I'm Maëlle Ledu, a graphic designer intern at Médianes, and here are my tips and habits for finding graphic design inspiration.
Follow the news
Browse La Réclame articles
La Réclame is a French media outlet that focuses on creativity and innovation in communication. The articles cover a variety of topics: communication campaigns, visual identity, trends… They also send several newsletters per week that analyze trends in communication and marketing. As a result, I'm learning to analyze major communication campaigns, such as the one conducted by Welcome to the Jungle.
Read Graphéine's blog
Graphéine is a graphic design agency specializing in brand image creation. On their website, you can find a blog with several sections (Graphic Perspectives, Agency Journal, Logo News…) that cover current topics in graphic design, design, and art. The articles are packed with useful information that helps me better understand the use of certain graphic tools, such as pictograms, or to study certain trends.
Visit the Chaumont International Biennial of Graphic Design
The exhibition takes place every two years at Signe, in the city of Chaumont (Haute-Marne) and presents posters by French and international graphic designers for four months. The posters are selected in advance by a jury around a central theme, which varies depending on the edition. Various events around the Biennial are organized throughout the city. It's an opportunity to discover a rich selection, a variety of styles and graphic proposals. Viewing posters on a large scale is always refreshing!
Discover a site a day
AWWWARDS is an original platform that selects a website each day. It presents the site's strengths, the typefaces used, and the color palette. The selection is high quality and lets you discover sometimes unexpected sites. Personally, I was impressed by Maya Lynne Adar's website.
Subscribe to Punktional
Every Tuesday, this newsletter features an object to help you learn more about the world of design. It is clear, well-documented, and enriched with unexpected anecdotes. For example, in the newsletter Are Objects Too Talkative? Mathilde Maître (the newsletter's editor) tells us about her encounter with a design and graphic design studio and shows us the object they bring to embody their vision: a glass water bottle.
Find inspiration
Explore trends on Pinterest
It's probably the most well-known site: Pinterest lets you share and organize images. It's useful for pinning visuals and setting them aside for later. Searches are done using keywords and give you access to references organized by theme. I use it to study trends and find inspiration. For a specific project, I save references that resonate with me and are relevant to my subject.
My mood board for art direction research for the 2024 Imprimé Festival edition
Discover BP&O projects
The BP&O blog documents numerous graphic design projects (logos, brand identities, packaging) from a journalistic perspective. The articles detail the creations and the project's approach as thoroughly as possible, which can be very useful for understanding the ins and outs of the creative process and the choices made by designers. It's also a good way to discover new studios and talent, like Mucho.
Search for design concepts on Instagram
Many designers use Instagram to showcase their work, present their ideas and their choices. Here are a few accounts I follow:
@studio.ln.graphiste, @garagephicstudio and @labp_design help me better understand the issues behind a logo choice, graphic charter, visual identity…
@colours.cafe and @color.palette.studio guide me in my color choices.
Enhance your visual knowledge
See designers thinking at Index Grafik
Index Grafik is an online educational resource platform that offers quite varied content: you can find portraits, interviews and lectures from graphic designers, as well as music recommendations!
I particularly appreciate this site which helps me deepen my knowledge of the history of graphic design and art. I enjoy discovering the reasoning of graphic designers, artists, illustrators, architects… It helps me develop my sense of observation and analysis.
Analyze with Graphics and Interactivity
The Design and Interactivity blog offers numerous articles focused on independent design. It presents an alternative approach to design by highlighting politically engaged graphic design projects. What I appreciate most is the very personal approach adopted by the designer who runs this page. They discuss their projects and their vision of design, share experiences from creating their podcast, and explain how they developed a practice aligned with their values.
Watch the Graphic Tuesdays lectures
Les Mardis Graphiques is a series of conferences and roundtable discussions. The meetings are filmed and you can follow them freely. They cover visual identity and graphic design across different topics (eco-design, artificial intelligence…). A great way to hear graphic designers and studios reflect on their practice.
Read a book from B42 Éditions
Les Éditions B42 offers numerous works that examine graphic design practices. Their extensive catalogue is focused on publishing essays and major texts from the history of design and typography. A treasure trove! Among my favorites:
For a Critique of Graphic Design, by Catherine de Smet
This book brings together 18 essays and explores the relationships between graphic design and other fields (music, architecture, children's books…).
Modern Typography, a Critical History Essay, by Robin Kinross
A dense essay that analyzes the history of modern typography.
Graphic Exploration Notebook, by Sophie Cure and Aurélien Farina
The work offers a way to discover graphic design and typography while having fun. Many games and a toolbox (stickers, stencils, papers to cut out…) are provided. These playful experiences are based on numerous references from graphic design.
Analyze our everyday images
The Arte program The Underside of Images analyzes the images that surround us. It's truly pleasant to be able to pause on everyday images in order to learn more about them and decipher them.
This episode looks back at the illustration of the Lofi girl, a female character illustrating calming playlists conducive to concentration.
Listen to designers
Several programs and podcasts give voice to designers, which allows for a better understanding of their practices while discovering various backgrounds, debates and reflections. I'm thinking in particular of the podcast Dessin Dessein and The honest designer show as well as the program Héliocast.
Sharpen your eye for colors
Discover the history of colors with Michel Pastoureau
Colors are not neutral; they convey emotions and influence our environment and our perception.
Michel Pastoureau has written a series of books on colors (blue, green, red, yellow, but also black, white…) in order to analyze their symbolism and history. Fascinating essays to better understand your color choices.
Learn more about typography
Typographic choices are essential for creating a recognizable visual identity.
Dive into books
There are numerous works that can help you acquire the basics of good typographic practice, particularly regarding the observation, understanding and use of various typefaces. These references can also help you study the history of typography and expand your vocabulary to better understand the visual elements that promote the readability of a text. Here are a few examples I read during my graphic design training:
The Little Manual of Typographic Composition, by Muriel Paris
Observe, understand and use typography, by Damier Gautier and Florence Roller
The Detail in Typography: the Letter, Letter-Spacing, the Word, Spacing, the Line, Line-Spacing, the Column, by Jost Hochuli; translated from German by Victor Guégan with Pierre Malherbet
Search for foundries
Pousse ta fonte is a collaborative project that compiles numerous typographic resources. I use it to discover new foundries (companies that create typefaces): a substantial list is available and regularly updated thanks to internet users.
Train your eye with Typomanie
The blog Typomanie, edited by a graphic designer and typographer, offers theoretical content for all typography enthusiasts.
Browse editions
Go to a bookstore
Since I'm an adopted Rennes resident, I'll first share my local favorite: Lendroit éditions association is a space that combines publishing house, bookstore and art gallery. The ideal place to discover and browse many editions, journals, fanzines.
Cahier Central is a Parisian bookstore and distribution house dedicated to independent publishers. You'll find a selection of magazines, journals, books, fanzines and posters… Its catalog focuses on art, design, ecology and feminism and supports many artists and authors in creating their works.
Artazart also in Paris, is a bookstore and gallery dedicated to imagery. You'll find a rich collection of books on art, photography, graphic design as well as exhibitions and illustrations for sale. Right now, an artist-illustrator I really appreciate is being exhibited: Clara Debray.
Fotokino association, based in Marseille, organizes many events around visual arts: exhibitions, screenings, conferences, presentation of editions… I haven't been yet, but it's on my wish list !
Other libraries: Le Monte en l'air, Bonjour Jacob, the Palais de Tokyo library…
Look at layouts on abdz.do
Abdz is a blog where many articles about design are shared. It features a section dedicated to editorial design. Various formats are presented, from magazines to posters, including newspapers. Since it's not always easy to get hold of books or magazines, I especially appreciate being able to read articles with plenty of photographs that show how editorial projects are laid out.
Your turn to play!
Create harmonious palettes
Need to create your own palettes, or looking for new ideas? Many online tools can help you create palettes for free: Gradient Hunt, UIgradients and Coolors offer soft color gradients, while Access my mind and Coolors automatically generate palettes.
Better understand the software
It's possible to learn or build on your skills with many software programs (Figma, Illustrator, Indesign…) thanks to tutorials.
I use Instagram a lot to access this kind of content. The account @klackstudio and @sensture.design cover different Illustrator tools, @memorisely shows different uses of Figma…
There are still other ways to learn online: OpenClassrooms offers many courses on design and YouTube is full of videos on various software.
To go further
At Médianes, we wrote a first guide to understand typographic terminology, as well as a column to help you navigate through a vast ocean of font choices.
