Design resources

The following is a series of graphic design resources and links to design research sources for students and graphics professionals.

This is an ongoing project and more creative resources will be reviewed and added over time. For more targeted subject areas, please choose from the 'More Resources' menu on the right.

Students researching the area of interactive design or graphic design processes, may want to browse the list of design resources at the bottom of this page. We also have extensive articles on graphic design employment resources and design training and tutorials reviews.

Neville Brody

Neville Brody Profile


It's fair to say that the World of typography, over the last twenty years, would not be the same without the potent mixture of technology and creativity that emerged from the heady days of desktop publishing (DTP). Apple provided the hardware, Adobe and Aldus provided the software, and a whole swathe of graphic designers provided the creativity for a brave new world of digital typography, graphics and design.

One of the most famous names to emerge from this mixture, of design and technology, has been Neville Brody. Famous, in particular, for several unique typefaces, record cover designs and magazines such as The Face and Arena. In a tribute to his achievements, Apple computer has devoted three pages on it's web site to the designer, entitled 'Inventing a graphic language'. For more information about Neville Brody, Design : Talkboard recommends reading through our resource of famous graphic designers. We also suggest having a look in the design forums for discussions about Neville Brody.

Mandarin Design

Web & blog design studio


Occasionally you come across a web resource that really impresses. Mandarin Design is such a site. Without fuss and blowing it's own trumpet it impresses and teaches at the same time. To be fair, there's probably less here for hardened web coders and more for graphic designers who want to add a bit of spice to their sites, with the minimum of pain. If you design web sites and want inspiration via the clever use of HTML and css styles, then pay them a visit. At the very least, it will inspire.

Photographic Libraries

Photographic Libraries

Most graphic designers and art directors will know about Getty Images. And there's no doubt that the resources of the largest image library in the World are vast. But sometimes you want something just a little bit special. Something that the big fish just won't have. And that's when it is neccesary to look for a more specialised image resource. That's where the Photographic Libraries directory comes in. A vast listing of image and photographic resources ranging from photography, to film, to fine art, fashion, maps and many others. Photographic Libraries also have an extensive search facility

Who owns your designs?

Intellectual property advice

If you're a graphic designer, you're probably used to giving away the rights to your work for free, whilst those working with you - photographers, illustrators, advertising agencies gain income from licensing their work. Why is this? And what can you do to negotiate contracts in a way that's advantageous for your business? How should the industry change?

If you are London-based (or planning to do business in the UK), then you may find the free services of a new organisation very helpful. Own-it is a new service which offers intellectual property advice for London's creative people. The web site based advice is free, as is an initial consultation with a lawyer.

Remember the desktop publishing revolution?

Desktop Publishing

People don't use the term DTP in the same context anymore. But this is one of the original creative portals. A vast, if dated, graphic design resource website. There are links here for every conceivable design related area. From Photoshop tutorial sites, to art galleries, to stuff you never imagined.

Huge online font library

Online fonts resource

MyFonts.com provides the largest collection of fonts ever assembled for on-line delivery. Well that's what the website says anyway. That's obviously debatable, but it's true to say that they do have a lot of fonts to view - over 30,000 - with links to dozens of font foundries. A wholly owned subsidiary of Bitstream Inc., the site certainly has an impressive selection of typefaces.

One interesting feature is the WhatTheFont tool. This lets you upload scanned images of fonts to the Web site and then will try and display the closest match to your font sample. Hours of fun uploading pictures of inanimate objects to see what they come up with. Well it kept us amused, but then we probably need to get out more.

	Web designtalkboard.com

The following links and graphic design resources are in no particular order. They are on our list to be reviewed and listed (or discarded if it proves to be out of date, or inappropriate). As ever, we neither endorse nor recommend any of these, other than to promote them as sites that were either useful to us, or to others, for graphic design research purposes.

PBS Digital Television News Archive. Digital TV information. http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvtech (22/10/2000). And also PBS Digital Television News Archive. History of TV.

http://www.pbs.org/opb/crashcourse/tv_grows_up/mechanicaltv.html (22/10/2000)

Wilson, Professor Stephen. The Aesthetics and Practice of Designing Interactive Computer Events. http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/papers/interactive2.html (23/12/2000).

Cloninger, Curt. Usability Experts are from Mars, Graphic Designers are from Venus. http://www.alistapart.com/stories/marsvenus/ (8/1/2001).

Gentnera, Dona and Nielsen, Jakob . The Anti-Mac Interface www.useit.com (23/6/00).

Humanoid Animation Group. http://sunee.uwaterloo.ca/~h-anim (5/1/01).

Links for developers, producers, and other interested in virtual worlds. http://www.maddog.com (site appears to be down at present) (5/1/01).