Zoom-in Online

This blog was contributed by Design Channel Assistant Lydia Slavutin

As a newcomer to the Design blogging community, I have been drawing inspiration from fellow design bloggers. In doing so, I noticed that almost every fellow design blogger offers a link for communicating my ideas, comments and/or questions. I asked some of these talented folks if they would be interested in participating in an interview for Zoom-In Online. Lo and behold, a slew of gracious responses came my way, starting with Chad Mueller from Inspiredology.

Lydia Slavutin: Why did you decide to start/become involved with Inspiredology?

Chad Mueller: I started Inspiredology Jan 2008... I had a bunch of screenshots, logos, business cards on my hard drive that I collected for inspiration. I started thinking to myself, how do I automate this process, where can I store these inspirations - where I can organize and make it more available. So I thought about the blog - and I just did it - that's the way to do it. Don't think too much about it, I said I was going to do it and within that day - I had designed the theme, and in the next few days I started putting the screenshots in the blog.

LS: How did it come to fruition?

CM: Getting a blog started is all about content, and getting lucky. I was lucky enough that the first few posts 120 Brilliant Logos, and Cool Business Cards - were a huge hit. Those two posts put Inspiredology on the market - I think that is the real reason why Inspiredology is where it is today.

LS: What are your thoughts on the growing popularity of the design blogging community?

CM: It's great - like everyone says content is king - if the community can keep coming up with quality content it's great. There is always going to be more quantity versus quality but is up to the user to filter that out.

LS: Do you think that blogging about design has changed design? If so, how?

CM: I don't think it has changed design - it's added new elements and new inspirations like everything. I don' think you can say blogging has really changed design that much.

LS: Do you use other design blogs as a resource for creative inspiration and endeavors?

CM: Of course, I love RSS - I use iGoogle with probably well over 10 tabs and 50-100 feeds in each tab - so I try to check out as many blogs as I can. Inspiration is everywhere, the great thing about the internet and RSS feed's is the convenience.

LS: What is your favorite part of your website?

CM: My favorite part of the website has to be the content, and how easy it is to find what you are looking for. If I am starting a new project - I will jump onto Inspiredology and find some screenshots for the project moodboard. After that I go to the web and find other inspiration.

Short, but oh so sweet. Thanks again to Chad Mueller from Inspiredology, for both this interview and his contributions to the design world!