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Welcome to the latest edition of the Top 10 Websites for Designers. Every month, the HOW editorial staff curates a list of inspiring websites and apps of particular interest to both designers and creatives. This month’s list includes a new online critique platform for both designers and artists, a fun new color picker for the real world, a tool to help you get better at “designing out loud,” a collaborative design project, a designer’s passion project created to effect real-world change and much more.
Top 10 Websites for Designers: December 2017
1. Critiquer
www.critiquer.com
When designer and entrepreneur Michael Papa was working on his design degree at SCAD, he often found himself seeking critiques outside the classroom—resulting in his hearing mostly “looks good” from family and friends outside the design industry. So he created Critiquer, an online platform where both designers and artists of all kinds can trade critiques of each other’s work, gain knowledge and get better at their respective crafts.
2. Swatches
https://swatchesapp.io/
Independent iOS developer and designer Andrew Campoli recently launched Swatches, a fun and accurate color picker for the real world. Using your iPhone camera, Swatches enables you to accurately capture the colors that you happen across in your daily life. You can then get information about the color—like the nearest paint, Pantone, RGB and Hex values—and share your swatches and palettes with friends and clients. Click here to check it out in iTunes!
3. Designercize
https://designercize.com/
This newly launched app was designed to help you get better at “designing out loud”—you know, like when you’re working your magic on a whiteboard in from of a room full of people.
4. Phoenix the Creative Studio
https://phoenix.cool/
Montreal-based Phoenix the Creative Studio—winners of many a HOW design award—recently redesigned their website, and we love it. Fun cursor action and interactive easter eggs help showcase their work in a creative way.
5. Drip
https://d.rip/
Drip is a new tool for creators, brought to you by Kickstarter and intended to help you fund your creative practice through ongoing support from the people who love your work. It’s currently invite-only for new creators, but you can sign up for their newsletter and get notified as soon as they open to everyone.
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6. Duroc
https://www.duroc.ma/en/
Beautiful integration of video, music, interactive elements and messaging in Duroc’s site.
7. Beacon, a Disaster Relief Project
https://www.beaconrelief.com/
Beacon is a collaborative design project to raise money for disaster relief efforts around the world. All proceeds from print purchases and gallery donations go to Direct Relief.
8. One Shared House 2030
http://onesharedhouse2030.com/
This playful research project by by Anton & Irene + SPACE10 aims to get insights on the future of co-living through a collaborative survey. The project is a sequel to the interactive documentary One Shared House.
9. Access Mars
https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
A WebVR experiment that allows you to explore the discoveries of NASA’s Curiosity rover in a whole new way.
10. The Loneliness Project
http://thelonelinessproject.org/
Check out Toronto-based graphic designer Marissa Korda’s passion project, an interactive web archive that presents stories of loneliness from people of all ages and walks of life. She used illustration, animation and sound to craft a fully immersive and interactive experience that encourages visitors to get lost in the stories, closing the gap between their lives and those of the storytellers.
