For those who don’t know, design patterns are “a general repeatable solution to a commonly occurring problem” (more on wikipedia). It’s always best to not re-invent the wheel and stick with convention when possible. Here are three bookmarks that I find myself visiting time and time again.
- Welie.com Patterns – An absolutely amazing compilation of design patterns. Everything is well documented and the rationale behind the design decisions are spot on.
- Yahoo Design Pattern Library – Not quite as many patterns as Welie.com but it does go into a lot of detail on the design patterns that are covered with animations and accessibility advice.
- Chris Messina’s Design Patterns – A large collection of screenshots that highlight how different solutions to common design problems. An excellent compliment to the two sites above.
I am not a naturally creative person so I need to ‘boost’ my creativity every now and then. Here’s a quick top 10 list of sites that I visit and things that I do to get my creative juices flowing.
- Flickr Leech – I take a look through the images, I then choose one of those images as the desktop for my day. Try and not stick with a particular style and type of image every day, vary it a bit.
- NotCot – I found this site from Jon Hicks’ post about new design blogs. A quick scroll through the pictures often fills me with ideas.
- Sleep – If you’re tired, then you will probably not be creative. Get yourself a good nights sleep or go for a nap.
- Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia – Look up words/subjects related to what you’re doing. If you have children then have a look through some of their books, you’d be surprised where ideas can come from. Karen pointed out a great site in the comments: RhymeZone.
- Prints & Patterns – I am fascinated by patterns, so simple yet they can give so many ideas. via Rachel Cunliffe.
- Experiment and learn – If you’re not prepared to experiment the you’re not being creative. Try not to always stick to the same formula. I know it’s an over-used clich