Top 5 Productive Procrastination Sites for Designers

I mainly try and fight against procrastination on this blog, but sometimes it’s just got to happen, and when it does happen it’s nice to be able to semi-count it as something productive. There are a few design based sites I usually turn to when I feel like my brain just doesn’t want to work anymore, and these are them:

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CLIENTS FROM HELL 

I know you shouldn’t start these kinds of lists with your favourite, but I’m just too excited to talk about Clients From Hell (apologies for the lack of suspense as we move on). Clients from Hell posts anonymously submitted stories of, well, clients from hell. They’re often hilarious and heart-breakingly frustrating in equal measure, and just like watching any thing on Netflix it’s so easy to convince yourself to read just one more, and one more, and one more, until you’ve been reading for four hours and you really should have made some dinner. The Clients from Hell website is also a really useful repository of podcasts and resources on freelancing and dealing with those difficult clients.

NOUN PROJECT 

The Noun Project is icon heaven. If you need an icon, or some icon inspiration, it’s 100% the first place to turn. Sometimes I like to spend some time scrolling through to find collections I really like, that cover a whole range of images I might need, to find new designers and also to see if anyone has come up with any interesting ways to represent the everyday. NB: If your company doesn’t have access to it and makes a lot of presentations recommend it – not only will it make your decks better and quicker to put together, you’ll also probably earn a brownie point or two.

UNSPLASH 

Of all of the free stock image sites, Unsplash is my favourite. The quality of their images is great, and they don’t have the awkward woman eating salad feel of many others, which means it’s a perfect site for whiling away the hours. I like to favourite and download as I go so I already have a store of stock images for when I need them on a project or a blog post.

BEHANCE

I feel like everybody already knows about Behance, the creative portfolio site, but this list wouldn’t be complete without it. I can spend hours scrolling through what other people are doing. As I go I like to keep a note of any particularly inspiring pieces I see and also of any trends that start to appear, that way I feel like it’s less of a mindless ‘let’s look at all of the pretty pictures’ exercise and more a kind of market research.

IT’S NICE THAT 

Okay, maybes I did save the best til last. Founded in 2007, and a favourite of mine since 2012, is a biannual magazine based on championing and furthering the creative arts in a really fun way. Thankfully their website is updated more than biannually, because I find myself on there far too frequently. They do great features on creative work across a whole range of industries which means it’s a really great place for inspiration. I’ve discovered a few of my favourite designers through their pages and their graduate scheme. They’ve also got some super useful editorials on a range of creativity based topics. If you can check out their physical magazine Printed Pages, it’s on my night stand right now and it’s ace. If you’re in London keep an eye out for their events as well, while I’ve yet to go to one, it’s on my to do list because they always look amazing.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

  • TYPEVERYTHING – as the name suggests everything typography related
  • DESIGN WEEK – design world news updates
  • DESIGN COUNCIL  – the big thinkers in the design world, interesting but a little bit heavier than the rest of the sites on this list.

 

Where do you like to scroll?

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15 Comments

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 20, 2016 / 5:50 pm

      Hope they find it useful!

  1. November 20, 2016 / 7:38 pm

    Um, PRODUCTIVE procrastination?!?! Sign me upppp! I hadn’t heard of any of these but I can definitely see Noun Project coming in handy as I’m forever having to find icons at work! Thanks for sharing such great links!!

    Sinéad ♥ fabuleuse, toujours ♥

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 20, 2016 / 10:59 pm

      The noun project has honestly saved me so much time! It’s such a great resource to have on hand and it’s so easy to search

  2. November 21, 2016 / 11:33 am

    Clients from Hell reminds me of FML, I love that site. I used to peruse it on my lunch breaks with my friends at school and people told the funniest stories. I would be creasing, highly recommend, great recs! Thanks for sharing x

    ALittleKiran | Bloglovin

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 21, 2016 / 12:54 pm

      Definitely going to check out FML – have to keep Clients from Hell for special occasions otherwise I run out of stories because I just get too into it!

  3. November 21, 2016 / 4:59 pm

    Never thought of being productive WHILE procrastinating! Love this combination and YES I am a huge fan of the noun project and used them a lot when I was doing UX/UI design.

    Rae | Love from Berlin

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 21, 2016 / 5:19 pm

      Guilt free procrastination really is the best (ps – your blog is gorgeous!)

  4. Lizzie
    November 21, 2016 / 5:55 pm

    I hadn’t actually heard of any of these, they all sounds fantastic, will definitely check them out!

    theButter.co.uk

  5. November 21, 2016 / 11:13 pm

    HI! I actually haven’t heard of any of these website and I really like the first one. I will save this post to read it better tomorrow at the coffee. wine time now:) (it’s late in europe)

    http://mihabalan.com

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 22, 2016 / 10:36 am

      Sounds like an ideal evening in – hope it’s a good companion to today’s coffee

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 22, 2016 / 10:36 am

      So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for sharing!

  6. November 23, 2016 / 11:09 am

    “the awkward woman eating salad feel” haha so true! What a great list Natalie! Thanks so much for sharing it, I knew only Behance!

    • natalieharney@yahoo.co.uk
      November 23, 2016 / 11:36 am

      She must have eaten so many leaves at this point!