10 Websites To Start Off a Creative Day
Introduction
Every morning I start my day by checking what’s hot and fresh on the Internet. It’s crucial for my work and inspiration. It’s like the daily fuel depot and I need my fix before I can go to town with a new Tutorial or another design.
There are plenty of sites that may inspire you to take another step on the ladder to become the ultimate designer/blogger (which we all know we’ll never be. lol). However, I want to list the sites that I find very useful and inspiring to start off the day with. Even if you’re a full on logo designer or a print artist you always need references to some great work in order to be able to think clear. It’s like sweeping the floor before you go to town knowing you’ll come home to a clean house.
Well anyways, here are my morning fix that I always check out…in chronological order of course:
1st Stop – Sillicon Alley Insider
The first thing I want to do in the morning is to check what goes on in the most computer savvy town in the world. I love reading about the new and exciting startups and also the demise some companies will face due to ignorance and plain stupidity. This is a sure place to get your fix for all things brand new and how.
2nd Stop – Hacker News
After reading about the shape of our business the “Hacker” part of me needs it’s morning juice. This site concentrates on the more, let’s say, grass root news. It shares everything from bully news to song choice of the day. I love this site because it show how people actually think. How they react to the events of the computer industry and it’s million dollar failures and wins.
3rd Stop – ZDNet
To get a second opinion of things I switch back to the more “reality” based new again. This site shows you the “BIG” news. The news that will affect us all within the near future. It presents it’s news in a more serious light which gives yet another perspective to what’s going on in the industry.
4th Stop – Wired
All read up on the latest and greatest news I need a more in depth and “genre” based journalism. Who doesn’t know about Wireds interviews and gadget reporting. I just love a good fix of the in depth news they bring. Simply a great place for that little extra knowledge.
5th Stop – Gizmodo
Alright, we’re done with the news. We are all stocked up on the newest and hottest trends and some not so pleasant company closures. Time to feed the odd news pocket with some great micro-news. These guys always finds the odd things in the world and their reporting i great! A must have in any morning breakfast fix!
6th Stop – Mashable
Oh yeah, Mashable. A true and honest friend for all things Twitter and development. I love the variation of articles they have and the way they always get me interested in things I never thought I’d even care to use the energy to turn my eyes to. A great start in the morning and a great inspiration source for some new tips & tricks!
7th Stop – Favorite Website Awards
After smoothly going from serious news to the tips and tricks we can use everyday, I just have to check THE FWA. It’s a really well thought of website that awards the best Flash websites with a prestegious award EACH DAY! Every day the have a new website in the spotlight. And as a Flash website designer this is just the perfect place to keep yourself up to date with all the new trends. BUT, it’s not only for Flash developers. There are TONS of great websites in here with Awesome graphics so it’s a must for anyone that is working with design, any genre!
8th Stop – Design Float
Well, who doesn’t know of Design float. It’s the greatest and most useful place to start off your day. PLENTY of links to the most useful things, any category. Everything from programming to simple tutorials in Photoshop. It’s just a lovely place to start off the creative process.
9th Stop – CG Society
Coming to the end of the list it’s important, at least for me, to get my brain started up on some eye goodies. Something that will get my brain going in a sense of graphic splendour! CG Society have everything you’ll ever need as far as Graphic Inspiration. Everything from behind the scenes interviews to a GREAT 3D forum gallery where you can rate an check out some of the worlds best 3D designers. This is a fuel up for sure! For anyone!
10th Stop – Wimp
All stocked up on news, tips & tricks and graphical inspiration it’s time to end this list with some fun. We all know that working in design can be tedious and boring if things doesn’t come out the way you intended them to. Or if the client simply keeps changing his mind over and over again. Wimp will is sure to put a smile on your face. They present the latest and greatest videos of people doing incredible stunts or just plain in depth documents of things currently happening in the world. Only downside with this link is that it’s WAY to addicting!
Well, that’s my morning fix and I always use it to get inspired. Does it work for you, I don’t know. Is there any other great sites that you know of that might kick start my or someone else’s morning please add it in a comment. I am sure everyone is interested in knowing.
Alright, don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed. You can subscribe to it right here: Minervity RSS Feed
Thanks!
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thanks for the list. you forget to put abduzeedo and valleywag.
techcrunch should be in the list too
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I would add Browsershots Showcase to the list. It’s the largest web design gallery on the web for inspiration. It has 30,000 entries with 50-100 new entries added every day.
Click here to visit
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#8 Design Float is questionable right now, they appear to be gone. I would add http://www.faqpal.com
Nice list.
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Great list here- many of them are on my morning reads, but some are new finds.
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pliggs. i aggree no more. i think u should update the list
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Wow! You actually go and visit sites?! I haven’t done that in ages… I just check rss feeds or aggregate site for what I’m missing.
It eventually takes me to a few of the sites up above.
Must lend to a nice morning ritual however.
Thanks Richard for a good list with some site I’ve *never* been to?!
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Buzzlair – Thanks! I will check the list and try and update it. DesignFloat was working while I did the site. Must have gone down right after. Thought it was a rebuild or something.
Henry – Thanks man! I will check it out!
Pliggs – Thanks! Will checkit out!
Sarah – Glad I could help.
I love reading in the mornings. My Fix!
Khayyam Wakil – Thanks man! And thanks for being such a cool dude! Really like your diggs and tweets by the way! You rock! And the mention in the Video blog of yours. I was so honored! Keep up being so cool!
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Hey cool list! I will have to check out their RSS feeds some time. More to add to my list
Thanks for the list!
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I would add popurls to the list. Really well-made site to aggregate the most popular links throughout the web that day. Broken down by major site (and minor site), and has an archive.
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Always have to get my mornin’ Tweet on, as it were…. Wakes me up, gets me focused, and then, let it run in the background as I move onto other things….
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DesignFloat just made my Avast! antivirus show several threat alerts…
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hey… thx for this list. And if you need an alternative to designfloat check out http://devmarks.com .. maybe you like it !
thx,
thomas
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This is a really great top ten list Twinster. Hacker News is a great site, I check it almost daily. Thanks for all the other recommendations, I will have to be checking them out. Anyone can post their own list to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.
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Designfloat is having problems now because of Pligg i suppose. Designbump is becoming more popular now.
Give it a try guys. http://www.designbump.com/
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Great list! I second the opinion that Design Float should be replaced. It used to be a great resource but has really gone downhill over the past year or so. designbump.com and designmoo.com are both great alternatives!
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I just let you do all the reading and then see what you have to say…
Seriously, This is a great list of sites… thanks for posting them.
David Bates
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Hey Richard thanks for the list. A couple more to add to my RSS reader.
Personally I get in in the morning open up a Firefox window and have a scan down Google reader and open up anything I think would be noteworthy. Then throughout the day every time I get a spare 5 minutes or just need a think away from a problem I read some of the articles. That way I don’t come in get distracted and fly through 11 o’clock without doing any work!
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Nice list, I should read them every morning. I always start a day by checking the stats and I usually get stress
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Sometimes a trick website will start opening programs and new internet windows when you visit them. How does this happen? thanks..
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Great List!
Added Wimp.com to my Bookmarks awesome inspiring Videos
On Monday Mornings I recommend the “Monday Morning Inspirations Series”
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Great list, Richard!
To add to the suggestions above, I’d like to add Escape into Life, which shows off the work of many varied artists each day and is great for inspiration.
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Really a good start for this day !!!
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As a sunday spl i gonna follow all the above sites
!!
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thanks for sharing good list, i haven’t heard first 4 sites . thanks for that
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I would say designbump.com for sure!
That list is way to short I think. I would also have some more design/blog related sites on that list, the ones you mentioned are mostly Tech news.
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Great Resource, Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you very much for keeping me up to date.
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Thank you for your explanation. There really useful information.
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thanks for sharing good list, i haven’ . thanks for that
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you can also ffffind tons of inspiration on http://ffffound.com/
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Too bad there is not a “Bookmark all as folder” button.
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Some specialists state that mortgage loans help people to live their own way, because they are able to feel free to buy needed stuff. Furthermore, banks present term loan for all people. Thank you for sharing.
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nice post, thanks for the list
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Couldn’t agree more…Had a post already written about this too, (good job i checked around first)never mind.It is a really good tune though.Here’s hoping more labels wise up and do this.
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