50 of the best websites for daily creative inspiration

As a creative professional, you'll naturally need a daily dose of inspiration to succeed at work. The Internet is a great place to start your day with a wealth of blogs and online magazines sharing creative projects from some of the industry's brightest and best.

Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Image licensed via Adobe Stock

Whether you're an artist, designer, illustrator, photographer or maker, the following list of 50 recommended websites will help. Add them to your bookmarks, so that whenever you suffer creative block, you can easily browse them. (Please note, this article was last updated on 25 October 2017.)

Websites for the creative industries

1. This Works: Notice all those amazing images whenever you download files via WeTransfer? Well, This Works presents the stories behind the wallpapers – meet the inspiring artists, designers, illustrators, photographers and other creatives featured on WeTransfer.com.

2. My Modern Met: Claiming to share creativity and promote a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity, My Modern Met is a daily feast of creative inspiration.

3. Colossal: Launched in 2010 by writer and curator Christopher Jobson, Colossal is an inspiring visual art, design and culture blog, and one of the biggest on the web.

4. It's Nice That: One of the leading platforms for the creative industries, It's Nice That has a particular specialism in graphic design and advertising.

5. DesignBoom: Industrial design today: courses, education, competitions, history and contemporary, shop, interviews, snapshots, design-aerobics, the intelligent hand competition.

6. Creative Review: Advertising, design and visual culture for daily inspiration. One of the best, in my humble opinion, and they've got a decent blog as well as jobs board and directory.

7. FormFiftyFive: Founded in 2005 by an ever-growing group of young designers and vagabonds eager to collect and share the best design work they came across, FormFiftyFive is an international showcase of creative work.

8. The Design Inspiration: This is a really good resource of daily inspiration for web design, print, illustrations and photography.

9. Abduzeedo: Simply put, Abduzeedo is a blog about design, sharing articles about architecture, design, photography and UX.

10. IgNant: An online magazine featuring art, design, photography, fashion and architecture. Nicely curated and always full of inspiring content.

Websites for artists

11. Booooooom: This Canadian art blog is extremely playful, showcasing surreal and unusual work that exudes creativity and provokes thought. Always worth checking out.

12. Juxtapoz: A beautiful website featuring emerging artists and illustrators, along with the occasional erotic artworks. A must.

13. Hi-Fructose: Hi-Fructose is a quarterly print art magazine, founded by artists, Attaboy and Annie Owens in 2005. Its online version is always worth a visit.

14. Hyperallergic: Described as playful and radical, Hyperallergic was founded in 2009 and has become a respected forum for art lovers.

15. We Heart: We Heart explores the intersections between arts and culture, and lifestyle, living and travel.

16. The Jealous Curator: Turning jealousy into get-your-ass-back-in-the-studio inspiration – that's the promise from this delightful blog, brought to you by creative Danielle Krysa.

17. Canvas: Canvas is a blog by Saatchi Art, and – as you'd expect – it has a wealth of high-quality content on the arts. From emerging to established artists, this is an inspiring website to stay abreast of industry news.

18. Beautiful Decay: Painting, sculpture, illustration, street art, installation, collage – Beautiful Decay shares every type of art and has a solid grip on the best emerging artists.

19. Global Street Art: To stay in touch with all the latest street art, this website brings you the latest installations and graffiti from around the world.

20. Street Art News: Street Art News was founded in 2009 by Rom Levy and has gone on to become one of the world's leading blogs on street art.

Websites for graphic designers

21. Shillington Design Blog: Brought to you by the people at Shillington, an international graphic design college with campuses in the UK, America and Australia, this blog is full of inspiring work, industry insights and people.

22. Aisle One: An inspirational resource focused on graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism. I love the simplicity of this blog and the things they share are very inspiring.

23. Abduzeedo: A successful and well-known popular blog about design, including plenty of inspiration and tutorials to support other creatives.

24. Mirador: Mirador is the image hunting work of Say What Studio, graphic design duo based in Paris, France. They curate the most inspirational works out there and share them through this collection of projects.

25. We Made This: We Made This is brought to you by graphic designer Alistair Hall, sharing other people's inspiring work. Beautifully designed and always refreshing.

26. Graphic Exchange: Fabien Barral is a happy graphic designer whose innovative and unique designs attract clients from around the world. In 2008 he joined forces with his wife Frédérique to create “Harmonie intérieure”, a business and brand that pushes poster and wall sticker design beyond the limits we expect from a commercial undertaking. Fabien also runs the “graphic-exchange” blog, a popular online venue for graphic designers.

27. The Design Blog: Founded, designed and curated by Ena Baćanović - a designer based in Zagreb - Croatia, The Design Blog brings you carefully picked high-quality inspiration, featuring works of designers and design studios from all over the world.

28. Design Week: Design news, inspiration and jobs, this is an essential read for any discerning graphic designer.

29. Logo Design Love: Does exactly what it says on the tin, a blog that shares logo designs that we'll love.

30. AIGA Eye on Design: AIGA Eye on Design turns a well-trained eye on the best new work from the world’s most exciting emerging and established designers. Published by AIGA, the professional association for design, the oldest and largest not-for-profit membership organization for design in the United States.

Websites for photographers

31. Feature Shoot: Feature Shoot is a photography magazine based on all kinds of genres – fine art, portraits, documentary, still life... you name it, this is the website to visit daily.

32. 500px: An inspiring blog brought to you by photo community, 500px. Expect tips, advice and inspiring work from some of the world's best photographers.

33. The Big Picture: Inspiring news stories in pictures, created by the picture editors at The Boston Globe in the US.

34. Ain't Bad: Aint-Bad Magazine is a quarterly publication that promotes new photographic art. Founded in Savannah, Georgia by five emerging photographers.

35. Bored Panda: Not just a website for fun, Bored Panda shares loads of inspiring work from artists, designers and, in this case, photographers.

36. Flickr Blog: The companion blog to Flickr, showcasing a huge range of photography from across the globe.

37. PetaPixel: Established in May of 2009, PetaPixel is a leading blog covering the wonderful world of photography with inspiration, tips and advice.

38. They Shoot Film: They Shoot Film is a photo collective started by two photographers, Patrice Esser (on sabbatical) and Garrick Fujii. They are based in San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively.

39. Guardian In Pictures: The Guardian's own popular 'news in pictures' section. And if you download the iPad app you'll be able to follow 'pro tips', learning how to take similar shots.

40. One Big Photo: OneBigPhoto is your daily dose of high-quality photos.

Websites for interior designers

41. Design Sponge: A daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge was declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” (NY Times, 2008) and features store and product reviews, city, product, and gift guides, DIY projects, before & after furniture and home makeovers, home tours, recipes, videos and podcasts, and trend forecasting.

42. Poppytalk: Poppytalk is a Canadian design blog collecting inspiration and promoting emerging design talent.

43. decor8: A site dedicated to sharing honest opinions, fresh decorating ideas, beautiful interior spaces, independent art and design, products and services, and articles meant to inspire readers to live a more fulfilling, authentic and creative life.

44. Design Milk: An online magazine dedicated to modern design, bringing you what’s fresh and new in art, architecture, interior design, furniture and decor, fashion, and technology.

45. Apartment Therapy: An American blog that covers just about anything and everything to do with interior design. Yes, it focuses on apartments and small living, but there is so much more to discover.

46. Fabric of my Life: A London interior stylist shares interesting images for inspiration.

47. Print & Pattern: This beautiful blog is all about the cards, gift wrap, fabrics, wallpaper, stationery and ceramics that come in all kinds of prints and patterns.

48. IKEA Hackers: IkeaHackers.net is a site about modifications on and repurposing of Ikea furniture and products. A fascinating and inspiring site.

49. Dezeen: The architecture and interior design bible, Dezeen brings you all the latest industry news, inspiration and insight.

50. CocoCozy: A Los Angeles native, Coco leads a double life: an executive by day and an interior design blogger and home furnishings designer by night.

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