Blog:

26 August 2009

Saving Inspiration with Image Spark

By Mike Kus

I’ve been using this online tool for saving inspirational images for ages now. It’s called Image Spark and just thought I’d tell you about it in case it’s something you’ve never come across.

Notice: Mike will be speaking about “How to Break Web Design Conventions” at The Future of Web Design New York City on November 17th.

How Does it Work?

Image Spark was developed by Teehan+Lax and is like an online scrapbook. Once you’ve opened an account (it’s free) you can upload images to your library from the web or your computer. You can do this in a number of ways using either the Firefox Plugin, Mac App or browser-based uploader.

Image Spark allows you to tag your images, make them public and private. It’s great because it dispenses with the need to bookmark an endless amount of web pages and it’s very easy to use.

You can also create moodboards (each user can have two) for when you’re working on a project and you want to compile certain images as inspiration for that project.

You can also view other users library of images, so the site in itself is a massive source of inspiration. I often copy images from other users libraries to mine.

Go and check it out!

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This post was written by

Mike Kus

Mike is the lead designer at Carsonified, where he's been responsible for sites like Carsonified.com, Stack Overflow Devdays, Twiggy, Carsonified Events and The Mattinator. You can find him on Twitter at @mikekus and online at The things we make.

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24 Comments

• 

  Dominik Porada

  # August 26, 2009 - 12:48 pm

  I have LittleSnapper for such gathering of inspiration images. And I truly recommend it. :-)
  http://www.realmacsoftware.com/littlesnapper/

  Reply
• 

  Jordan Moore

  # August 26, 2009 - 12:58 pm

  Awesome, thanks for the inspiration Mike. See you guys in Belfast next Wednesday :)

  Reply
• 

  webtraffic211

  # August 26, 2009 - 1:12 pm

  thanx a lot for inspiring me.

  Reply
• 

  Inspiration Catalog Tools | Web Design Lunch

  # August 26, 2009 - 1:18 pm

  [...] been cranking out some good content as of late and today is no exception. The post is is titled Saving Inspiration with ImageSpark, but it brought up a broader topic I would like to discuss with you. What tools do you use to [...]

  Reply
• 

  Brit Mansell

  # August 26, 2009 - 1:45 pm

  Thanks for the recommendation. Your post inspired me to create a new post for our “Web Design Lungh” group about the other tools used to catalog inspiration. You can see it here: http://www.webdesignlunch.com/blog/inspiration-catalog-tools/

  Reply
• 

  Geoff Teehan

  # August 26, 2009 - 2:32 pm

  Thanks for the post Mike.

  The database has grown well since its launch earlier this year (120,000+ public images). The community feed is usually pretty good but be sure to try searching terms like “infographic” or “typography” for some great examples.

  Reply
• 

  Mike Kus

  # August 26, 2009 - 3:53 pm

  Hi Geoff,

  thanks for replying.

  I search on typography all the time – always tons of new stuff – it’s great!

  Reply
• 

  Geoff Teehan

  # August 26, 2009 - 4:01 pm

  We’re actually just beginning a round of updates to the server to speed things up. Additionally we’re considering a few new features. It would be great to get some input from your readers. We’re currently asking people via twitter (@imgspark) what they’d like.

• 

  qncenterlab2

  # August 26, 2009 - 4:22 pm

  thanks for sharing us,keep it up

  james:
  Quantum Nutrition

  Reply
• 

  Karel-Jan

  # August 26, 2009 - 5:01 pm

  Nice share. I was always looking for a tool to manage my inspiration material. Picasa didn’t do the thing, but this does. Thx!

  Reply
• 

  Louis W

  # August 26, 2009 - 7:16 pm

  I love Image Spark, great place for saving images. Get the firefox plug in for easier adding.

  They need to work on the navigation of images. Hardly any are shown per page and the pagination nav sucks. I am sure it will be improved.

  Reply
• 

  BebopDesigner

  # August 26, 2009 - 10:33 pm

  Wow, this is brilliant! I had no idea. Very handy, very cool. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

  Reply
• 

  Shikeb Ali

  # August 27, 2009 - 6:31 am

  Wow …. mike its amazing, I got a huge collection of selected images in my local drive, soon I’m going to share it with the world.

  thanks !!

  Reply
• 

  Unique Jewelry - Body Jewelry - Diamond Jewelry - Peacock Ring

  # August 28, 2009 - 11:05 pm

  good job

  Reply
• 

  Kenali Dan Kunjungi Objek Wisata Di Pandeglang

  # August 28, 2009 - 11:06 pm

  thanks to sharing

  Reply
• 

  Kenali Dan Kunjungi Objek Wisata Di Pandeglang

  # August 28, 2009 - 11:07 pm

  good info

  Reply
• 

  rogerdouglas

  # August 29, 2009 - 8:28 am

  waw,awesome i like it

  Reply
• 

  Arvii

  # August 31, 2009 - 11:20 am

  So damnnnnnnice. Thanks a lot.

  Reply
• 

  Wedding Cake

  # September 1, 2009 - 6:26 am

  yes it is really good for futher

  Reply
• 

  Kaplang

  # September 1, 2009 - 6:52 am

  thanks for this I am going to check it out now…oh and good look for the convention in November :)

  Reply
• 

  Lonnie Bradley

  # September 2, 2009 - 10:46 am

  Great work!!! Your post has inspired me a lot…Keep it up.

  Reply
• 

  David

  # September 5, 2009 - 5:56 pm

  I think this is a real good find.
  Thanks for letting us know about it.
  I know it will be very useful and
  I see a lot of things I can
  use this for.
  Thanks again.

  Reply
• 

  Martin

  # September 9, 2009 - 7:40 pm

  Sorry to disagree, but I’d rather prefer http://vi.sualize.us

  Imgspark interface is so overwhelming for me!

  Reply
• 

  moratmarit

  # September 17, 2009 - 11:30 pm

  Thanks for info..:)

  Reply