Artisan Creative is celebrating 20+ years in staffing and recruitment of creative professionals. Over the years, we’ve learned a thing or two that we’d like to share with you. We hope you enjoy the 427th issue of our weekly a.blog.
Design is a field of study, it’s a career path, it’s also a way of life and a way of looking at the world. Design can be inspiration, collaboration, thinking differently and seeing things others don’t.
However, if you are a freelancer working by yourself and without a team to bounce ideas off of—where do you go to get inspiration or find collaborators?
Online communities such as Dribbble or Behance, make it easier than ever to find excellent, cutting-edge visual design and to connect with other like-minded designers and artists. In this blog, we’re going to focus on a few sites that are more about the larger ideas that shape the design world, and the community that inhabits it. This is where we go for design inspiration beyond the aesthetic.
Creative Mornings, created by Tina Roth Eisenberg, is a series of talks by creative leaders in cities around the world. The talks start early and are almost always filled to capacity. Over the years, Creative Mornings has expanded to encompass a podcast, a smart and funny email newsletter, and a tight-knit, enthusiastic community that helps professionals in all creative fields get more from their lives and careers. Their website includes an archive of talks for countless hours of inspiration.
A consultancy that drives innovation in retail, advertising, and design, PSFK also maintains a long-running active, and addictive blog. It’s a go-to for quick hits on global creative events, bizarre and controversial marketing campaigns, glimpses of potentially world-changing technologies and innovations. PSFK is always good for a reminder that we are all part of this weird and wonderful carnival of creativity.
Digging beneath its simple and humble design into its archive of articles, it quickly becomes obvious how influential A List Apart has been on the past few years of web design. Between its blog and series of books, it has showcased the writing of numerous luminaries in UX, Information Architecture, Design, Development, and more. For challenging and informative “long reads” on a range of topics in digital design, A List Apart merits regular reading and revisiting.
99u is an expansive educational site owned by Adobe, with content addressing all the aspects, challenges, and joys of the creative business. It features a comprehensive event calendar, interviews with the most intriguing and successful minds in advertising and design, think-pieces that upend conventional wisdom and point in new directions, and a mission to help creatives do better work, be more effective citizens, and help commerce and society move forward.
Brain Pickings isn’t about design per se – it’s about, well, everything. In her ongoing attempt to understand the sweep of culture, philosophy, science, creativity, and the human experience, Maria Popova has honed a remarkable penchant for connecting different ideas to each other. The joy of Brain Pickings comes from falling into a digital rabbit hole, bouncing from a piece on privacy to a profile of eccentric scientists to the lost illustrations of Ralph Steadman, electrifying the parts of the brain that take joy in unusual patterns.
One of the design industry’s oldest and largest professional organizations for design—25,000 members strong, this community is a great resource for learning, collaboration, and community! Look for a local chapter and attend events, read blogs, and meet other creatives in your community
Artisan Creative’s Resource page
We’ve compiled a running list of professional organizations, portfolio sites, and freelancer resources to help you connect with other creatives. Our blogs page has over 400 articles on interviewing, freelancing, time management, and much more. And our open jobs page connects you with open roles.
The best content starts conversations. Did we miss one of your favorites above? Let us know in the comments!