The top 6 sites for design inspiration

Getting inspired is hard. There have been countless times where I’ve stared at a blank page, with just a section header at the top and a 1,000-word article slapped on the screen with no art, no photos and no ideas. But when I’m on the hunt for some design inspiration, there are a few websites that I usually turn to. After browsing these sites for a few minutes, whether I find one design that perfectly fits the article I’m working with or ten different elements from ten different pages, I know I’ll always find something to spark a design idea and feel ready to tackle the challenge of putting that page together.

Sometimes inspiration is all it takes to give you a push to (figuratively) put your pen to paper and start designing. These sites make finding that spark of inspiration a little bit easier.

1. Pinterest

Pinterest is my immediate first choice. While you can just go to the search bar and type in “newspaper design,” I’ve found that following a bunch of different news design or editorial design boards surfaces new images and ideas on your homepage without any effort. So two months later when you’re looking for a new muffin recipe, you might stumble across an amazing design that happens to fit perfectly with an article that just got submitted earlier that day.

2. Newspagedesigner

Unlike other websites where you have to sift for a specific news design section, Newspagedesigner is a great site that is dedicated solely to news design. The homepage’s slideshow displaying some of the best recently uploaded designs can entertain me for hours on end, and provide countless ideas for every section of the newspaper I work on. Additionally, the site has so many designers and users that you can find pages from almost any newspaper in the world.

3. Newseum — Today’s Front Pages

When I found out that the Newseum doesn’t just display front pages outside of the building in Washington D.C., but also puts every single front page from every newspaper in the United States on its website, it pretty much made my life. It’s a great way to see how real news sources lay out and display similar events. The morning after the presidential election, I spent an hour or so just sifting through all of the front pages from that day to see how different papers covered the same topic.

4. Designspiration

I just found this site a couple of weeks ago and it’s amazing. Designspiration is like Pinterest, but for specifically for design. While it has more of a general graphic design focus, it has incredible layout and editorial designs that are stunning. And let’s be honest, there’s tons of great inspiration that can be pulled from posters, signs and general artwork.

5. Issuu

Issuu is an incredible site for publications because it allows users to share their own content, as well as view other people’s work. It’s the only website I’ve found that lets you look at other publications in their entirety, instead of just as a page or as a spread. This can help you see how other papers and magazines balance consistency in their design from week to week, in addition to how they tackle the more standard elements of news, like the crime report or classifieds page.

6. CreativeBloq

While the site is not tailored specifically to news design, or any particular medium or design type at all, CreativeBloq has awesome articles, news and updates on the design world. It has tips on making a great Illustrator portfolio, 100 free fonts (because you can never have enough fonts), a logo emoji makeover, product reviews, how-to guides and way more. And if you’re looking for design inspiration specifically, they have a section that contains tattoo art, illustrations, web design, paper portfolios and any other kinds of art that you could imagine.

Students, did you know you can join the Society for News Design for as little as $5 a month?