For those not familiar, ffffound.com was a very low-key Japanese website for designers to post interesting/inspiring images. I found out about it regrettably late and before I knew it, they closed...
For those not familiar, ffffound.com was a very low-key Japanese website for designers to post interesting/inspiring images. I found out about it regrettably late and before I knew it, they closed down. I've been looking for a replacement ever since.
The thing about these kinds of sites is that there's plenty of them (designspiration.com, savee.it,...) but they quickly go into deviantart/dribble territory, where things get very art-school-homework, very commercial and flashy. What I liked about ffffound is that there was an unspoken rule that stuff posted should be weird in a can't-put-my-finger-on-it kinda way. Like you truly "found" the stuff while not looking for it, random beauty in unexpected corners of the internet. I think I found such a place.
Are.na is a more modern approach, they allow different kinds of content (organized in "channels"), it's a very React-y site and all that stuff. But it's minimal. It's ad-free with a paid option, which is rather nice. There's no properly free browse option but you can navigate into the examples page, click on a picture you like and see other channels it was linked in, follow if you like and discover new stuff quickly. There's something about that obscurity that keeps obvious "best of" stuff from bubbling up and drowning the rest too fast. Here's a totally random channel I just clicked into that's kinda representative of the more unpredictable stuff. But there's also very focused channels on architecture, graphic design, fashion or... anime computing.
I've only been looking around in it for a couple of weeks, but it looks promising!
What’s the benefit of something like this over, say, Pinterest, Pocket, Dribble, or dare I say, even Twitter? Is it the community? Can you export your information? As you pointed out, ffffound.com...
What’s the benefit of something like this over, say, Pinterest, Pocket, Dribble, or dare I say, even Twitter? Is it the community?
Can you export your information? As you pointed out, ffffound.com shut down, so the first thing I would be worried about with a service like this is, how screwed am I if I become an active user of are.na and they shut down as well?
It's not for "connecting with people", it's not for advertising yourself, it's pure, 100% inspiration. So really, it doesn't matter that it's a bit wonky and likely not forever, that's almost a...
It's not for "connecting with people", it's not for advertising yourself, it's pure, 100% inspiration. So really, it doesn't matter that it's a bit wonky and likely not forever, that's almost a feature. All that counts is how genuinely unpredictable-yet-good the result is.
It seems like it falls under the category of "social bookmarking" to me which is a very interesting space. Personally, I find it especially cool when designers/artists share interesting stuff....
It seems like it falls under the category of "social bookmarking" to me which is a very interesting space. Personally, I find it especially cool when designers/artists share interesting stuff. It’s the kind of thing that it seems really hard to make a profit off of—stuff like Pinterest and Twitter have found success by embracing consumerism, but that quickly devolves to uninteresting content and communities, so ultimately you just end up with people trying to sell each other junk.
For those not familiar, ffffound.com was a very low-key Japanese website for designers to post interesting/inspiring images. I found out about it regrettably late and before I knew it, they closed down. I've been looking for a replacement ever since.
The thing about these kinds of sites is that there's plenty of them (designspiration.com, savee.it,...) but they quickly go into deviantart/dribble territory, where things get very art-school-homework, very commercial and flashy. What I liked about ffffound is that there was an unspoken rule that stuff posted should be weird in a can't-put-my-finger-on-it kinda way. Like you truly "found" the stuff while not looking for it, random beauty in unexpected corners of the internet. I think I found such a place.
Are.na is a more modern approach, they allow different kinds of content (organized in "channels"), it's a very React-y site and all that stuff. But it's minimal. It's ad-free with a paid option, which is rather nice. There's no properly free browse option but you can navigate into the examples page, click on a picture you like and see other channels it was linked in, follow if you like and discover new stuff quickly. There's something about that obscurity that keeps obvious "best of" stuff from bubbling up and drowning the rest too fast. Here's a totally random channel I just clicked into that's kinda representative of the more unpredictable stuff. But there's also very focused channels on architecture, graphic design, fashion or... anime computing.
I've only been looking around in it for a couple of weeks, but it looks promising!
What’s the benefit of something like this over, say, Pinterest, Pocket, Dribble, or dare I say, even Twitter? Is it the community?
Can you export your information? As you pointed out, ffffound.com shut down, so the first thing I would be worried about with a service like this is, how screwed am I if I become an active user of are.na and they shut down as well?
It's not for "connecting with people", it's not for advertising yourself, it's pure, 100% inspiration. So really, it doesn't matter that it's a bit wonky and likely not forever, that's almost a feature. All that counts is how genuinely unpredictable-yet-good the result is.
It seems like it falls under the category of "social bookmarking" to me which is a very interesting space. Personally, I find it especially cool when designers/artists share interesting stuff. It’s the kind of thing that it seems really hard to make a profit off of—stuff like Pinterest and Twitter have found success by embracing consumerism, but that quickly devolves to uninteresting content and communities, so ultimately you just end up with people trying to sell each other junk.