Hello Spring. It’s been a long time.

Every couple weeks or so, we scavenge Flickr for some wonderfully inspiring photography to build color schemes from. The results can be used to start graphic and web projects of all sizes. As we’ve said before, inspiration comes in funny places sometimes.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Springtime Inspired Palettes

We’ve compiled photos and palettes below that should help get your designs into the spring season. Design away!

Welcome Back Spring

Even though plants seem to be the typical Spring symbol, there are plenty of other ways to show the season. If you’re feeling particularly inspired, why not share a Spring color scheme of your own? That’s exactly what the Build Internet ColourLover group is for. Post your spring-related inspirations (or otherwise) and share with the rest of our color-minded readers.

If you’re looking to integrate any of the color palettes seen here into a layout, I recommend taking a look at our “Build Site Color Schemes from Photography” article for more help.

A Side-note: It’s been a long time since we’ve put up one of these posts. We’re hoping to get them back on (at most) a bi-weekly rate. They won’t be replacing other scheduled posts, just adding to the overall posting schedule. What do you think? Would you like to see us add/remove anything to our color scheme posts to make them more useful?

“This is brilliant! How on earth did they come up with this?”

I’ve lost track of how many time I’ve said something similar to this over the past few years. As it turns out, I’m an extremely jealous person when it comes to design for the internet. I’m jealous in the admiration sense. I follow people whose work inspires higher quality in my own.

Where do you find inspiration for your own projects?  How do you turn a sense of admiration for the work of others into something uniquely yours?

The Role of Role Models

Have a hero or two. The people I’ve come to respect and learn the most from learn transparently. They are the few who aren’t afraid to say “I started one way, but it wasn’t the best way”. Their style makes dramatic changes. Some might call them hypocrites, but is that really the case? Does learning to have better opinions and practice make your previous work a shame? I vote no. A portfolio that shows no improvement over time is stagnant.

The people behind big sites often have lesser known work. People like Ryan Sims and his justwatchthesky tumblr: a side-project which focuses on using two fonts to present song lyrics. It sounds simple, but the results are an inspiration to typography enthusiasts.

“The scope is narrow: An exercise in documenting words in the music I listen to with color and type. The constraints are simple: (1) Only use Georgia (serif) or Helvetica (sans) and (2) try to post as often as possible.”

When in doubt…

How many of the 6 billion people in this world can do this?

As the internet brings communities and professionals closer, we lose sight of some key points. The world is a big place. We interact with brilliant designers and developers on a daily basis, but these people are still not common in our surrounding area. It’s still possible (and impressive) to be one of the best web designers in Northern Ireland. The business is global, but not everyone in the world sees it as clearly.

If that doesn’t work, talk a walk until you see Comic Sans on display. It will be a brief walk. Promise.

Learning from the Best

Thanks to online showcases, there’s no shortage of great design inspiration. You can see how the other half designs, and learn some new skills in the process.

The abundance of high quality work is also one of the downsides to inspiration galleries like CSS Remix and Pattern Tap. When browsing the best it’s hard to remember that excellence is not typically the standard. These galleries sift through thousands of submissions to showcase the best. It’s the point!

The situation is much like judging your own intelligence after being in a room filled with geniuses. There’s plenty to learn, but you’ll have a terrible time trying to feel smart afterwards. Don’t judge your own merits based on the work of those better than you – use them to set your goals.

You’re Actually Pretty Well Off

I’m still surprised to find web designers who have never heard of Smashing Magazine or AIGA. These are part of my everyday life, as well as all bloggers and designers who show up in my feeds every morning. This disconnect from the majority of the population creates a unique kind of groupthink about excellence.

The bloggers and designers that make up my feeds are aware of the latest design trends, industry legends, and standards, but there are plenty of folks who have never heard of them. We’ve built a new set of standards. Simply by reading this and other blogs, you’re in a great position to learn new skills. Don’t undervalue the resources you already use.

Steal, Adapt, Repeat

Chances are that you’ve heard Pablo Picasso’s famous quote at some point before:

“Good artists copy, great artists steal”

I’ve encountered designs which absolutely blew me away. I was motivated enough to make a new draft of whatever design I was currently working on. The first result would look strikingly similar to the inspiration, and would somehow look terrible.

After personalizing and building off of principles found in the first, I would eventually reach an entirely new piece. This design would look like an extremely distant cousin to the inspiring one, but tended to look better. The difference was that this design had grown into its skin. This is why those who copy sites verbatim fail. The finished product was never intended for this new purpose – it just seems hollow.

As Picasso says, the act of stealing is actually very different than copying. To steal in the design world is to create something new out of inspiration.

A Blogazine Example in Inspiration

Consider the Jason Santa Maria inspiration to Dustin Curtis. Both have been featured in articles for their “blogazine” style approach to posting. I suspect Dustin took inspiration from Jason’s style. The result is not one, but two brilliant examples in blogazine design.

If Dustin took inspiration initially, he was able to transform it into something original under his own talent. That’s what inspiration from admiration comes down to: Creating off the ideas of others. Stealing instead of copying.

Apparently Pablo was onto something.

Additional Reading

Interested in reading more on inspiration in design? Below are a few articles that inspired the post you’re reading now. They’re sure to give more food for thought.

1. Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal
2. 40 Amazing Female Role Models for Web Designers

In honor of Thanksgiving in the United States, we’ve put together a very special (questionably) inspired color scheme inspiration.

Our non-US readers might be wondering what giant balloons has to do with memorializing the pilgrims. For over 75 years, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade through New York City has been an annual Thanksgiving morning event. Even though it doesn’t have much to do with the founding of our country, we’ve come to love it anyway. Besides, this isn’t a history blog.

This round of color palettes was inspired by one of the parade’s favorites — the giant balloon characters. Over the years, there have been a number of interesting characters to float over the city streets. As you’ll see below, it often takes entire armies of people just to keep the balloons under control. Inspiration comes from weird places, and this is just another great example.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Palettes from Giant Balloon Characters

Float On

That does it for this round of color inspiration. Once again, if you are inspired to make your own balloon centered pallette, we’d love to see you share it with our official Colourlovers group for Build Internet! readers. Go ahead and inspire us!

It’s a look into the outside world through a series of window related photographs today.

Wondering what this post is all about? Every couple weeks or so, we scavenge Flickr for some wonderfully inspiring photography to build color schemes from. The results can be used to start graphic and web projects of all sizes. Inspiration comes in funny places sometimes.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Palettes from the Window Frame

Open Another Creative Window

Looking for more window theme photos to work with? There’s a number of Flickr groups dedicated to everything window related. Two of my (recently discovered) favorites are the Doors & Window Project and Windows of the World. Between the two, there’s over 90,000 photos of window related imagery. Good luck running out of inspiration.

If you make something spectacular, be sure to post it to our official Build Internet group on Colourlovers where it will be appreciated by a whole community of color enthusiasts from around the globe.

Put away your tourism handbook, because today we’ll be taking a guided tour through the colors of United States landmarks.

Wondering what this post is all about? Every couple weeks or so, we scavenge Flickr for some wonderfully inspiring photography to build color schemes from. The results can be used to start graphic and web projects of all sizes. Inspiration comes in funny places sometimes.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Palettes from American Landmarks

Monumental Color Schemes

You’ve just successfully completed a quick tour of the USA monument circuit, but did we miss a good one? If there’s a monument waiting to be turned into a palette, be sure to let us know in the comments.

Color enthusiast? We welcome you to join the offical Build Internet ColourLover group and share you stuff. It’s a hub for everyone with an overwhelming interest in all things aesthetically pleasing.

Have a sweet tooth? This round of color palettes should aim to please.

Every couple weeks or so, we scavenge Flickr for some wonderfully inspiring photography to build color schemes from. The results can be used to start graphic and web projects of all sizes. Inspiration comes in funny places sometimes.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Palettes from Pastries

What’s Cookin’?

It turns out that food photography is a wildly popular community builder. This means that you’ve got plenty of imagery to work with. In the mood to put together a bakery themed color scheme of your own? That’s exactly what the Build Internet ColourLover group is for. Post your food related inspirations (or otherwise) and share with the rest of our color-minded readers.

Hello there neighbor!

It’s a lovely day in the neighborhood and we’re making the best of it by scoping out some of the freshest colors hidden amongst white picket fences, perfectly trimmed lawns, and cookie cutter homes.

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Neighborly Color Schemes

What Nicely Trimmed Hedges You Have!

Any part of suburbia speak to you? We’d love to see you share it with Colourlovers group for Build Internet! readers. Time to make your neighbors jealous!

Being a big fan of typography, it’s rather thrilling when people find fresh ways to make inspirational art based on words pieced together. We’ve explored text related artwork before in our Design in Motion – Kinetic Typography Music Videos article, but let’s delve into the world print and digital art.

While some of the below pieces are simply a catchphrase or random text, also pay attention to those that do have meaning scattered about within them. In any case, they are pretty neat to look at.

The Collection

Music has always been a big industry. Today we’ve decided to give you some graphic design motivation by showcasing some highlights from music themed logos.

One of the trends that you’ll notice from the group below is the repeated use of notes to further convey an association to music. Negative space is used very well in many, especially with distinct elements like piano keys and guitar silhouettes.

I don’t know if using notes as a design element has reached a cliche status yet, but after looking at some of the creative takes below, it doesn’t look like there will be a shortage of fresh ideas anytime soon.

Many of these were scavenged from across the internet, so you can find their original homes by clicking on the image.

Music Themed Logos

Branding and identity with some melodic undertones. Was that even a pun? In any case, here’s a selection of 22 logos based around music:

Keep the Graphical Beat

Now that you’ve seen a sample of music related branding, do you have any favorites? Personally, I’m a big fan of the Flamingo-as-a-musical-note idea. How about you?

Also! If you know of a logo that fits into this musical theme, please share your findings (or creations) in the comments below. We’d love to see more.

This round of color palettes comes from the underground world of graffiti art. They may lower property value, but there’s plenty of design inspiration to make up for it!

Photos are all found via Flickr (follow image links for author info). Color schemes are available to download through COLOURlovers.

Palettes from Graffiti Walls

Wet Paint Ahead

Seen any painted walls on your city streets? We’d love to see you share it with our Colourlovers group for Build Internet! readers. Go ahead and inspire us!