent designs for inspiration, high quality tutorials (from Photoshop to jQuery and everything between) and free resources.
5. ideasonideas
ideasonideas is a design blog by Eric Karjaluoto, who discusses design, brands and experience.
6. Inspired Magazine
Inspired Magazine (more known as InspiredM) was opened on the 2nd of March, 2009. It offers all kinds of design goodies, such as articles, freebies and inspiration.
7. Inspect Element
Inspect Element offers high quality articles, tutorials and also features a ‘best of the week’ series which includes links of the week and wallpapers of the week.
8. Blog of Francesco Mugnai
Francesco Mugnai is a freelance graphic designer who runs a design blog on the side. You’ll find articles about advertising, Apple, business cards, graphic design, design inspiration, WordPress and tutorials.
9. Design Boom
DesignBoom is huge design blog, posting about everything design from graphic design to illustration, from art to architecture. They also run regular competitions and own a shop.
10. Position Absolute
Position Absolute is run by a dedicated team to bring us the best content about everything that concerns web development. The blog was opened to the public on the 23rd of January, 2009.
11. Circlebox Blog
Circlebox Blog is my home. I blog about all things design with a pinch of photography and business-related articles. I opened the blog live to the public on June the 25th, 2009.
12. The Web Blend
The Web Blend is a community for designers, developers and tech junkies that keeps you current with a summary of the latest in web related news and trends. Users can vote for their favorite articles to see them displayed on the front page.
13. Folio Focus
Folio Focus is a design blog dedicated to showcasing beautiful web-based portfolio designs. It is updated on a regular basis (usually daily) and is sometimes updated several times per day. A great source for portfolio inspiration.
14. Blog Design Heroes
Blog Design Heroes is a blog dedicated to showcasing fresh and modern blog theme designs. It’s a great source of inspiration when designing or redesigning a blog and is updated almost daily.
15. Type Inspire
Type Inspire is a design blog dedicated to showcasing beautiful typography and text effects used in both print and web design. It’s (again) updated almost daily.
16. Siiimple
Siiimple is yet another design blog dedicated to showcasing a particular style of work. This time, showcasing simplistic web design. The site is regularly updated making it a superb place to visit for inspiration.
17. Bevel and Emboss
Bevel and Emboss is a blog powered site offering free web templates and icon sets that are simple to use, free to use (and modify) and require no linkback.
18. Web Designer Help
Web Designer Help is a blog dedicated to web designers, offering free resources, interviews, tutorials, inspirational showcases and competitions.
19. Script & Style
Script & Style is an archive for web developers and designers. Users can submit their own links, and browse others to help you grow as a designer and developer.
20. D-Lists
D-Lists is a blog dedicated to compiling lists of the very best in design, from advertising to web design. It’s administered by Michael Wilson and was opened on the 4th May, 2009.
21. Cats Who Code
Cats Who Code is a weblog dedicated to web development, with a focus on programming languages, blogging tips, web design and WordPress. Jean-Baptiste Jung, a Belgium based web designer and developer, runs this awesome site.
22. Design Blurb
Design Blurb provides web and graphic design tutorials, resources, tips and links on a regular basis to the design community.
23. Tutorial Board
Tutorial Board offers high quality tutorials for graphic design, motion graphics and visual effects. The site aims at offering the highest quality tutorials on the net with real world production issues and working solutions.
24. Marco Folio
Marcofolio is a blog by Marco Kuiper. The blog offers many categories including art and design, programming, fun stuff and tutorials.
25. [f5]
![[f5]](http://images.sixrevisions.com/2010/02/19-19_five.jpg)
[f5] was opened in July 2009 and is regularly updated with daily creative inspiration. If you’re suffering from the dreaded design block, this is a great place to visit.
26. Little Box of Ideas
Little Box of Ideas was opened in February 2009 and is owned by Sneh Roy. The blog offers contests and giveaways, freebies such as brushes and icons, inspiration, interviews, resources, reviews and tutorials.
27. Nouveller
Nouveller is a design-related blog by Benjamin Reid, a web developer from UK. Being a side project, the blog isn’t updated as regularly as it could be, but when it is, you’re bound to learn something new. Categories include competitions, downloads, inspiration, jQuery, photography and tutorials.
28. Designussion
Designussion is a blog dedicated to design discussions, inspiration, brand identity, freebies, showcases and tutorials. It is updated on a regular basis with 2-3 posts per week.
29. Creativity Den
Creativity Den is owned by Liam McCabe and was started because of his love for design. The blog offers various articles, tutorials, resources, round-ups, interviews and freebies.
30. Web Developer Plus
Web Developer Plus is a web development and design blog providing tips, tutorials and advice on how to design and develop great web applications. Topics range from PHP/MySQL to AJAX, Javascript and jQuery, and HTML/CSS to WordPress tweaks.
31. Creative Opera
Creative Opera is a blog aimed at new designers and individuals that love good design. It is full of useful information, creative inspiration and lively discussion.
32. Minimal Exhibit
Minimal Exhibit is a blog dedicated to showcasing minimalistic and simplistic web designs. It is usually updated on a daily basis and is a great source of inspiration for all kinds of designers and artists.
33. From The Couch
From The Couch is an online video show, presenting interviews, site reviews, theme reviews, news about Obox Design, tutorials, the reality of running a small web company and much more.
34. Cart Frenzy
Cart Frenzy is a blog dedicated to showcasing the latest and freshest trends in online shopping cart and eCommerce design.
35. Design Snips
Design Snips is a blog dedicated to showcasing snippets (thumbnails) of design to produce a wall of inspirational work, allowing the user to click and view the full design.
36. XHTML-CSS-CODE
XHTML-CSS-CODE.com is a blog devoted to design, development, html, xhtml, css and creativity. It was made live to the public on the 21st of June, 2009.
37. DesignNewz
DesignNewz is an archive site that features articles, resources ans tutorials written by designers and developers from all over the design community.
38. Line25
Line25 was a new project of Chris Spooner’s this year (owner of Spoon Graphics). The blog is a drawing board of creative web design, a place where ideas and inspiration are drafted out into articles, tutorials and roundups of cutting edge web design.
39. Bit Rebels
Bit Rebels is a blog focused around fun, on the edge and relevant subjects and categories such as design, events, gaming, geek, lifestyle and movies.
40. Freelance Shack
Freelance Shack is a blog that covers every aspect of a freelancers life, from marketing to inspiration and pricing to clients. The blog was opened in September 2009.
41. Paper Leaf Design & Photography Blog
Paper Leaf is a creative husband-and-wife duo who regularly blog to build a rich resource of tips, articles, inspiration and important information for designers, photographers and clients.
42. Scarlet Bits
Scarlet Bits is a brand new project created by Marco and Iris. They headed out to bring the web design and development community new and exclusive freebies, tips, tutorials and important news from the niche.
43. Blue Blots
Blue Bots is a design blog showcasing trendy inspiration, freebies, tutorials and resources from all over the web.
44. Red Bilby Blog
Opened to the public in October 2009, the Red Bilby Design blog is one of the newest on this list. It offers inspiration, interviews, tutorials and various other design-related articles.
45. Smashing Share
Smashing Share is by Waheed Akhtar, a web designer from Dubai. The blog was founded in August 2009 and was started to share free web resources with designers and developers.
46. Echo Enduring Blog
Matt Ward opened the Echo Enduring Blog as part of his company in June 2009.
47. PSDeluxe
PSDeluxe is is an ultimate delight for all Photoshop enthusiasts. It’s armed with a huge pool of information regarding the tools and tactics of Photoshop.
48. Webitect
A web design and development blog targeted at freelancers, Internet entrepreneurs, bloggers, designers, developers and webmasters of all sorts. They are focused on making you a better webmaster.
49. Slodive
Slodive cover topics such as design inspiration, web development and unique Photoshop tutorials.
50. letscounthedays – Notebook
letscountthedays is the portfolio of Shay Howe, a Chicago native and a freelance web/user interface designer. His portfolio site has a blog section (which he refers to as his notebook) that publishes content that you should definely read.
Missed your favorite fresh design blog?
The comments is always a great way to discover even more great sites. So if you know of a fresh, off-the-beaten-path website that we didn’t mention, please share it in the comments.
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About the Author
101 Comments
Shay Howe
February 13th, 2010
Callum very nice round up! Thank you for including my blog, I really appreciate it.
You do a great job with Circlebox Creative yourself! Keep up the good work.
Jeff Archibald
February 13th, 2010
Callum,
Thanks for including Paper Leaf in this list – much appreciated. There are a ton of great blogs in this article; I’ve bookmarked a bunch and am looking forward to going through them.
Mahmoud
February 13th, 2010
Great post, Callum! Thanks.
Sean Geng
February 13th, 2010
Nice list! I’ll be sure to follow them.
Hopefully one day we’ll make the list: http://designmess.com
Michael Wilson
February 13th, 2010
Wow! Thank you so much for adding D-Lists. I’m honoured to be among some excellent design blogs. My day has been made
Codesquid
February 13th, 2010
Thanks for this list! I already knew of about half, but the rest I will check out!
dimi
February 13th, 2010
Great collection. Here is one more! http://feedgrids.com
Steve Zelle
February 13th, 2010
Processed Identity is a new site you may be interested in. The site explores the creative processes used to develop visual brand identities. It includes case studies, articles and discussions about logo design. http://www.processedidentity.com/
Smashing Share
February 13th, 2010
Hey Callum, Nice post and thanks for including Smashing Share.
Gustavs
February 13th, 2010
Very useful article, however could’ve skipped a few sites. Sometimes less is better. :)
Gonzo the Great
February 13th, 2010
Well Callum, looks like you’ve missed a great new and fresh blogging site!
http://www.gonzoblog.nl
Cheers & Ciao …
Omer Greenwald
February 13th, 2010
Thanks for posting this! I really didn’t know most of these blogs
Alex Kessinger
February 13th, 2010
Seriously, no OPML, come on, help a brother out.
Mike Smith
February 13th, 2010
I take it that the designnewz site screenshot was taken before? It’s got mistletoe on it :)
I like the article though. Some good blogs I haven’t seen around and will be subscribing to.
Tomas
February 13th, 2010
Awesome list. What about http://webdesignfan.com ?
Brian Lovin
February 13th, 2010
Solid collection, too bad Elite By Design didn’t make the list! Maybe next time ;)
paul
February 13th, 2010
thanks for sharing, some of them I didn’t know.
Actually I recently decided to read less blogs and spend more time actually putitng what I read into practice.
Jacob Gube
February 13th, 2010
The comments are where it’s at, thanks for adding more links in this post!
@Alex Kessinger: Can Six Revisions readers expect to see an article written by you soon! It’s been a while!
Webtoolfeed
February 13th, 2010
Great article, you forgot a good one Webtoolfeed.com
Mathew Carpenter
February 13th, 2010
Great article, Callum. Hopefully in the future, @addtodesign will be featured in a similar post.
Matt Ward
February 13th, 2010
Awesome list! Some really great blogs on there! Thanks so much for including the Echo Enduring Blog! That’s awesome!
johny
February 13th, 2010
Nice list !! But how cud you forget to add http://www.webdeveloperjuice.com/ ??
This site gains good traffic rank in just one month… im its regular reader..
Nyways thanks for the list :)
Bryan McAnulty
February 13th, 2010
Awesome list. Haven’t heard of some of these yet.
For those who are interested in another new design blog, check us out at http://www.velorastudios.com/_blog/Velora_Studios_Blog
Also right now we are holding a business card giveaway for anyone looking for some fresh and free business cards.
Lou Sparx
February 13th, 2010
Hey guys, PLEASE add http://www.socfx.com to the list as it’s my first month and could really use some help.
Thank you,
Louis
Alex Kessinger
February 14th, 2010
@Jacob Gube funny you ask, I just started something this afternoon its rough, but I will send you a draft when I get it in a good state.
Alex Kessinger
February 14th, 2010
not perfect but her is an opml of the feeds easy to import into your feed reader.
http://tskr.us/Ti
Shane Jeffers
February 14th, 2010
Thanks for including Three Styles Callum! Great list here!
Chris Thurman
February 14th, 2010
Great list Callum! Also be sure and check out http://www.visualswirl.com/
Matthew Heidenreich
February 14th, 2010
some great ones there, feel i should be on the list too, but oh well ;) great share…thanks!
jared thompson
February 14th, 2010
great list of blogs, you should definately head over to design juices :)
Yagnesh Ahir
February 14th, 2010
Hey Chapman, thanks for sharing such a nice list of design blogs. I have also started writing the design blog a month back, hope i someday I will find my blog in some post like this ;) . Keep Posting.
Richie
February 14th, 2010
Great List… how about http://richworks.in :)
Mihai
February 14th, 2010
If you are into interior design and architecture you should definitely check http://freshome.com/
Adrian - 7creative
February 14th, 2010
Great list. I’ll need to update my feed reader.
anita
February 14th, 2010
The trouble with lists is…
that the first two items I clicked on began with “10 best…” and “7 great…”
Bim
February 14th, 2010
ahh too many to look at. I can’t keep up… a new design blog starts every week. Thanks for the list though. Some I’ve not seen before.
binocle
February 14th, 2010
Nice list, thanks… but why 50?
IMHO it would be more interesting to pick 5-7 very good particuliar sites that might catch interest, instead of throwing 50… my2c
Vincent
February 14th, 2010
Do we really need that many design blogs/sites? I have noticed that the majority of design blogs do not offer original content, but borrowed; you visit one blog and see something, then you visit another one and you see the same thing… If you are someone who’s going to start yet another design blog, my advice to you is to focus on your own original material/content. If you do that, and the content is great, you won’t need any promo; people will find you!
Sertac Aydogdu
February 14th, 2010
Thanks for your sharing. these are the amazing blogs.
Noel Wiggins
February 14th, 2010
Typeinspire will change my life.
Ray
February 14th, 2010
How about The Design Inspiration?
http://www.thedesigninspiration.com
Robert
February 14th, 2010
Excellent list, http://grungetime.com is another new site that looks promising.
Codesquid
February 14th, 2010
If anyone would like to drop in to http://www.codesquid.co.uk any comment on some articles that would be really cool. Hope to get featured on a list like this one day!
Jacob Gube
February 14th, 2010
@Alex Kessinger: Great, can’t wait!
Marcell Purham
February 14th, 2010
Great list of blogs! Sorry to see Webdevtuts didn’t make the list
Francesco
February 14th, 2010
Great post and…thanks for including Blog of Francesco Mugnai :)
Tom Kenny
February 14th, 2010
Thanks for featuring Inspect Element (although that’s the old logo).
h1brd
February 14th, 2010
Hey, thx for putting up ScarletBits on the really cool list :)
Eko Setiawan
February 14th, 2010
Some blogs, I have often visited, but many are new to me.
Thanks for share..we hope that maybe someday, our blog can be a reference for others..
Keep working hard and smart :)
Marco
February 15th, 2010
Whoah – what a list! Already following/subscribed to most of them, but a couple on here are new. I’ll make sure to check them out too.
Thanks a lot for including Marcofolio – glad you like my blog!
Cre8ive Commando
February 15th, 2010
Nice list. Here is yet another web design blog you may be interested in: http://www.cre8ivecommando.com (yes, it’s mine ;-))
BigM75
February 15th, 2010
great collection of design blogs, thanks
Callum Chapman
February 15th, 2010
No problem for including you all in the list, guys. You all have great blogs – keep up the good work! :)
Pete White
February 15th, 2010
feed reader updated. very useful looking list : )
BEBEN
February 15th, 2010
awesome…thanks…^_^
sarah
February 15th, 2010
Great post and very interesting list.
We are a new italian/english community to webdesign with sources of inspiration, tutorial and freebies.
http://www.yourinspirationweb.com/en/
I hope you like our work.
Sara
vikas ghodke
February 15th, 2010
Nice list wat about http://acrisdesign.com
Jordan Walker
February 15th, 2010
yeah that is a nice list of design blogs.
Illustration Toolbox
February 15th, 2010
Great post just wanted to add one more. IllustrationToolbox.com
Decave
February 15th, 2010
Here’s one more – http://www.unstage.com
Shurandy Thode
February 15th, 2010
Great list Callum. Following most of them already. Thanks for sharing though
Design Informer
February 16th, 2010
WOW! #1 on the list? I’m sure it’s not in any particular order but thank you so much for featuring Design Informer.
I was looking for Design Instruct, the awesome new tutorial site by Jacob but it’s not here. :)
Jean-Baptiste Jung
February 16th, 2010
Thanks for including CatsWhoCode in the list. Lots of great blogs there!
Ricardo Gimenes
February 16th, 2010
Hi Callum,
Why did you use part of blog (top corner) as an icon, smashing magazine network link? You didn’t mention behind the websites, there’s no problem, I just want to know ;) Cheers.
Themeflash
February 16th, 2010
Thanks Callum,
Great list but you miss my blog http://www.themeflash.com that should consider in this list.
Nick Parsons
February 17th, 2010
Hey Callum, great post and thanks for including Webitect! I’m definitely going to subscribe to some of these.
Lucas Cobb
February 18th, 2010
Awesome post. Here is mine: http://www.lucascobb.com – for everything design related.
Vicki
February 19th, 2010
Wow I’ve just added almost all of these to my feed reader! Thanks for the great list. I don’t think my site is worthy of an addition as it’s still very new and these sites listed are so very good, but…here it is anyway!! http://victoriaanndesign.net
Thanks,
Vicki
Imon
February 22nd, 2010
Wow, nice list
Manda Szewczyk
February 23rd, 2010
Whoa! I am completely HONORED to be on this list!! And, you’ve given me many awesome new blogs to add to my reader! Thanks so much for putting this together Callum – it’s great to see so many newer design blogs in one place. How could I have missed some of them? This post has been bookmarked!!
Charlotte
February 23rd, 2010
Thank you for featuring Onextrapixel. Great list here Callum!
andrewbenardski
February 24th, 2010
Some blogs are new for me, thanks for share! And here is mine http://creativemagz.com – Inspiration for creativity.
Imran Subhani
February 25th, 2010
Nice collection but you missed one i.e. http://www.fabulous99.com yes you are right… its run by me ;) lol
Stanley Diaz
February 25th, 2010
Awesome list! Definitely bookmarked. Some of these blogs are new to me, but if they made the list I’ll definitely be sure to check them out. Thanks man.
PelFusion
March 2nd, 2010
i think you missed PelFusion :)
Designerfoo
March 3rd, 2010
Great list :) Booked marked some of them, thanks!
smartuts
March 21st, 2010
i really love this list..
fireRox
April 9th, 2010
thanks for this awesome list.
Louis Gubitosi
April 12th, 2010
hey Callum, thanks for adding The Web Blend!
erdem
July 19th, 2010
i love this stuff!!
thanks a lot and stay creative.
greetings from bremen
Phoenix
September 16th, 2010
Nice compilation here, Callum! They really present good resource.
evan
October 14th, 2010
Hey, Great collection you got here. You should consider to add -smokingdesigners.com- in the list though.
Icci
October 22nd, 2010
Great! These themes are new and helpful basis. Kudos! Keep it up.
Macy Jones
November 8th, 2010
Great top 50 design blogs chart; http://www.design-blogs.co.uk
Nisha Shah
November 23rd, 2010
Nice Collection.Big thanks for sharing.
NetGemini
November 25th, 2010
Dear All
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Manoj
November 29th, 2010
Question:
Is there a way to see how the pages that have been indexed are ranked without having to type it in at Google and then start searching ?
Paola Lozano
December 28th, 2010
Nice collection!, thanks a lot!
Geoff Rogers
January 2nd, 2011
Fantastic collection – very inspirational! Thanks for sharing :)
Apie
January 7th, 2011
brilliant list. keep up d good work.
over
February 11th, 2011
good collection of design blogs, thank you
Freddy Fario
February 17th, 2011
http://museumexhibition.wordpress.com is a nice one also
Michael Stewart
February 23rd, 2011
Hi Callum
The Interactive Design Institute are just starting up a blog. Have at look at: http://idesigni.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Michael
Kyle
August 23rd, 2011
Thanks for going to the effort of posting stuff like this. I’m going through some design block right now and this was great inspiration.
Saqib Khan
September 1st, 2011
some of the best collections of designed which can be used anywhere. If a person really analyses the collections surely will not have to go anywhere for the selection of the designs. great work.
Jornes
September 6th, 2011
It’s great sharing! =)
Awaiting for the next part..
mopu887
September 8th, 2011
Extremely cler site, thnkyou for this post.
Annabel
October 7th, 2011
This is a great collection – thank you for compiling. Lots to be inspired by ..
Here’s another site i found that others may be interested in. Its a design and lifestyle blog that is updated daily with some super interesting stuff.
http://the-design-ark.com/
Queen
October 25th, 2011
Thanks for going to the effort of these themes.. It was great inspiration.
Adept
November 19th, 2011
Cool :) thanks for sharing collection…
Josh
December 12th, 2011
great list, big fan of design boom.
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