Branding

The top 15 branding, graphic design and web design blogs for inspiration in 2025

Design blogs provide creative inspiration, and more...

Most designers do not just wake up inspired each day; something they see or do gets their creative juices flowing. I often find inspiration in branding, graphic design and web design blogs.

These blogs are written by large companies and small; from giants in the design industry like Smashing Magazine and Creative Bloq to niche firms like TypeWolf. Some of these design blogs are general, while others are quite specific. 

If you don’t know where to look, here is Inkbot Design’s compilation of The 15 Best Graphic Design Blogs to Follow in 2025. The list includes several blogs I have followed for years, plus some new ones I am eager to try… if only there were more hours in the day!

Whether you work in a corporate setting, design firm, marketing agency, or freelance setting, graphic design and Web design blogs offer many benefits. These blogs can

  • provide creative inspiration;
  • help you to stay current on industry trends;
  • help you improve skills; and
  • provide valuable resources like tutorials, templates, and graphic & web design assets. 

"Remember, becoming a great designer isn't about knowing everything – it's about knowing where to find the answers."

Find a balance between finding inspiration and doing creative works

It is easy to subscribe to too many blogs, and to spend too much time reading, digesting and learning new things and/or getting way down the rabbit hole! The challenge is to achieve a balance between reading blogs and doing the work that you set out to do for in the first place. 

With this in mind, Inkbot Design provides a few guidelines to follow. Perhaps the most important is to limit yourself to reading only three blogs regularly. That sounds like too few, but you should focus on quality over quantity. Though these blogs are legit, remember to “fact check” what you read. If you see something that resonates, feel free to link to the blog post on your own blog, and give credit to the author. 

Read design blogs for new ideas, to keep up with industry trends, to find sources of design assets, and to up your creative and design skills. And remember to create something every day!
Posted by JBG in Best Practices, Branding, Design, Graphics, Guidelines, Logo Design, Typography, Web Design

Georgia Lawyers for the Arts 2024 Gala Invitation

Nonprofit organization Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA) provides pro bono legal assistance to visual and performing artists and to arts organizations. Each fall, GLA holds a month-long fundraiser where they turn their Atlanta office into an art gallery and invite donors to private gallery viewings. 

Last year, Jill B Gilbert created original artwork for the nonprofit’s 2023 Gala Invitation. GLA was so pleased with the graphic design work that they requested an encore performance—a new design for their 2024 Gala Invitation.

Gilbert chose a bright color palette and two contrasting typefaces for the Gala collateral—a bifold, two-sided invitation and a two-sided reply card.

French artist Henri Matisse’s colorful floral cutouts inspired the invitation’s design. 

Georgia Lawyers for the Arts 2024 Gala Invitation | Outside
Georgia Lawyers for the Arts 2024 Gala Reply Card
Georgia Lawyers for the Arts 2024 Gala Invitation | Inside
"I can't thank you enough for creating our Gala collateral for the second year in a row! I am so very grateful that you chose to donate your time and share your expertise with our organization! Rest assured that everything we do goes back to the arts community."
Posted by JBG in Art, Branding, Consulting, Design, Graphics, Illustration, Marketing

Jill B Gilbert reaches a milestone with pro bono projects impact

Volunteer work benefits a range of educational, environmental, professional development, and philanthropic non-profits in the U.S. and abroad

JIll B Gilbert has provided more than 800 hours of pro bono graphic and web design services for non-profit organizations

JIll B Gilbert recently reached a milestone: she has provided over 800 hours of volunteer work, saving non-profit organizations more than $USD 100,000. And she’s not slowing down—currently working on her next project!

Gilbert provided marketing communications, graphic design, and web design services on two dozen projects—many were multiple projects for the same client. The projects ranged from a highly-customized presentation for a sister organization to a U.S. National Park, to branding and logo design for childhood education and Head Start programs and a new high school, to custom presentations and brand guidelines for healthcare organizations.

Gilbert began working with volunteer matching organization Catchafire in 2021, during the height of the pandemic. Technology advances in the past 5 years made it possible to complete all of this volunteer work remotely—even for clients in the Houston area—with client meetings via Zoom or Google Meetings.  She provided project deliverables in electronic format, using Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Acrobat; Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple’s Keynote slide software.

Gilbert remarked, “I have enjoyed working on projects with these non-profits. I am open to paid commissions and plan to continue volunteering marketing, graphic design, and web design services to worthy non-profits so they can spend their budgets to further their missions.”

You can read more about several of the pro bono projects in our blog.

"Jill is extremely organized and creative. Her commitment to advancing causes is genuine and inspiring. Jill goes above and beyond! It was a pleasure working with her."
Rosa
Bridges to Science
"I highly recommend anyone to work with Jill. She has a wealth of knowledge, is very kind, responsive, and did a wonderful job on our visual brand guide."
Heather
Wisconsin Association of Free & Charitable Clinics
"Jill knows design! She understands principles of good design and has in-depth knowledge of professional tools to make your designs look great!"
Kerry
Many Hands
Posted by JBG in Branding, Consulting, Corporate Identity, Design, Education, Graphics, Guidelines, Illustration, Logo Design, Marketing, Standards, Typography, Web Design

Case study: social media ad campaign for children’s book “P is for Pterodactyl

P IS FOR PTERODACTYL is the perfect product for a social media ad campaign. The English language is difficult to learn because of the many exceptions to spelling, grammar and pronunciation rules. This silly, fun read-aloud book by Rapper Lushlife (Raj Haldar) and Chris Carpenter teaches kids the ins and outs of spelling and phonetics. Adults love it, too!

 

P is for Pterodactyl
P is for Pterodactyl | The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

Buyer demographics

Who would buy this book? P IS FOR PTERODACTYL is attractive to parents with young children, parents with school-age children learning to read, and to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. More females than males would buy the book. Relatives would buy this book as a gift.  Buyers are more likely to be college-educated, often with advanced degrees.

P is for Pterodactyl inner pages
P is for Pterodactyl | inner pages

Buyer persona

Digital marketing technology lets us target specific buyers, or personas. My marketing campaign targets a buyer called “90th Percentile Nana.” She is 55-65 years old, married or widowed, with two or more grandchildren. Her household income is in the 90th percentile of U.S. Households. She has an Amazon Prime account, a college degree, drives a luxury SUV, and has a designer Doodle dog. 90th Percentile Nana is in a book club and is tech-savvy, but prefers physical books to Kindle books. She is a foodie and an amateur chef who walks or exercises to stay fit.

Grandparents love P is for Pterodactyl

Buyer's goals and challenges

Buyer’s goals:

  • Entertain grandchildren
  • Visually appealing book
  • Durable book, can be read over and over
  • Teach grandchildren the alphabet
  • Teach grandchildren to read
  • A New York Times Bestseller and/or award-winning book.
Buyer’s challenges:
  • Tired of the standard bedtime books
  • Finding a unique and interesting book
  • Finding a funny book with educational value.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Goals and social media platform

The ad campaign goals are to create product awareness through advertising and generate sales leads. Facebook is a good fit for these goals, as it is the leading social platform with 2.7 billion monthly users; 54% Female, 46% Male. Facebook hits the sweet spot for 90th Percentile Nana’s demographics. Facebook has more users, and a greater percentage of users, in the target age and income groups than TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube.

Social media scheduling

A key element of a social media campaign is timing. SproutSocial shows the highest Facebook engagement times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Figure 1). The American Marketing Association recommends skipping Saturday posts.

 

I developed a two-week schedule for Facebook posts and News Feed Ads (ads that pop up on your Facebook feed) targeted at peak engagement times. Content and design strategies include:

  • Each Facebook Post will be a Sponsored News Feed with one or more images plus text.
  • Many of the posts will be educational and informative versus “hard sell.”
  • Each Facebook Ad will appear in the user’s News Feed and will use images or graphics and limited text.
  • Using images of the book itself will help to build product awareness.
  • The ads will offer 10% to 15% discounts or free shipping and will ask users to sign up for emails and/or texts. 
P is for Pterodactyl, sponsored Facebook post
P is for Pterodactyl, sponsored Facebook post

Metrics

Of the hundreds of social media metrics available, I selected a few to gauge the success of the P IS FOR PTERODACTYL advertising campaign:

  • engagement
  • impressions
  • mentions
  • tags
  • reposts
  • shares.

Marketing Collateral

Marketing pieces for the social media ad campaign use images optimized for Facebook. Collateral includes ads for desktop and mobile views, considering most people interact with social media accounts on smartphones—though 90th Percentile Nana might be more comfortable using a desktop or laptop computer. Marketing collateral also includes an original Acme Books logo for the ad campaign.

P is for Pterodactyl, mobile ads
P is for Pterodactyl, mobile ads
P is for Pterodactyl, mobile ad with signup form
P is for Pterodactyl, mobile ad with signup form
P is for Pterodactyl, desktop ads
P is for Pterodactyl, desktop ads
Acme Books logo by Jill B Gilbert
Acme Books logo by Jill B Gilbert

For further information on this digital marketing case study or to hire Jill B Gilbert for marketing communications advice or to design social media graphics, illustrations and ads for your company, please contact us.

Posted by JBG in Branding, Consulting, Corporate Identity, Design, Graphics, Illustration, Logo Design, Marketing

New energy drink packaging crushes the competition

My challenge was to design the packaging for a new energy drink and then create social media ads to post via Google Ads. The result is packaging for three flavors of Speed Whiz Energy Drink, a (fictional) energy drink that provides “All the Sugar & Twice the Caffeine” of normal energy drinks. The 500 ml aluminum can might account for the beverage’s high energy levels–most energy drinks come in smaller cans.

Three cans of Speed Whiz Energy Drink, with Mango Blast, Kiwi Slush, and Berry Crush flavors.
Speed Whiz Energy Drink packaging by Jill B Gilbert

The Google Ads focused on the tag line, “All the Sugar & Twice The Caffeine.” That should get someone’s attention!

Posted by JBG in Branding, Corporate Identity, Design, Logo Design, Marketing

17 Amazing Benefits of Using Lip Balm to Restore Dry, Cracked Lips Today

Marketing in the Digital Age

You’re probably wondering why I am interested in lip balm. Since I live in Houston, I need it when the humidity drops below 70% or if I have spicy food for lunch and wipe my lips too often. But seriously… my challenge was to create two marketing pieces for Cheetos Lip Balm. Cheetos introduced the lip balm in 2005—I am not making this up—and it was a marketing flop. Today, I think that  marketing such a product could be a success because of the prevalence of social media marketing channels. After all, pickle- and bacon-flavored lip balms are available, as well as dozens of other sweet, spicy, and savory flavors of lip balm.

 

You can see my Cheetos Lip Balm blog post below. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek in places (pun intended). Enjoy!

 

Posted by JBG in Art, Branding, Corporate Identity, Design, Graphics, Marketing, Typography