Everyone, and welcome back, so we're going to talk about how I find inspiration online.
Now, we already went over how we can stay inspired and generally that's where I get most of my inspiration,
you know, talking to peers, walking around, studying other people's work, you know, staying knowledgeable
about different topics that were really inspired by.
Also think that a key to your product design process in this is what I find absolutely necessary is
to have a constant source of all my inspiration.
So there are several sites that I like to visit.
These are some of them.
The main one I like to visit is Dribble.
So here's Dribble.
It's a great place.
I'm sure many of you know it already, but I love it just because I can just make a bunch of collections
of different types of like design patterns that I really love.
Also searching on here is really easy and is probably one the best places to go and get ideas for your
designs.
I mean, not because there's so many people posting cool things, but, you know, it's a great way
to study your peers.
You can discover some of the world's top designers and creatives, and you can also get inspiration
from a wide range of disciplines like anything from animation, branding, illustrations, product design,
web design, print.
I mean, there's so many different things on here.
There's always a project you can learn from.
And what makes it great is that it's a place where people can post their content and get feedback.
I mean, feedback doesn't happen very often on a lot of these posts, but it's just a great way to get
a lot of different type of inspiration.
Some people even like showcasing their portfolio for potential clients or studios.
And because of this, like final pieces that are uploaded are of the highest quality.
I generally love to catalog different things, like I mentioned before, and this is what I generally
do and this is how I use it.
So I like to sometimes just browse all I'm a big fan of, like different things.
I guess like an example would be like if I just typed typography.
Some people are doing some really interesting stuff that may inspire me.
I've just seen something like this print collateral and looking at all these different shapes and the
way they're positioned and even the way like the text is bolded and laid out, something like that could
inspire me for like website hero page or something like that.
So like anything you can grab inspiration from.
And I feel like a lot of people get really hooked up or held up on trying to find just the right solution
that they can kind of mimic.
Don't do that.
I mean, that's one way to kind of steer creativity.
So what I like to do is like if I'm going to search for something like navigation or mobile navigation,
I like to see all these different types of, like, options.
So like, if I go into this, this is pretty cool, just the way they have these little kind of micro
interactions animations.
So I may just like save that.
And I have a bunch of different like collections.
So you can see I have a collection for Calculator's or Carasso forms color.
There's like CRM tools that I like to look at.
I may see this on their mobile navigation.
And I can just create a collection really quickly.
So this is really cool.
And there you go, it said you can even like it if you want and you can start typing and you know,
some people like to give their feedback or just ask questions.
It's a really great place.
So this is where we typically do it.
Like I would grab this.
I would say that I would type in like mobile navigation and start creating a collection of different
ways people have done this.
If I'm trying to solve a similar problem that I'm stuck on now, I may not be stuck on this persay,
but I may get inspired by something like just how they have done these smooth animations, like in this
example I just showed you.
So I may really like this, the subtlety of it, and I may want to implement something similar for my
product.
And the easy way to get there is to hover over your profile and go to, like, make collections over
here.
And you can see, like I have like even a test.
I have a bunch of different options here.
So I have mobile navigation right there.
And I'll just, you know, kind of go through them.
I may like copy them or like make notes about this mobile navigation if I edit it and add a description
to it.
So that's how I typically use dribble.
I mean, like I said before, you can get inspiration from like any type of discipline, like even if
it's branded.
Like, just seem like maybe like just the way that they've incorporated a background here seems very
interesting.
And how sharp like in terms of contrast there is between color and shade, you know, don't limit yourself
just by trying to find the right solution for what you're trying to do, you know, look elsewhere.
Another thing I like to use is Pinterest.
This is a whole lot of library of visual content.
I mean, you can get inspiration for everything here, but there is a lot of noise.
I think the best way to get inspiration from something like Pinterest is to do what I've just done here,
just have a very, like, targeted search.
So I chose mobile design.
And yeah, there are a lot of different options here.
And what you can do is you can just kind of save it.
I have like a family meal plan, little kind of collection over here and you can, like, save those
collections for yourself or those boards so called in Pinterest.
I mean, one thing you can also do like is create a bunch of different boards about different types
of design patterns that you love.
So that's one way to use Pinterest.
I also like to just like use Pinterest just to look at different things.
I mean, it could even be like interiors.
It could be anything like design related, even if that's interior design.
Like I said, don't limit yourself just to, like, finding the right solution.
So what I typically do is I like to just kind of go into one and I'll like I'll save it to a certain
board.
So, like, all click save and it'll go into that board.
It went into the wrong one.
But you can kind of change that.
You can pick.
Basically, a bunch of different sports, you can even make a new one on the go, so and that's definitely
an easy way to keep track of a bunch of inspiration.
There's also a plug in that allows you to actually, like, save different types of content.
So if we go back to dribble, so here's my Pinterest extension.
And what you can do is like if I focus on here, I have it pop up over here that I want to save it to
somewhere.
Even if you're on a different site, you can save things to your Pinterest board.
The easy way to use Pinterest and collect inspiration over time.
The next one I like to use.
I don't use this very much.
But I mean, one thing I really love about Behance is that the quality is really good here.
And, you know, there's a lot of explanation behind some of the work.
This is another interesting place to find a bunch of different types of inspiration, whether it be
like graphic design, you know, all different types of design I often use is kind of like alongside
dribble, but not as much as dribble.
A good thing to note is that big businesses will spend a bunch of money advertising job roles here with
hopes of attracting top talent.
So since there are big brands on the lookout, you can expect to find lots of work.
You know, there's a lot of great ideas and lots of creativity.
So if I go here and I search like mobile.
Like, I can already see there's a bunch of different like options and one thing that's really great
about it, that's way better than dribble dribble just kind of gives you a snapshot of a design over
here, like a lot of people like to upload, like, so much content in regards to the actual app.
Like you often only see like just a snippet that looks really good, but you kind of are left in the
dark about how the rest of the application pans out and if it's good at all.
So this is what like a lot of the different types of like kind of things you'll see on Behance, like
a lot of different types of gallery image, like images like this, they'll break down like a challenge
or customer development.
I like this stuff way more than the pretty screenshots I'm really interested in, like how they solve
the problem and how they got to the solution.
So some people will often post things like that, I like to see how people even lay out like or define
their style guides.
So this is really cool to see more in depth animations, which look really, really smooth, I like
to see different types of things, like they have a transaction's over here, they have card settings
just like the bankcards would look.
It just gives you a lot more versatility and how you want to, like, view those projects and what you're
looking for.
Like if you're looking for a quick solution for like a design pattern, then, you know, maybe dribble,
maybe one of the better sites to look at or patterns which we'll get into next.
But this was really great to get overview of certain projects.
You know, there may not be as many, but a lot of the projects on here are just top notch.
So another thing I really like to use is pattern, so one thing you need to know is that patterns isn't
free entirely.
This is essentially like a focus on mobile design patterns.
And there's some great mobile app designs here.
And you'll get screenshots of like in-depth UI elements.
You can even search just based off of UI elements, which is really cool.
And like I said before, it's paid.
So it kind of limits the amount that you can see.
Sometimes what you can see is enough.
But I mean, if you're really looking into solving for different design patterns and you don't mind
paying for premium, then I think this is a really great resource.
So, like, if we take a look at the side here, we have like different categories, which is really
cool, like if I'm going to look for cards.
I see how different people have handled cards, and I'll only get to see just a little, but I think
they'll stop me like right now.
So it's not a lot, but I mean, it's not necessarily like everything is super pretty, like in terms
of like the dribble effect, but you get to really see some actual solutions that have been implemented,
which I value.
I think I'm a bit more.
What else do we have here?
Like, I love to see different things, like, you know, this is another cool thing, like how people
handle different lists.
So, I mean, this is really great for just finding an individual like UI elements and stuff like that.
I love using patterns.
I have a paid account through my company, so that really helps.
And yeah, this is how I solve a lot of different types of individual problems are like problems that
are kind of more secluded and more focused in a certain area.
So like if an example would be how do I handle, like privacy or popover?
So I have privacy here and there isn't many options, but it's very interesting.
Like, you know, they have a verify your identity option.
So, I mean, think about that when implementing something like that.
If I think about, like, popovers, I think like, you know, maybe like an overlay can come from the
top, it can come from the sides or it's a bunch of different implementations of that.
And the last say, I kind of use I like the site, especially for Web sites, resorts.
So this is another great option for Web based design, they have an award system like you can see that
over here.
And, you know, I displays exceptional designers and they have expert judges and a pretty strict evaluation
process, and you'll notice a lot of the latest Web trends are over here.
So we can search up something like.
Bankim.
And here you can search by websites, you can search by like elements, so if we go to load all results,
we just click that.
If we go there, we can see a bunch of different websites based off of what we searched for.
And what's really great is like I search up something like banking, which you would assume would be
really like rigid and, you know, strict in terms of like their design and their design principles.
But you see a bunch of different, like, takes on what banking could look like.
I mean, not all these things are necessarily banking related, but there's a lot of inspiration here.
So I guess you could just click over here, we have a small banking business and this is Lonestar National
Bank.
It's a really great site.
I can see just a bit of the hero.
And if we click into that, we'll go to the actual website and be able to actually experience that experience.
So this is obviously a little bit different than what we saw.
But, you know, maybe they've had a design update and maybe for the better, for the worse.
But it gives you good context as well into like the solution, you know, going back to pretty screenshots
and not necessarily knowing if certain things have been implemented.
These are pretty much all been implemented.
And you can see how that actually functions when you go to that website and try those different, like,
interactions or, you know, explore navigation schemes and stuff like that.
So these are basically the top ways I get my online inspiration.
I mean, I mentioned before that I get a lot of my inspiration by just staying inspired in general and
like staying knowledgeable on different topics, whether that be like design trends, whether that be
like development trends, everything like that.
So I think it's really important that you kind of catalog some actual visual design inspiration online
as well.
And these are some resources that you can definitely use.
So if you want to categorize everything from all different sites, you know, Pinterest is probably
best to have one source of truth in terms of like a board.
But if you want to stick to certain sites, like how dribble, you can like save collections there and
have it all in one place over there.
So this is what I use and, you know, go out there, find a don't copy people, but just try and stay
inspired online and surround yourself by online inspiration.
So that way when people come to you for ideas, you're kind of on the ball.
You understand a bunch of different design patterns and you just have general knowledge of what are
the latest trends.
So go out there and have fun.