The proliferation of online social media platforms such as Pinterest, Behance, or Dribbble dramatically changed the landscape of inspiration sources available for (digital) designers, affording online idea curation, portfolio creation, and self-promotion. However, very little is known about the potential effects that these online communities have on professional designers' inspiration-related practices and how designers view them.

We study professional designers’ evolving inspiration-seeking practices. In particular, we ask how sources of inspiration might affect design thinking, especially with regard to inspirational material for creativity, reflection, and problem-solving.