Best of the Web

This is my first ’round-up’ of some of the best websites out there. There are many other great designers out there putting out periodical posts of great sites, such as Spoon Graphics ‘Weekly Favourites’, and Abduzeedo’s ‘Best of the Week’. I came across most of these sites by using the StumbleUpon Firefox Toolbar, which has saved me tons of hours of boredom and loss of inspiration. The toolbar is super easy to use, and very customizable of what type of sites you enjoy.

Feel free to leave comments with other great websites or inspiration.

Simon Chaput Photographs

Simon Chaput is my new favorite Photographer. His collection of work is simply stunning. I highly recommend looking through his entire work, as each is astonishing.

Funnel Design Group

Funnel Design Group is an outstanding design firm based out of Oklahoma City. Their site is loaded with great design, as well as a huge portfolio of top-notch work. Check them out.

50 Eye-Popping Concept Art Designs

Concept art has been growing in popularity on the Internet recently. Webdesigner Depot takes a look at 50 great examples of concept art that are sure to inspire you and let your imagination run wild.

Do-It-Yourself Dress

These “Do-It-Yourself” dresses are the creations of clothing designer Berber Soepboer and graphic designer Michiel Schuurman. The first dress is black and white, but can be colored in using markers, while the other dress is three dresses that can be taken apart and combined using buttons.

Dave Werner’s Portfolio

Dave Werner was one of the first great designers that I was introduced to in college. His site not only has videos of him explaining each and every project, but he also includes sketches and mock-ups to show his design process.

Erik Johansson – Photo Manipulations

Erik Johansson is a 23-year-old computer engineering student from Sweden. His site showcases his brilliant mastery of combining photos with Photoshop to create something breathtaking. Each photo is great, especially the Lego one.

Amazing Light Paintings

This is a great collection of light paintings (also called light drawings or light graffiti) from Jan Wollert and Jorg Miedza. These two guys created LAPP – Light Art Performance Photography which shows off their spectacular work.

Jessie Van Dijk – Project Indigo

Project Indigo is designer Jesse van Dijk’s idea of a ‘vertical seaside metropolis.’ He “tried to envision what a huge -vertical- seaside city would look like in a world where dry land is very precious.” Jesse really thought out every aspect of this great imaginary city, from the slums to the rich.

26 Ridiculously Awesome CG Portraits

This is a great collection of beautiful computer graphics (CG) that really push the boundaries of reality.

11 Great Photoshop Photo Effects

This assortment of Photoshop photo effects has a wide variety of styles and effects. I find it helpful to do as many tutorials as you can find time for, so go through and do as much of these as you can.

25 Must-Read Books for… All Creative Types

Reading design books is a must for designers of all sorts to keep up on theory, inspiration, and over-all knowledge. This list of 25 great design books are ones that all designers should own, or at least drive to Borders or Barnes and Noble and flip through for a while.

40 Great “About the Author” Examples

The ‘Author Box’ on a blog is something that all blogs should have, whether it has one or twenty authors. If you have a blog and need to update your Author box, check this site out for inspiration, and then check out this link.

Jackson Pollock

This amazingly simple, yet genius site was created by Michal Migurski. If you have ever enjoyed Jackson Pollock’s work, you can create your own with this site!

35 Photoshop Poster Design Tutorials

Creating posters in Photoshop can produce a really unique design that you can not replicate in other programs. This list of 35 tutorials can help you create great posters, as well as increase your knowledge of the great software.

Design Flavr

I have mentioned Design Flavr before in my 30 Must-Have Design Resources post. This great site deserves recognition again. If you are ever in need of inspiration, check out Design Flavr.

Nescapades Game Room

Now I admit that I am a bit of a video game-aholic, collecting my games from time to time. The person that owns this monstrous collection of video games deserves an award of some kind. If you own even a single video game, you will drool at this collection.

Mark Jenkins: Street Installations

Mark Jenkins is a great installation artist. His team of designers/artists create full-sized human figures/parts and installs them in various cities from around the world, while occasionally taping onlookers reactions. This site deserves your time, look through each image on each page.