I recently discovered this amazing cover archive. It’s an amazing collection. You can find covers from 1900 to 2009. A really great inspiration source.

Related posts:

1. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?
2. Blast from the past: Websites that (used to) feed us with inspiration
3. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and 2010): Where are we heading? Volume 2

Do you like ampersands? Well, i do and besides the fact that they are everywhere now, using different ampersands in titles or copy isn’t something new. Here’s a small list of free fonts with really interesting ampersand characters.

Cipher

Download Cipher

LakeshoreDrive

Download LakeshoreDrive

Water Street

Download water street

Matchbook

Download Matchbook

Alusine

Download Alusine

Devroye

Download Devroye

Related posts:

1. 8 fonts for developers you’ve probably never heard before
2. Free vector pack: Female dancing silhouettes
3. 5 excellent calligraphic fonts

I just can’t help it when it comes to vintage posters. Especially computer related ones. Well, over at Vintage Ad Browser you won’t find only computer related posters but literally thousands from various categories. And you know what? These poster are available to purchase mostly from auctions (eBay etc.).

Related posts:

1. 21 free social vintage icons
2. Inspiration: Record covers and sleeves from an era where photoshop wasn’t around
3. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?

Back in the day where Feedburner wasn’t around and RSS wasn’t so popular, there were a few sites (comparing to the number of sites that exist today) that really stood out of the crowd.  The following list should be really longer but most of the sites that i wanted to include aren’t available, have changed owners and maybe topic. So here’s a list of  trend setters from the past.

Kaliber 10000

What can we possible say about this site. It used to be my no1 place for design news and inspiration. While pixel fonts were around before them, i believe it’s really their “fault” that this kind  fonts became so popular in the web design world. There are some sections of the site still alive though. Have a look

Spoono

Another popular community. News, inspiration, showcases, tutorials. No more. Their “Grapevine” section seems to be active in a way though.

Phirebrush

One of the best art magazines out there. Their last issue came out in October 2008 but if you haven’t been there before, well, take a few days off just for this so you can browse through their amazing 64 issues.

AbsoluteCross

Not a portal but a source of some excellent tutorials for Photoshop, Flash and PaintShop. Glossy buttons, plastic buttons, soft bevels, tentacle tubes. I am sure you’ve spent some time playing with these in your “brand new” Photoshop 6.0 or even better 7.0.

Rasterized

If you’ve finished browsing through Phirebrush then get another doze of inspiration from Rasterized. I haven’t visited this site for a while and i can’t really tell if this art magazine is still alive. No matter what, tons of amazing artwork in there too. Respect.

Pixelsurgeon

Officially dead but even like this, they do deserve a link back.

Lounge72

Officially dead too. Not forgotten though. The quality of content provided in this site was second to none. Respect once more.

I’ve done a bit of research before posting this and these are the ones i’ve found that actually provide a working link (even like the last 2 ones). Do you remember any other sites that we should mention here? If you do, just leave a comment and i ll add them in this list.

Related posts:

1. Inspiration: 13 beautiful single page websites you should really see
2. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?
3. Inspiration: Nature

Here’s the second part of posts about web design trends that we will see in the end of 2009 and 2010. If you missed the first post have a look there as well. In this post we will check a few examples using text replacement techniques (image based or through javascript), a touch of flash and/or complicated (but non intrusive) backgrounds.

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Related posts:

1. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?
2. Logo of the Day – Logo Design Inspiration
3. Inspiration: Cover archive, 1900 – 2009

Big photography, huge typography, sketches, nature and sliders. There are other “trends” as well but i believe these are the elements used mostly in today’s web design world and will be used next year as well. In this post I’ve got 4  sites for each of  the 5 categories i mentioned earlier.

Sites using big titles

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Sites using big images

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Sites inspired by nature

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Sites using sketches

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

Sites using sliders

Visit

Visit

Visit

Visit

And that would be it. So what do you think? What else do you expect to see this fall and next year?

Related posts:

1. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and 2010): Where are we heading? Volume 2
2. Inspiration: Nature
3. Logo of the Day – Logo Design Inspiration

I really like singe page web design. I am using this technique in a couple of personal websites and i must say, it really works. Here’s a small collection of personal favorites one page websites.

psdlayout.com

psdlayout.com

bulletpr.co.uk

bulletpr.co.uk

delarocque.com.br

delarocque.com.br

mattnickdesign.co.uk

mattnickdesign.co.uk

tvrdek.cz

tvrdek.cz

gavincastleton.com

gavincastleton.com

silverbackapp.com

silverbackapp.com

workatplay.com

workatplay.com

kostandinos.com

kostandinos.com

fajnechlopaki.com

fajnechlopaki.com

two24studios.com

two24studios.com

cpeople.ru

cpeople.ru

thegreatbeardedreef.com

thegreatbeardedreef.com

Related posts:

1. Blast from the past: Websites that (used to) feed us with inspiration
2. Inspiration: Nature
3. Inspiration: Record covers and sleeves from an era where photoshop wasn’t around

About a week ago, a really interesting project landed. Someone who collects LPs and CDs asked me if i could design an e-shop for him so he can sell and connect with people who want to buy or exhange this kind of stuff. After about 2 days of research on the subject i was amazed from the quality of the designs for covers and sleeves that exist in an era were tools like photoshop and illustrator weren’t around. So here’s a small list of websites with this kind of art

Record Envelop

’70s & ’80s Russian Record Covers

Vintage Record Covers

Vintage Vanguard

LPCover Lover

Jim Flora

Rodney Matthews

Alex Steinweiss

Related posts:

1. Looking for vintage inspiration? Well, Vintage ad browser will do
2. The Illustrator Toolbar for Tutorial Authors
3. Inspiration: Cover archive, 1900 – 2009

If i had to take a different career path, that would be a logo designer. I don’t know why. I have done some logos for some local business in the past and this process of trying to expose – represent – communicate as much as possible out of a company’s philosophy makes me want to follow this process everyday.

Well, i am a web designer and i leave this part to the pros. I silently follow Jacob Cass on twitter and read his amazing blog. Today he announced the launch of Logo of the day, a logo inspiration gallery that you should keep an eye on. It’s not that you will find tons of logos (come on, they’ve just got started) but you should really be a regular visitor just because Jacob Cass and Jeff Fisher decide which ones will make it to the gallery pages. Isn’t that enough?

While writing these lines i went through Jacob’s post about the launch of Logo the day and i realised that he’s offering some great prizes by promoting Logo of the Day (i guess i am one of those then, horray!).

Speaking of Logo design the other guy who i silently follow on twitter is Graham Smith and read his also amazing blog imjustcreative.com/blog. Keep an eye over there as he is preparing something as well. Two lines are not enough to talk about imjustcreative but i will get back at him and his work in a post i am preparing for people i admire and why.

Related posts:

1. Design by the law.
2. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and 2010): Where are we heading? Volume 2
3. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?

There’s no doubt that designers of any kind get inspiration from nature. It actually unavoidable not to be inspired by nature. Colors, forms, shapes, animals, day, night, light, shadows, there’s always something that triggers “that idea”. Here’s a small list of websites, t-shirts and wallpapers inspired by nature.

Websites

T-Shirts

Wallpapers

I am thinking of doing this once a week, so if you are an artist of any kind and you would like to show your work here at webtoolkit4.me then just send me a link to your portfolio or files at tsiger [ at ] webtoolkit4.me [ dot ] com. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Inspiration: Record covers and sleeves from an era where photoshop wasn’t around
2. Inspiration: web design trends in 2009 (and probably 2010): Where are we heading?
3. Inspiration: 13 beautiful single page websites you should really see