We’ve scoured the internet, looking for the biggest, most successful and most impactful publications that deal with UX, design and everything else needed to make digital products that are beautiful, usable, friendly and above all else - loved.
To fill your Twitter feed with the highest quality design content being written today, just follow these captains of industry.
OK, drumroll…
Let’s start at the top…(where most things start)… :)
Creative Bloq has something for every design professional, broken down into over 80 separate categories in tags. It’s the best place for any designer to start their day.
Having recently broken the million Twitter follow mark, Smashing Magazine is the screamed at, stadium-filling popstar of the design community. They tend to focus on deep dive articles on specific topics in both design and development. Great content when the inner design nerd needs feeding.
Now if only they did more power ballads.
The Interaction Design Foundation is a nonprofit organization on a mission to make design education accessible to people across the globe. They offer UX meet-ups in over 400 cities across the world and have discussion boards which feature conversations across the broad spectrum of UX—from portfolios and design tools, to User Research and Visual Design. They also offer professional-level courses and provide access to a unique and extensive library of free-to-access articles and textbooks.
This is a great place to gain insights from industry experts. The platform’s aim is to improve website usability by combining theory and academic research with practical and personal recommendations. Usability Geek publishes articles on a range of topics such as User Experience (UX), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Architecture (IA) and conversion.
If your passion for design takes you perilously close to actually writing html/css from time to time, Hongkiat might be the right mix of design, inspiration and funky javascript plugins and effects to satisfy your cravings.
FastCoDesign brings us inspiring stories about innovation and business from a design perspective.
Since 2010 the Web Designer Depot has published the very best in web design news, views, techniques, and resources. Posted daily, and delivered straight to your inbox each morning, they’re passionate about uncovering the new, driving debate, and celebrating great design.
Speckyboy was founded in the delightful Scottish town of Inverness, where their whiskey tastes nearly as good as Irish Whiskey, even though they cant actually spell it properly (“whisky”).
That mild grammatical stigmatism aside, Speckyboy features a weekly newsletter of some of the best curated content on the web. Speckyboy should be especially of interest to contractors with multiple clients and those using Wordpress/Drupal or other template hosting sites to build sites.
UX studio is a 40-person UX agency based in Budapest. They started their own blog 3 years ago. They publish original, weekly content, written by their UX Researchers and Designers, based on their experience and learnings from working with brands all over the globe.
Chris Spooner is the guy who was told “prove it” when he boasted that he could recreate any image on the planet in Photoshop.
This webzine is the result.
Continually reinventing the wow moment, his tutorials, videos, graphics and effects are worth visiting just to see how much more we all still have to learn as designers.
Claiming to be a shack doesn’t exactly scream out as my first choice source of design inspiration and creativity, but no matter what cardboard cutout beginnings the Design Shack initially crawled out of, they’ve since managed to bling out their site with a lovely pastel green flat design. It’s so sexy. Yes, so very sexy.
Like a few other on this list, Design Shack focuses mainly on design, with a sprinkling of business advice (“how to handle clients”) and web development.
Originally I had omitted uxdesign.cc from our list, but at the last minute, our traditionally pacifist lead designer Leandro Varanda threatened bloody murder if his fellow Brazilian’s site was not included. Great content here, and it also has a handy Portuguese version if you fancy that type of thing. Apparently 220 million people do.
A mix of code snippets and design philosophy / productivity type posts. For web. Designers. Firstly.
The self proclaimed ‘one stop resource for all things UX related’. It is edited by Nick Babich, who is a nice guy in a tie.
Gain news, tips and industry best practices on testing, conversion rate optimization, UX and design. The VWO blog comprises an array of resources including case studies, webinars and eBooks.
A List Apart began life as a mailing list in the late 1990s with their first website being launched in 1998 so they have reached the rip old age of 20. The blog explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices. If you have any interest in websites then drop by and have a read.
Noupe passionately delivers stylish and dynamic news for designers and web developers all around the world. We cover CSS, web design, graphics, typography, and much more! The aim of our articles is to help you create better designs and communicate effectively across the web.
In 2018, Noupe was acquired by JotForm, a leading online form creation software for designers and developers.
From up North is an online magazine that curates the creative web to deliver you the best and latest news from the creative industry. Sharing inspiration while showcasing amazing creatives across the globe.
Onextrapixel (OXP) is a leading online magazine and resource site for designers and web developers. The Singapore based portal aims to collect, explore, as well as share useful tips, news, tutorials, tools and resources, on design, development and other inspirational topics.
Web Design Ledger covers everything from web development to inspiration for web design and everything in between.
Started in 2006, CrazyLeaf Design provides fresh content for creative professionals like designers, coders and graphic artists. It covers design inspiration, articles, resources and online courses.
Founded in February 2008, Naldz Graphics has a heavy focus on freebies and inspiration style posts.
Describe themselves as “a design magazine for creative entrepreneurs, designers, and freelancers looking to expand their mind and improve their skills”. Works for me.
InstantShift is leading design and inspiration related community for web designers and developers daily resource, inspiration and premium web design and development.
Design Beep is a design blog dedicated to bloggers, web-developers and designers. It is especially good when it comes to resources for designers such as icons and patterns.
A great site with a hardcore focus on all aspects of UX from business and analytics to philosophy and design as well as teaching the skills necessary to become a great UX designer/researcher.
UXmatters provides insights and inspiration to experienced professionals working in every aspect of User Experience, as well as those who are just beginning their journey in the field. It also provides a platform for those practitioners who want to share their insights and experience with others from the UX community.
UX Magazine is a free community resource exploring all facets of experience design. They work closely with practitioners and industry leaders versed in all areas of UX to provide a steady stream of engaging and useful content.
Given its size Mashable literally has something for everyone, but the sections on design, UX and UI have a virtual forrest of articles that are worth reading (or at least being aware of).
Designzzz began by filling a desperate need for a web design blog that shares hands-on experience, free resources and expert advice. Today, Designzzz.com has primarily become a web design blog, a blog by a web designer, for a web designer.
Did I miss any? Get in touch with me on LinkedIn.
Also, do check out our complete series :)
