Visual Arts

Finding information about graphic design (instead of commercial information from freelance graphic designers or graphic design companies) can be difficult.

When searching online, look for domain names that end in .org or .edu - anything with a .com domain name is a for-profit site of some sort. While these may still be useful (design blogs, for instance - we suggest a few below but there are many more), other domain names may be more relevant for the study of graphic design.

Remember that you also may wish to use the other sections of this guide for additional resources and inspiration.

Some Online Design Magazines and Blogs:

Design Professional Organizations & Associations:

The NECC Libraries have over 46,000 books and films. We also have a collection of 20,000 e-books which are in our library catalog. If you want to see what the other libraries in our network own, change the scope to All HELM or View Entire Collection. You can request books and movies using your NECC Library card and PIN number.

Remember, if you can't find any material on your topic, ask an NECC librarian for assistance.

Because design touches on many subjects in many ways, we might find articles about art in many different places. We might search for artists and art history in a general database, but advertising in a business database, and graphic arts in education in an education database.

Here's a short list of databases to begin your search, but for a more specific topic, ask a librarian which database might yield the most relevant results.