Where to Begin: Some Quick Resources

If you are unfamiliar with RSS feeds be sure to check out whatisrss.com to learn all about them. Then grab a feed reader and start subscribing :) Specky Boy has a good post that offers his opinion of the Top 10 Web Based RSS Readers for you to use.

Overview

My RSS feed reader is stocked with 100′s of feeds from the design community. The articles that fill my reader, inspire me, teach me, and keep me up to date with the latest in the design community. It has become instrumental to helping me grow and keep up to date with this quickly changing field.

Introduction

Freelance graphic designer Tim Smith was kind enough to put together this list of 5 reasons why you will benefit from subscribing to design blogs.

Unfortunately, some people have stayed away from subscribing to design blogs. They fail to see their importance and how they will benefit from them. This post will offer you five reasons why you should subscribe start subscribing.

1. Useful Information on the Industry

Many design blogs offer articles and updates on software, conferences, tutorials, how-to’s, and the list goes on. For the start up designer and the experienced one, this increases your knowledge of the ever growing design industry.

2. Connect With Other Creatives

I subscribe to many blogs and most of my contacts I have are designers that either comment on blogs or write for them. You can link to their site, view their portfolio and find inspiration. This brings us to number three.

3. Get Inspired

Many design blogs will showcase work from a designer and others will list their favorite inspiration websites. This is extremely helpful because we all need some inspiration and ideas from time to time. It’s impossible to be creative all the time.

4. Freebies!!

Most design blogs will give away free stuff. You’re probably asking yourself. Really? Free? Yup, Free! Some will give away vectors, wordpress themes, website templates, icon sets and a lots of other cool stuff. Some blogs will even let you submit your own freebies. This will give you exposure.

5. Exposure

If you ever decide to submit either your work or an article, this will now showcase you to the blog’s substantial readership. The article will always link back to your site, which will increase your traffic and hopefully your clients.

Final Thoughts

I hope you have found this post useful and that you’ll consider subscribing to this blog and many others. Grant over at Colorburned provides an awesome list of “127 RSS Feeds That All Designers Should Subscribe To”. It’s a great resource that will definitely get you started. The bottom line is that there will always be something that we don’t know and that we can find useful.