Web and graphic designers are always looking for excellent sources of inspiration. Of course, web design and CSS galleries are common sources, but there are countless websites that provide inspiration from other types of design. In this post you’ll find categories such as product design, architecture, fashion, illustration, logo design, typography, motion graphics, and more.

With a list of this size I’m sure you’ll find some new sources of inspiration that you weren’t previously familiar with. Of course, no one can keep up with all of these choices, so find the ones that work best for you and keep the others bookmarked for the future.

Web Design Galleries:

Most readers of this blog are well aware of design and CSS galleries,so rather than listing 100 of them, I’ll point out a few of my favorites and some that I think are unique in one way or another.

Pattern Tap

An awesome source of inspiration that categorizes the featured sites by the type of inspiration, such as comment design, 404 pages, e-commerce websites, login forms, and much more. The categorization makes the site unique and immensely useful.



Best Web Gallery

Quality over quantity. Nick La’s Gallery is the highest quality, in my opinion. New sites are featured regularly, although there are not as many sites posted as compared to many other galleries.



CSS Mania

Quantity over quality. CSS Mania features several new sites each day, although some of the sites featured are not as high quality as others. It’s a great place to go if you want to find lots of sites to look at.



We Love WP

We Love WP is a showcase of websites and blogs powered by WordPress.



Design Snips

Showcasing snippets of great design, Design Snips is similar to Pattern Tap with it’s categorization. Some of the categories include banners, buttons, backgrounds, etc.



FWA

Inspiration from flash-based sites. A new site is posted each day.



Most Inspired

If you’re looking to save some time browsing various galleries, Most Inspired is an aggregator that showcases the sites featured in many different galleries.



Designflood

A web design gallery with a different feel.



Image/Photo Sharing and Bookmarking:

Sharing and bookmarking images is a great way to keep track of your favorite inspirational sources, and you can also browse through the items uploaded or bookmarked by other users.

FFFFOUND!

An invitation-only image bookmarking service. The images bookmarked by users are showcased for the inspiration of the rest of us.

We Heart It

FreshBump

Vi.sualize.us

Statigram

Design You Trust

Design Your Trust is not exactly like the other sites featured in this section, but it’s a site/blog where users can register and share images.



Flickr

Excellent Flickr groups for inspiration:

Graphic Design Showcases:

The sites listed in this category are all a little bit different from one another, but each one provides inspirational pieces of graphic design in various forms.

Muse

Dribbble

Coolshowcase

Mr CUP

AisleOne

Graphic design, typography, grid systems, minimalism and modernism.

Blood Sweat Vector

Featuring vector art from a variety of different designers.



Design in Europe

Portfolios:

There are a number of different websites where you can post your own design portfolio to be shared with other users. Of course, all of these portfolios also serve as excellent sources of design inspiration.

Behance Network

Carbonmade

deviantART

Coroflot

Design:Related

Dunked

Creative Hotlist

CG Society

Virb

Shown’d

Publications:

Galleries at SPD.org

The galleries at SPD.org showcase award winning designs.

PDF Mags

A huge collection of free PDF magazines.



LayerVault News

Advertising Inspiration:

Ads can often be an excellent source of inspiration. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much in this area, so if you know of other sites please share in the comments.

Ads of the World

Typography:

Typography is an important part of many different kinds of design. These sites showcase exceptional examples of typography that can inspire you in your own work.

Typography Served

From the Behance Network.

Typesites

A niche web design gallery that focuses on sites with outstanding typography.

Product Design:

Product design from around the world can be both inspirational and amusing. Product design can be one of the most creative fields of design.

The Dieline

One of the best sources of product design inspiration with frequent posts.

NOTCOT

From the NOTEMPIRE.



NOTCOT.org

Also from the NOTEMPIRE.

Liqurious

Design in drinks.

Design Sponge

Home and product design.



We Heart Stuff

The latest products and trends.

Off the Shelf

A small gallery of Japanese product design.

Motion Graphics:

Warning: You may find yourself spending a lot of time watching these.

Motion Graphics Served

From the Behance Network.

Motionspire

Logo Design:

Logo designers have a number of sites specifically dedicated to logo design inspiration.

LogoPond

Logo of the Day

Logo Faves

LogoSauce

Brand New

LogoLounge

Illustration:

Illustration is a favorite of many designers and artists. These five sites specialize in showcasing excellent works of illustration.

Illustration Served

IllustratorWorld

Illustration Web

LCS

Everyday Love

Multi-Purpose Galleries:

The sites listed in this category are galleries that showcase more than just one type of design.

Creattica

The Design Inspiration

Pinterest

Posters and Album Covers:

The music and movie industry provide plenty of design inspiration in terms of posters and album covers.

Gig Posters

The best site for finding gig posters from bands of all kinds.

Sleevage

A gallery of album covers.

Movie Post Addict

Movie posters of all kinds.

IMP Awards

Regular postings of movie posters.



Book Design:

Books design gets less attention than many other types of design, but can be equally inspirational.

The Book Design Review

A blog focusing on book design.

CoverBoom

“Judging books by their covers.”

Architecture and Interior/Home Design:

There are a number of sites that provide great inspiration from architecture and interior design. These are the best that I found, although I can’t claim to be very familiar with any of them.

CoolBoom

Desire to Inspire

Materialicious

Houzz

Freshome

Arch Daily

MoCo Loco

Design Happens

Elements of Style

From Europe

Fashion:

There are probably many other excellent websites for fashion design inspiration, it’s just not an area of design that I’m very familiar with.

Fashion Served

From the Behance Network.

Kineda

Fashion and a lot more.

NOTCOUTURE

From the NOTEMPIRE.

Industrial Design:

If you’re looking for design inspiration but tired of browsing through web design galleries, industrial design can be another excellent source.

Industrial Design Served

From the Behance Network.

Yanko Design

Tons and tons of inspiration in the archives of this Technorati Top 100 blog.

Art:

The sites listed in this section display different types of artwork and/or photography.

Click for Art

Click for Art is an art marketplace. You don’t have to buy anything to be inspired by the work that’s available here.



depthCORE

Different chapters are posted every few months that feature work from various artists.



Photography Served

From the Behance Network.



Gods of Art

Booooooom

Various:

These sites are difficult to categorize, in most cases because they provide inspiration that could fit into multiple categories.

Design Milk

Art, architecture, furniture, technology, and more.

Net Diver

Illustration, photography, industrial design, and more.

NewWebPick

Art, animation, illustration, advertising, architecture, and more.

FormFiftyFive

Photography, graphic art, illustration, print design, and more.

Black.White.Bliss

Black and white design of all kinds.

CubeMe

Architecture, art, fashion, and more.

Design is Kinky

Photography, graphic design, and more.

QBN

A wide variety of all things creative.

Fubiz

Photography, graphic design, technology, and more.

A Cup of Jo

Art, photography, and fashion.

Cool Hunting

Art, design, culture, and technology.

Toxel

Design and technology.

What are your favorite sources of design inspiration?

I know everyone has their own favorites, see feel free to list yours in the comments.