Happy Friday! It’s been a long, hard week, hasn’t it? We definitely need the weekend and some, well, inspiration and beautiful things. Design might not solve all the world’s problems, but it can help and sometimes that is the best we can do. So today, I’m just sharing some things I’ve found inspiring that might give you a needed break and some needed pretty things (because yes, sometimes we just need a break to remember there is beauty).

Check out this long post of July Design Inspiration from Smashing Magazine. These monthly posts are great for getting new ideas, especially for colors and styles that you might not have considered in your designs. I can see some translating beautifully for library design projects.

For more semi-library related design inspiration, click through to see the 2015 Book Cover Winners and 2015 Book Winners from the AIGA competition. I’m amazed at how gorgeous the covers are and how well-designed the books are. And, now, I want to go buy more books!

Do you like flags? Does your city have a flag? Is it well-designed? You’ll be asking yourself these questions as you watch Roman Mars’ TED Talk, “Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you’ve never noticed” and read Rebekah Barnett’s TED article, “Doing pennants: How to fix an ugly flag“. After, check out if your city has a flag and use the rules discussed by Mars as an exercise to redesign your flag. You never know, it might help if your library ever wants to create some new branding or even a library flag!

Finally, although sometimes the images get all the attention in design, we have to pay attention to our words, too. So if you are writing up copy, you might want to check out Words to Use instead of Very. If nothing else, there’s an adorable cat on the infographic. 🙂

I hope you have a relaxing and renewing weekend. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!