I was working on a design project last month and remembered seeing the perfect color palette on a website months earlier. I could picture it clearly. Rich terracotta with sage green accents and cream backgrounds. Beautiful. Perfect for what I needed.
I spent forty-five minutes trying to find it. Browser history search. Multiple bookmark folders. That Pinterest board I thought I’d saved it to. My “Design Inspiration” folder in Notion that turned out to have 200+ unsorted links.
Never found it. Ended up creating something from scratch that wasn’t quite right because I couldn’t recover the specific reference I knew existed somewhere in my digital chaos.
That’s the inspiration paradox. We find amazing things constantly. We save them dutifully. Then we can’t actually access them when creativity strikes because our collection systems are optimized for capture, not retrieval or inspiration.
I’ve spent years trying to solve this problem for myself. Testing tools, building systems, abandoning systems, starting over. Eventually building stashed.in because nothing else worked the way I needed it to.
This isn’t a comprehensive review of every tool that exists. It’s the actual toolkit I use daily to collect inspiration, organize it meaningfully, and actually use it when I’m creating. Some tools are well-known. Others are obscure. All of them solve specific problems in my creative workflow.
Your needs might be different. But if you’ve ever lost track of inspiration you knew you saved, this might help.
The Problem With How Most People Save Inspiration#
Before we talk about tools, let’s talk about why saving inspiration is so hard.
The first problem is volume. If you’re paying attention, you encounter dozens of inspiring things daily. Websites with interesting layouts. Articles with compelling ideas. Portfolios with aesthetics you love. Photos with perfect lighting. Without a good system, you’re drowning in references within weeks.
The second problem is context. That design you saved made sense when you found it because you were thinking about a specific project or aesthetic. Three months later, you have no idea why you saved it or how it relates to anything else you’re working on.
The third problem is organization. Most tools force you to organize things the moment you save them, which interrupts the flow of discovery. Or they let you dump everything into one place, which becomes unusable within days.
The fourth problem is retrieval. Even if you’ve organized everything perfectly, finding what you need when you need it requires remembering how you organized it. Folder names, tag systems, collection structures you created months ago and no longer remember.
Research on creative cognition shows that inspiration isn’t just about having references available. It’s about being able to make unexpected connections between ideas. That requires being able to see your references in different contexts and combinations.
Most tools fail at this. They’re built for storage and retrieval, not for creating the kind of flexible, associative environment where creative connections happen.
My Capture Layer: Getting Things Out of My Head Quickly#
The first challenge is capturing inspiration without breaking your flow. You’re browsing, you see something interesting, you need to save it and move on. Friction at this stage means you won’t save things consistently.
Raindrop.io: The Fast Capture Tool#
For quick link saving, I use Raindrop.io. The browser extension is fast, the mobile app is reliable, and the tagging system is flexible without being overwhelming.
I don’t organize heavily at this stage. Most things go into a single “Inbox” collection with maybe one or two tags. The goal is capturing without friction, not perfect organization.
Raindrop syncs across devices, has a clean interface, and doesn’t try to do too much. It’s a holding area for things I’ve found but haven’t processed yet.
Why it works: Sometimes you need to just save something and think about where it belongs later. Raindrop excels at this without feeling like a dumping ground.
Apple Notes: For Spontaneous Ideas#
For random thoughts, quick sketches, or inspiration that isn’t a link, I use Apple Notes. It’s fast, always available, and syncs automatically across my devices.
I have a dedicated note called “Idea Scratchpad” that’s just a running list of things I want to explore, remember, or come back to. Once a week, I process this list and move things to their proper homes.
Why it works: The best capture tool is the one you’ll actually use. For me, that’s whatever’s already on my phone or laptop without needing to open a specific app.
Screenshots and Photos: Visual Memory Triggers#
Sometimes the best way to capture inspiration is literally taking a photo of it. Store window displays, interesting packaging, typography in the wild, color combinations in nature.
I have a dedicated album on my phone called “Inspiration” where these go. It’s not organized beyond that, but scrolling through it when I need creative spark often surfaces unexpected ideas.
Why it works: Visual memory is powerful. Sometimes you don’t need the perfect reference. You just need something that jogs your memory about a feeling or aesthetic direction.
My Organization Layer: Making Sense of What I’ve Saved#
Capturing is one thing. Organization is where most systems fall apart. Here’s how I actually process and organize inspiration in ways I’ll use later.
Stashed.in: My Primary Organization Hub#
I built stashed.in because I needed a way to organize links that worked like my brain works: visually, thematically, and flexibly.
Instead of endless folders or tag hierarchies, I create stashes for specific projects or themes. Each stash has a visual header that immediately tells me what it’s about. “Website Redesign Ideas” with a header showing the kind of aesthetic I’m going for. “Color Palette Inspiration” with a vibrant, colorful header. “Typography References” with bold, striking text.
The visual component is critical. When I’m looking for design inspiration three months from now, I’m not trying to remember what I called things. I’m looking for visual cues that match what I need.
I move things from my Raindrop inbox into appropriate stashes weekly. This regular processing prevents the backlog from becoming overwhelming and forces me to think about why each saved item matters.
Some stashes are private (personal projects, early-stage ideas). Some are password-protected (client work, team collaboration). Some are public (curated collections I think others might find useful).
The flexibility matters because not all inspiration serves the same purpose. Project-specific references need different treatment than general aesthetic inspiration.
Why it works: Organization should support your thinking, not require you to think like a filing system. Visual, thematic organization matches how creative work actually happens.
Notion: For Deeper Project Context#
For active projects that need more than just reference collection, I use Notion. Each project gets a page with relevant context, goals, constraints, and a section linking to the appropriate stashed.in collection.
Notion is where written thinking happens. Stashed.in is where visual references live. They serve different purposes but link to each other.
I don’t try to make Notion handle visual inspiration. Its database views are powerful for project management but clunky for browsing visual references. Using the right tool for each purpose works better than forcing one tool to do everything.
Why it works: Accepting that no single tool is perfect for everything frees you to use multiple tools for what they’re actually good at.
Pinterest: For Broad Visual Discovery#
I have a complicated relationship with Pinterest. It’s excellent for discovering things you didn’t know you were looking for. It’s terrible for organizing things you actually need to use.
I use Pinterest for exploration and broad aesthetic discovery, but I don’t rely on it for organization. When I find something worth keeping, I move it to stashed.in where I can actually organize it properly.
Pinterest boards work well as mood boards or general vibe collections, but they’re too scattered for project-specific work.
Why it works: Using Pinterest for what it’s good at (discovery) while using other tools for what they’re good at (organization and retrieval).
My Processing Ritual: Turning Saved Items Into Usable Resources#
Having tools is one thing. Using them consistently is another. Here’s my actual routine for processing inspiration.
Weekly Review: Moving from Inbox to Organization#
Every Friday afternoon, I spend 30 minutes processing my Raindrop inbox and photo inspiration album. This isn’t deep work. It’s organizational maintenance.
I look at each saved item and ask: “Where does this actually belong?” If it’s project-specific, it goes into the relevant stash. If it’s general inspiration, it goes into thematic collections. If I can’t remember why I saved it or it no longer feels relevant, I delete it.
This regular processing prevents overwhelm. I never have more than a week’s worth of unorganized items, which feels manageable.
Why it works: Small, regular maintenance is easier than massive organizational overhauls. Thirty minutes weekly beats five hours quarterly.
Monthly Curation: Reviewing and Refining#
Once a month, I look through my existing stashes and ask harder questions. Is this collection still coherent? Have I saved so many things that it’s lost focus? Are there items that no longer fit?
Good curation requires removal as much as addition. Collections become more useful when you remove things that don’t quite belong.
I also look for patterns during this review. Do I have multiple stashes that are really about the same thing? Should they be merged? Do I have one stash that’s trying to be two different things? Should it be split?
This iterative refinement keeps my organizational structure aligned with how I’m actually using it.
Why it works: Organization isn’t a one-time task. It’s an ongoing process of refinement as your needs and understanding evolve.
My Retrieval Strategy: Finding Inspiration When I Need It#
The ultimate test of any inspiration system is whether you can actually find what you need when creativity strikes. Here’s how I make that work.
Visual Browsing Over Search#
When I need inspiration for a project, I rarely search. I browse visually through relevant stashes.
The visual headers on stashed.in make this work. I can scan through my collections and spot the relevant one without reading titles or trying to remember my organizational logic.
Once I’m in the right stash, browsing the collected items often surfaces unexpected connections. I’m not just finding the one thing I remembered. I’m seeing related references that create new ideas.
Why it works: Creative work benefits from adjacent discovery, not just targeted retrieval. Visual browsing supports this better than search.
Cross-Pollination: Looking in Unexpected Places#
Some of my best creative solutions come from looking at references collected for completely different projects.
I’ll be working on a website design and browse through my typography stash, finding an unexpected layout idea. Or I’ll need color inspiration and browse through my photography collection, spotting a palette I hadn’t considered.
This cross-pollination only works if your organizational system makes browsing enjoyable rather than tedious. If looking through your collections feels like work, you won’t do it.
Why it works: Creativity often comes from unexpected connections. Making your collections easy to browse encourages that kind of exploration.
Exporting and Sharing#
Sometimes you need to get inspiration out of your tools and into the world. Creating mood boards for clients, sharing references with collaborators, or just moving inspiration into your actual design tools.
I’ll create a stash specifically for a project, curate it carefully, and share it with password protection with my team or client. They can see exactly what references I’m drawing from without needing accounts or access to my entire system.
For personal projects, I often screenshot sections of stashes and bring them into Figma or wherever I’m actually working. The inspiration moves from collection to creation.
Why it works: Inspiration collections should support your actual creative work, not become an end in themselves. Easy export and sharing makes them practical tools, not just archives.
What I’ve Tried That Didn’t Work#
Let me save you some time by sharing what hasn’t worked for me, despite initial promise.
Evernote: Too clunky for visual inspiration. Better for text notes and documents. I tried using it for web clipping but the organization became unwieldy quickly.
Pocket: Great for “read later,” terrible for visual inspiration. Everything looks the same in list view. No good way to organize beyond tags and favorites.
Browser bookmarks: Fast to save, impossible to organize meaningfully. Folder hierarchies don’t support flexible, project-based organization. No visual context.
Bear: Beautiful note-taking app but not designed for visual references. Better for writing than for collecting images and links.
Milanote: Gorgeous interface, great for mood boards, but felt too freeform for systematic organization. Better for active project work than for building a reference library.
The lesson? There’s no perfect tool. There’s only tools that solve specific problems in your specific workflow. Most of my failures came from trying to force tools to do things they weren’t designed for.
Building Your Own System#
Your toolkit will be different from mine. Different types of work need different organizational approaches. Different brains organize information differently.
But here are principles that apply regardless of specific tools:
Separate capture from organization. Make saving things frictionless. Process them later when you have time to think about where they belong.
Use visual organization for visual inspiration. Text-based filing systems work poorly for images, designs, and aesthetic references. Visual context helps memory and retrieval.
Build flexible, not rigid, structure. Hierarchical folders force choices that might not make sense later. More flexible organizational models support the way creative work actually happens.
Review and refine regularly. Organization isn’t set-it-and-forget-it. Regular maintenance keeps your system aligned with your actual needs.
Make browsing enjoyable. If you dread looking through your collections, you won’t use them. Aesthetics and usability matter.
Accept imperfection. No system will be perfect. Some things will be hard to find. Some collections will be messy. That’s okay. An imperfect system you use beats a perfect system you abandon.
Why I Built Stashed.in#
Every tool I’ve described solves part of the problem. But I kept hitting the same issue: nothing quite worked for organizing visual references and links in ways that supported creative work.
Browser bookmarks are too limited. Notion is too text-focused. Pinterest is too scattered. Raindrop is great for capture but weak for visual organization.
I needed something that let me create visual collections with flexible organization. Something that worked across devices without requiring extensions or apps. Something I could keep private or share selectively depending on context.
So I built stashed.in. Not because I thought I could build the perfect tool, but because I needed something that didn’t exist.
It’s Pinterest for links rather than images. Visual boards (stashes) that can be private, password-protected, or public. Fast to add to, pleasant to browse through, and actually useful when I need inspiration.
I use it daily. Not just because I built it, but because it solves problems I actually had that other tools didn’t solve.
The Practice of Collecting Inspiration#
Tools matter, but practice matters more. The habit of noticing things worth saving. The discipline of processing what you’ve saved. The creativity of organizing in ways that support your work.
I’ve been collecting inspiration for years. My system has evolved constantly. Tools have changed. Organizational approaches have refined. But the practice has remained: notice, capture, organize, use.
That last part is critical. Use. Inspiration collections are worthless if they’re just archives you never look at. They need to be living resources you engage with regularly.
When I start a new project, I browse through relevant stashes before I start creating. When I’m stuck, I look at adjacent collections for unexpected connections. When I finish something, I add new discoveries to appropriate collections.
The collection feeds the creation. The creation identifies gaps in the collection. It’s a cycle, not a one-direction process.
Start Simple, Build From There#
Don’t try to build the perfect inspiration system all at once. Start with one project or theme. Create one collection. Add to it regularly. See if you actually use it.
If you do, build from there. Add another collection. Refine your process. Experiment with what works for you.
If you don’t use it, figure out why. Is it too much friction? Wrong organizational approach? Not visual enough? Too complicated?
Your inspiration system should support your creative work, not become another project that takes energy away from actual creativity.
Start with tools you already have. Test the practice before investing in new platforms or building complex systems. See what actually serves your work.
Then, when you know what you need, find or build tools that support that specific need.
My toolkit works for me. Yours will be different. That’s the point.
The goal isn’t the perfect system. It’s having inspiration available when you need it, organized in ways that support creative connections, and easy enough to maintain that you’ll actually keep using it.
Build that, and the specific tools matter less than the practice they enable.
