Every new year, either towards the end of the previous year or within the first weeks of the new one, I tend to find a few hours to comb through my RSS feeds and refine the list of blogs I read and participate in. This year was no different.
In the past I’ve had as many as 60 blogs centered on Web Design, Graphic Design, UX, UI, and the Web in general. However, keeping a high quality blog up and running for years on end is very difficult to do. Many of the blogs I’ve loved and followed in years past have faded away.
The list below though, is a result of more than a few years of curating and the inclusion of some new hopefuls. So bust out your preferred RSS reader and start subscribing!
40 Web Design Blogs to Follow in 2015
Note: The blogs below are not listed in anything resembling a ranking order. This order is literally the result of opening these websites up in the order they happened to be arranged in my feedly account.
1. Web Design Ledger
Web Design Ledger is “a blog for web designers written by web designers”. It was founded by Henry Jones and has been around several years, consistently serving up a useful stream of blog posts on web design. The categories they cover are: inspiration, freebies, tips, tools, resources, news, and tutorials.
2. Web Designer Depot
Web Designer Depot was founded in 2010 by Canadian-based web designer Walter Apai. Since then the blog has grown significantly to be one of the biggest blogs for web designers in the world. They cover a wide range of categories/topics surrounding web design, including: inspiration, CSS, HTML5, jQuery, Web Dev, Design Tutorials, news, and so much more.
3. Patrick McNeil
Patrick McNeil is a UX designer and Professor who writes and speaks on various design related topics. His blog is full of great insights and inspiration for web designers.
4. Designerfix
Designerfix is a blog dedicated to graphic and web design. Their primary topics are inspiration, tutorials, freebies, and resources. The main idea behind their blogging philosophy is: evolve art through the thoughtful exchange of technique and inspiration.
5. Creative Overflow
Creative Overflow is an online design magazine for anything creative. It was founded in 2009 by Jacques van Heerden and has been going strong ever since. It’s sole purpose is inspiring artists to better themselves through inspiration and creative resources.
6. Just Creative
Just Creative is the blog of Jacob Cass, a multi-purpose graphic designer with an impressive portfolio, career, and knowledge base. On this blog he covers a wide range of design related material, including (but not limited to): logo design, branding, web design, print design, typography, advertising, and more.
7. Web Design Tuts+
Web Design Tuts+ is part of the extremely popular Tuts+ catalogue of tutorial blogs. This particular blog covers HTML & CSS, Photoshop, Complete Websites, Workflow, Design Theory, Site Elements, and more. They’re a superb resource for some of the best web design tutorials on the web.
8. Vandelay Design
Vandelay Design is a blog by the design studio of the same name. They’re blog has been a massive presence in the web design blogsphere for many years and they cover a lot of useful topics for creatives of all stripes. Those topics include: Inspiration, WordPress, Web Design, Business, Web Dev, and more.
9. The Next Web (Design & Dev)
The Next Web is a massive blog that covers much more than design. However, they do have a Design & Dev channel that easily covers a higher volume than most of the other standalone web design blogs on this list. If you just can’t get enough design and dev related news then this is the blog for you.
10. Swiss-Miss
Swiss Miss is a blog by Tina Roth, “a swiss designer gone nyc”. It’s full of great inspiration, design business insights, and so much more. Highly recommend tapping into this woman’s mind of creativity, business savvy, and art-based community. You won’t regret it.
11. Speckyboy
Speckyboy Design Magazine began in 2007 as the personal freelance web design homepage for Paul Andrew, its founder and current Chief Editor. Over time though it transformed from a one-man-show into the design resource magazine it is today. The blog covers topics/categories ranging from Design & Dev, UX, Graphic Design, Mobile Design, Freelancing, WordPress, and more.
12. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is one of the largest and most influential resources and destinations for web designers on the web. It was founded in 2006 by Vitaly Friedman and Sven Lennartz and has since become a must follow blog for almost all online creatives. The team there covers coding, design, mobile, graphics, ux design, and wordpress. They also create a large number of books, ebooks, and workshops.
13. Six Revisions
Six Revisions is a repository of “useful information for web designers and developers” founded in February 2008 by Jacob Gube. Since 2008 Six Revisions has become a popular and long-lived blog/resource for tens of thousands of people the world over. They focus on covering web design/dev tips and tutorials.
14. Site Inspire
Site Inspire is not a typical blog in the sense that they don’t publish the types of articles the rest of the blogs on this list do. However, what they have done is taken one category covered by most of these blogs “web design inspiration” and created a beautiful directory of well designed websites that you can browse by category and keyword.
15. One Xtra Pixel
OXP or One Xtra Pixel is a Singapore based web design and development magazine. OXP was founded in 2009 by a team of web enthusiasts with the common goal of making the web a better place. They share useful tips, news, tutorials, tools, resources, inspiration, and more.
16. Noupe
Noupe is a German based web design and development magazine headed up by Michael Dobler (CEO) and Dieter Petereit (Editor-in-Chief). Their goal it is to deliver stylish, dynamic content about all things design. Their publication covers CSS, AJAX, JavaScript, Web Design, Graphics, Typography, Advertising, and more.
17. Little Big Details
Little Big Details is a design inspiration curation project by Floris Dekker and Andrew McCarthy. Taking their queue from Dieter Rams quote, “Good design is thorough down to the last detail.” They aim to showcase good design in the finer details of things big and small.
18. Line25
Line25 is a blog about web design, created by and maintained by Chris Spooner. It covers a wide range of topics in its articles section and also provides inspiration posts and tutorials. You may know Spooner’s other popular blog Spoon Graphics (below). The difference between the two, in his words, is that, “SpoonGraphics has developed a reputation for illustrator and general design topics, whereas Line25 focuses specifically on web design.” Both sites are actively updated with high quality content.
19. Jason Santa Maria
Jason is a graphic designer based out of Brooklyn, New York. He is the senior designer at Vox Media, author of On Web Typography, and a co-founder of A Book Apart; among other very nice sounding and impressive credentials. His blog is part experiment, part journal, part web design thought leadership, and part resource. It’s a cool place.
20. InstantShift
InstantShift is a design and inspiration blog for web designers and developers. It was launched in 2008 and has been a consistent source of good content ever since. It covers Web Design, WordPress, CSS, Tools, Tutorials, Fonts, Freebies, and more.
21. Hongkiat
Hongkiat launched in 2007 as an artful diversion for founder Honkiat Lim. Not long after though the site became a hit and he decided to take it more seriously. Now, Hongkiat.com is a major web design and dev magazine with a steady stream of high quality content from a massive list of writers and contributors. Topics/categories covered include: Photoshop, Icons, Design, WordPress, Tools, Inspiration, Graphics, and more.
22. From Up North
From Up North is an inspiration blog founded (in 2010) and maintained by Daniel Nelson. He focuses on sharing compelling work in Graphic Design, Advertising, Photography, Illustration, Web Design, Motion Graphics, Print & Packaging, and more.
23. Fresh Web Dev
Fresh Web Dev is, as the name would suggest, a blog about web design and development. They write about WordPress, Javascript, CSS, Design, HTML5, Web Dev, Resources, Freebies, and more.
24. FastCo Design
FastCo Design is part of the Fast Company family of blogs. They cover design related news, trends, interviews, and editorials. Their goal is to use design as a window into culture at large, with an accent on business and business perspectives.
25. DesignM.ag
DesignM.ag is a community-based website for web designers and developers. They have a blog that covers inspiration, freelance, tutorials, resources, and more. They also have a user-submitted new section, design gallery, and design job board.
26. Design Shack
Design Shack is a blog and member site dedicated to showcasing great design inspiration while also providing tools and resources for readers/members to achieve similar success.
27. Design Instruct
Design instruct was launched in 2010 by Jacob and Isaac Gube. You may recognize Jacob as the founder of Six Revisions. The goal of this blog however is to “keep creative minds informed, interested, and inspired.” Design Instruct covers Digital Art, Drawing & Illustration, Web Design, Graphic Design, Photography, and more.
28. Design Envy
Design Envy is a daily blog sponsored by AIGA and Adobe in which they invite designers from different disciplines to curate their content for each week. They cover a wide range of design, of which web design is but one part. The cross-disciplinary approach is a great for sparking new ideas and inspiration.
29. David Airey
David Airey is a successful graphic designer and brand identity specialist. His blog is a combination between design insights, professional journal, inspiration, and business experience.
30. Creative Bloq
Creative Bloq is a high volume blog for creatives that features content on web design, graphic design, 3d, digital art, and more. They have tutorials, news, op-eds, interviews, videos, and more. If you’re looking for a full immersion in high quality creative content then they’ve got loads of it.
31. Spoon Graphics
Spoon Graphics is the first major blog of Chris Spooner, who we mentioned earlier. This blog, while still for web designers and developers, actually has a tilt towards illustrator tutorials and other “design element” making tutorials/inspiration. Still highly valuable, popular, and well maintained though.
32. Awwwards
Aside from being a beautiful showcase for great design already, the Awwwards website also contains a solid blog about Design, Illustration, Media, News, Resources & Tools, and more.
33. Abduzeedo
Abduzeedo is a blog that began in 2006 by founder Fabio Sasso. Initially it was just a backup for his personal design work, but eventually grew into a world-wide source of inspiration, tutorials, and resources for designers everywhere.
34. 24 Ways
24 Ways is perhaps a bit unconventional for this list, but its included for quality and consistency. This is not a blog that is updated year round. Instead, it is updated only during the first 24 days of December each year. Each update is a high quality article about web design and/or development.
35. codrops
codrops is a web design and development blog featuring tutorials, articles, news, giveaways, freebies, design blueprints, and more.
36. UX Booth
The UX Booth is a collective of authors/designers dedicated to creating “a publication by and for the user experience community”. They create content for beginner=to-intermediate user experience and interactive designers. Together with their community they hope to make the web a better place.
37. A List Apart
A List Apart is an online magazine that “explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.” They’ve been around since 1997 and they have a reputation for really knowing their stuff. If you’re interested in reading some well crafted content by serious talent–this is the site for you.
38. Design Taxi
Design Taxi is a wide-ranging design blog. Their topics spread from tech/web related content to photography, apps, fashion, architecture, media, illustration, general creativity, and more.
39. Designmodo
Designmodo is a blog and design resource. They publish regular content on design, freebies, WordPress, coding, and more. They also create and sell a large number of beautiful and custom design and WordPress tools/resources.
40. The Betterment Blog by Digital Telepathy
The Betterment blog is a web design and UX/UI blog by the folks over at Digital Telepathy; the creators of hello bar and the popular flare social plugin. The goal of this blog is to promote one of their design/culture philosophies–betterment. The idea that large scale improvement happens over time with small iterations and improvements that accumulate along the way.
In Conclusion
Thanks for taking a peak at this list of web design blogs to follow in 2016! If you have any recommendations of your own, please take a second to share them with the whole community in the comments below.
Would love to here from you...