One only needs to quickly scan social media to find a host of successful designers that use their Twitter, Instagram, Behance, Dribbble, and other social media accounts to show off their work, discuss their challenges and successes, and provide their followers with great tips for success. By displaying their creativity, ingenuity, and business knowledge, they also serve as a great resource for insight and inspiration when it’s otherwise hard to come by.
To help you start off the New Year on the right foot, we’ve created a list of the fourteen best designers to follow on social media. Each has a unique perspective to design, and each offers something different to their followers. Some post helpful information for building a business, while others offer free design resources. Some post their secrets for great design and website creation, while other post photos of their best work to serve as inspiration for others.
Twitter is full of designers that offer tips, tricks, and advice on a regular basis. Stay current on the latest news in the design world, find out information about the next design conference, or admire the work of a well-known designer as well. Twitter is also a great platform for interacting with successful designers as many of them will respond to calls for help or advice from their followers.
@jensimmons
Episode 97 – Archiving The Internet with Jason Scott @textfiles: http://t.co/kSyU9PzS2R. What are the challenges of archiving a digital era?
— The Web Ahead (@thewebahead) February 27, 2015
Jen Simmons is a web designer, coder, and the host of a radio show entitled “The Web Ahead,” which discusses future issues for the Internet. With 10,000 followers, she has a moderately large audience with whom she interacts. Industry-related topics are the norm, but also watch for nostalgic bits about how things used to be, as well as inspiring posts to get your creative juices flowing.
@aral
Spent the day coding and now getting reading to finish my talk for Big Science Saturday tomorrow:http://t.co/81XQlAJd8w
— Aral Balkan ? (@[email protected]) (@aral) February 27, 2015
Aral Balkan often posts information about web design conferences and workshops, and is committed to building an Internet that respects the privacy of its users. With over 30,000 followers, people listen to what he’s got to say about design and important developments that impact how we design for and use the Web.
@kauf
30 Amazing Examples of Loading Bar Designs http://t.co/BOSsvpT7ke
— Chris Kaufman (@kauf) February 26, 2015
Chris Kaufman is a designer that is passionate about the business side of things. His more than 200,000 followers enjoy daily bits of inspiration, from how to get motivated for a day of design work to how to harness the power of mobile advertising to grow your business. He also offers insights into great resources, including websites, magazines, and trade publications ripe with great information for designers.
@chrisspooner
Are "Super Gradients" the next big web design trend?http://t.co/4FosqiIiP6 pic.twitter.com/JAqEL91HWW
— Chris Spooner (@chrisspooner) February 24, 2015
The epitome of teacher of all things design, Chris Spooner’s Twitter feed is full of cool design stuff, tips and tricks for using Photoshop, and links to great freebies – most of which he created. He also curates an excellent blog with articles covering the latest design news and lots of free templates, brushes, textures, and other design related goodies. Become one of his more than 82,000 followers on Twitter to get in on the fun!
@bkmacdaddy
The Basics of Designing Web Page Layouts http://t.co/IbCSSXFz6F
— bkmacdaddy (Brian) (@bkmacdaddy) February 27, 2015
bkmacdaddy designs embody everything that’s fun about web design. From his unique Twitter handle to tweets about how to break up with clients, bkmacdaddy offers lighthearted insights into maintaining your creativity (and your sanity) with a good dose of humor. His 20,000 followers also get frequent updates on hot, new trends in design, coding, SEO, marketing, and other business related stuff.
Instagram isn’t just a bastion for selfies and teenybopper drama. Many digital creative professionals maintain robust collections of their work, sharing photos of their latest designs be they web, graphic or illustrative in nature. Many designers include links to their personal websites for further sources of inspiration. And, like Twitter, you can interact with your favorite designers by liking their work, leaving a comment, or directly messaging them.
Anthony Burrill
Anthony Burrill is a world-renown graphic artist, designer and printmaker whose work has been featured in museums across the globe. His Instagram feed, which has nearly 15,000 followers, displays photos that show off a minimalist aesthetic and varying use of colors, from bright and high-contrast to muted in tone. Anthony also has an affinity for typography, which is good for inspiration for your use of type in your next website design.
Riley Cran
Graphic designer Riley Cran’s Instagram highlights his passion for great packaging design. His photos show off some of the best examples of the use of color, layout, and typography to create a beautiful visual layout. Although he doesn’t specifically design websites, his keen eye for good design gets his nearly 9,000 followers thinking about the design and layout of their next project. See what inspiration you might find for your next project as well!
Tad Carpenter
Tad Carpenter is a designer and illustrator who also writes books and teaches about design. His nearly 10,000 followers experience his affinity for quirky design and bright colors, both of which are evident in his Instagram gallery. If you’re a fan of amazing typography, his feed is one to be sure not to miss.
Behance
Behance doesn’t have nearly the reach of Twitter or Instagram, but because it is a designer only community, you don’t have to scroll through the fluff to get down to the design-related material. The portfolio-based interface lends itself nicely to getting creative inspiration from some of the best designers in the biz. A lot of Behance users are not specifically web designers, but the abundance of examples of logo design, iconography, typography, UI, and colors are sure to boost your design creativity.
Michal Sycz
Creative Director and Owner of Noeeko, Warsaw, Poland-based designer Michal Sycz has nearly 80,000 followers and 1.1 million project views. Designers looking for inspiration for logos, identity and branding, graphics, and websites need to look no further.
Martin Oberhäuser
Focusing on information and interface design, Martin Oberhäuser’s Behance page is full of stunning examples of clean, simple, and beautiful designs. His portfolio includes many examples of graphic design for print and the web, site designs and redesigns, and calendars, reports, business cards and other design-related projects. With over 2,000,000 project views on just 117,000 followers, it’s clear people keep coming back for more.
Garth Sykes
Garth Sykes’ stunning design style, in which he merges the physical and digital worlds, is sure to impress any designer, especially those that are just beginning their career. His portfolio is composed of site designs and redesigns for companies all over the globe, including L’Oréal Paris, BBC, Sony Computer Entertainment, and EMI.
Dribbble
Dribbble is a fast growing social media network for designers and other digital creative professionals. There is a burgeoning community of web designers, but also many graphic designers, type designers, letterers, and illustrators worth checking out to find fresh, new ideas that can make your next project a stellar one.
Rob Nichols
Rob Nichols is a UK-based designer that has a healthy dose of graphic design pieces in his Dribbble portfolio. He also dabbles in illustration, typography, and iconography. His designs reflect interesting use of color and negative space.
Bill S. Kinney
A web designer with a particular affinity for clean UI, Bill S. Kinney’s Dribbble highlights the minimalist design aesthetic that is currently popular in the world of web design. His work also demonstrates the value of attention to detail and his love of good branding strategy.
Scott Hill
Scott Hill is a U.S.-based designer that has a knack for pairing gorgeous images with highly effective messages. His examples of graphic design and branding get thousands of likes and views as well. For insights into how to build a marketing scheme for your clients using beautiful and clean designs, give Scott’s Dribbble a view.
This list is just a small sampling of the tens of thousands of digital creative professionals worth following on social media. Who’s your favorite designer to follow? Let us know in the comments below! Also take a moment to sign up for our monthly newsletters so you can stay on top of the latest design trends and get access to free resources.
Photo Credits:
Twitter by Tiago Custódio via Flickr Creative Commons
