Top 7 Graphic Design Forums

Being a part of a forum community is a great way to get help and inspiration for any creative soul. Actively participating in a design community is important because you can promote your work, share ideas, get helpful critiques, and expand your creative imagination. Speaking with other designers and becoming part of a social resource community will only help you grow as a graphic designer.

Forums that focus solely on graphic design and still have an active community are a surprisingly hard thing to find. For that reason I have compiled a list of the top 7 graphic design forums I could find on the Internet. The websites I list here still have active communities that are sharing work and helping each other become better designers. If you have any others to add, please link to them in a comment below.

The Top 7 Graphic Design Forums

1. Estetica

Estetica is probably the most active forum on the list. As of this moment there are 85 members and 1794 guests visiting the forums. This place is great for receiving help on any aspect of graphic design, from illustration to 3-D to logo design. The members are energetic and seem eager to answer any questions you may have. The off topic and entertainment section of the website are the most popular. If you’re looking to join a design community where you can share common interests with other graphic designers, this would be the place for you.

2. Graphic Design Forum

GDF has one of the largest graphic design communities around. The website has been alive and kicking for a number of years (the design of the site itself reflects its age) and has built up a member base of over 23,000. GDF is nearly as active as Estetica, but the community has a stronger focus on graphic design. The forum categories are more general than most of the other forums on this list, but the site offers advice and resources that stand above most others.

3. Design Forums

DF is a younger community that is growing at a rapid pace. The forum has sections for tutorials, search engine optimization, inspiration, competitions, marketing and more. DF has the best design itself among the websites on this list. DF gives off a cool vibe that will be attractive to the younger and hipper designers on the web. The community is very active for how small it is at the moment, but I think within a year or two this forum will grow in size and may become the top graphic design forum on the net.

4. HOWDesign

HOWDesign focuses mostly on showcasing work, giving and receiving constructive feedback, discussing business and marketing as related to web design, and freelance work. This is a great community to join if you want to get your name out there and start making a buck on your work. You can learn a lot about how to begin your graphic design career and how to successfully market your creations.

5. All Graphic Design

Holy crap would you look at all of those forums. There may be 50 or a 100 of them, I’m not going to count. AGD offers all of these forums so you can find exactly what you are looking for, down to the very specific. At first glance this may not seem like an active community because many of the forums have not been posted in days, weeks, or months. Don’t let that scare you away though, the general design section is very active. This is also one of the only communities that has a focus on printing advice and helping designers set up their files properly.

6. Your Design Forums

YDF is another new forum community that is growing at a steady pace. There is a core user group that is waiting to help you with design, business, motion graphics, and more. There are only about 2,000 members right now, but many of them are very active and have built up a decent amount of posts for such a small community.

7. Secondbrain

OK, so this one isn’t really a forum. I put Secondbrain here because I was having trouble finding more active forums to put on the list, but also because Secondbrain shares important qualities with the forum sites on this list. Secondbrain is sort of like a social network for users in the design community. You can upload and share your works so that others can comment on them. You can create posts (blog posts?) that others will respond to. You can join a network, build up a following of friends, share ideas/resources, talk with others about whatever you want, and more. Secondbrain is a graphic design community that just isn’t exactly a forum, but it shares the aspects of discussion and inspiration that make the design communities helpful and fun.