Fresh Inspiration for Web Designers: Podcasts and Videocasts

Published on Jul 18, 2012

For web designers and developers, fresh inspiration is crucial to grow in what we do and to stay on top of our game. Here at GoodBytes, over the past few months I've been stacking up so much good stuff to read, listen and watch but I simply don't find the time to catch up on all that. Chances are that you are in exactly the same situation as I am.

Let's do a little test to see if that's true: do you recognize any of this: you've been bookmarking articles that you'll probably never read, you have a text file sitting somewhere on your desktop with links to video's that you should watch one day, not to mention your RSS reader that now says that you have 1000+ unread articles.

If any of that sounds familiar to you, joy, we are now at least with two in the same club. Anyhow, I've been looking for some other form of inspiration lately, stepping away from all the blogs we've been reading over and over again. We've had some good times, me and all those lengthy blog posts, but lately I just didn't feel inspired by them anymore as I did say two years ago. I have the same feelings towards design galleries.

How many times have we all browsed through the same designs all over again, just like all other web designers are doing? Luckily for us web designers, there are many other sources of information out there that can inspire us. Here is what I found to be useful in the past few months and what inspired me not just to design websites, but also to run my business better, without having to click through hundreds of links, but just while sitting on the plane or while shopping for groceries.

Podcasts & Videocasts

This may sound geeky but in the past few weeks I've been using my oldskool iPod mini [mini is not for girls!] mostly to listen to podcasts instead of music. That's right, I run about two times every week in the park for something a bit less than an hour and that gives me enough time to just relax and listen to some interesting stuff the web design community has to say.

The guys from 37Signals have always inspired me [and millions of others I guess] and although their podcast is a lot about their own products, they manage to bring their content in such a way that I get inspired to run my own business just that bit better. Web design podcasts Get their podcasts on iTunes or directly from their website: http://37signals.com/podcast They talk about different things such as how to deal with bad criticism on your products, or how to price your web apps to your clients. Especially if you are running a small to medium business, their podcasts are full of great ideas on how you can run your business just that little different and hopefully better.

5by5TV

Although the following shows can be downloaded as podcasts through e.g. iTunes, 5by5TV actually groups a number of online video shows together that are all related to web design and web development. They have a show called The BIG Web Show that is mainly focused on web publishing, art direction, typography, web technology or anything web related if you like.

One of the weekly guests on the show is Jeffrey Zeldman, publisher of A List Apart. They even have a show called the EE Podcast focused on nothing but Expression Engine, our favorite CMS. Check out what other shows they are broadcasting for free right here. 5by5TVt Other podcasts and videocasts that are worth a mention here are the following: Boagworld : great show that sadly isn't recording new episodes at the moment. Think Vitamin Radio : sometimes a bit too much about their own Carsonified products, but worth checking out! There are probably many other video- or podcasts that I didn't mention here or that I don't even know about. If you have any good links to share, please share them in the comments.

A Small Extra: Music

People that know me, know that I'm an Ibiza [and travel] fanatic. I love the unmatched musical vibe that the island has to offer if you go to the right places. Since I came back from the island last week, I've been listening to Sonica Radio, one of the local FM radio channels that broadcasts live sets from the clubs at night and plays deep house or chillout tracks during the day Ibiza Sonica For those that want to listen to some Balearic tunes while working, check out the live stream. If you're not really into that kind of music, I hope you at least find the podcasts to be interesting ;). Enjoy the summer everyone.

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