Drawar

So true, So true... here is my list of my daily reads:

1. 9rules
2. Smashing Magazine
3. Wired
4. Smiley Cat
5. Life Hacker
6. Particle Tree
7. Hackaday
8. Uncle Grandpa - hehe

I've got a lot of great portfolio sites and "inspiration" sites bookmarked, but as far as new designers on the scene with great blogs, pushing the boundaries of web design, I don't find much of that nowadays. Here's a list of some sites I've recently bookmarked but they may not be blogs:

1. DONE - Daily Design Workout
2. Newspond designer's great portfolio site
3. Bombia Design, great icon designers
4. Dave Gorum's portfolio
5. Faveup logo gallery, from our friends at Flashden and Freelance Switch

Dude, that 2nd link, (Injection portfolio) is simply mindblowing. I wish I had cash to hire him to revamp a site I run. He's probably mucho expensive.

Not to mention he's not for hire at the moment ;)

Aside from Smashing Mag, there aren't many sites that I visit on a normal basis that fill that void of being leaders in the industry. I feel that I haven't been inspired in a long time.

@Mike: Your stuff was more just design galleries, not really design leaders who push limits by example. Cool stuff however

@JPhill: That's what I was worried about.

Where are the leaders in the niche?

Is it necessary to have constant leaders in design? I can't say I've ever followed anyone with any dedication, not even Smashing Magazine, which I think is pretty cool.

Jeff Croft has always inspired me with his constant need to step outside the box.

However, nowadays most of my inspiration doesn't come from big designers so to speak, but rather creatives and innovative groups of people. The Vimeo guys (even just stuff like jake and amir), Jakob Lodwick (ex Vimeo guy), SkinnyCorp (Threadless guys), etc.

Is it necessary to have constant leaders in design?

No, but it's only natural for some to rise above the others.

I'm not sure, but I've always loved reading ideasonideas, which thinktanks design. Anybody else reading him?

Yep.

Thame never disappoints. He mostly writes about Philosophy but his designs and skills as a designer are on point (IMO).

It may sound corny, but I'm honestly inspired by the sheer amount of talent on the web these days. I think designers are making some modest gains in terms of innovation, and their peers are moving at a breakneck pace to catch up (and often do). My guess is that we'll see things on the web move at this pace for awhile (not that what's on the web right now is boring by anymeans), but there will be another explosion of cool, inspiring stuff in the not too distant future.

Here's something cool: a parallax scrolling effect.

Thanks Tyme!

My big five are people who consistently innovate in a bunch of different areas:

1. Snook - for doing everything well.
2. Shaun Inman - he has a very distinctive style and I love it.
3. Injection - whoever this genius is.
4. Bartelme - for some amazing icons.
5. Greg Storey - I love this portfolio

There are more I'm sure, but these came to my head first.

Here are some of the "old school" stuff:

- Design is Kinky;
- Half Project;
- Digital Thread;
- Kaliber10000;

P.S: What I mean by "old school" is anything that've lasted more than 5 years (Kaliber's been out there for 7!)