LooseSuits

Wolfgang Bartelme. His work is always so fresh and clean.

Mike Rundle... just look around kids...
I'm also digging everything Cameron Hunt does lately

I've always loved Bryan Veloso's work. Bartelme is very good as well.

Thanks Adam!!

I'll go with Wolfgang too, but as far as art/illustrating skills, I'll go with anybody on this list since they're all so immensely talented.

I've always liked Dan Cederholm's work. Elegantly understated.

there are lots of them and I can't check someone

I'm going to say the brothers at ZenDesign. They believe strongly in "less is more" and that is reflected well in their work.

Really appreciating all the work of the people at FreelanceSwitch right now and the Eden.cc community.

Right now I prefer Adam, the guy whose sandbox skins I us, only because he does not do the same thing everyone else does, tends to design like an architect. Having grown up with a father who is an architect and an engineer I lean toward the mathematically clean, yet outside of the box type stuff.

I'm inspired and influenced by many web designers, particularly people like Anand Sharma, Paul Boag, Roger Johansson, Cameron Moll, and Nick La.

I'd have to say Bryan Veloso, Veerle Pieters and Dave Shea.

I've always been partial to Jeffrey Zeldman. He was one of he keynote speakers at the first SXSW interactive festivals I went to. After hearing him speak, for the first time, I really felt like I had a legitimate vocation. I've followed his stuff every since.

back in the day i kept my eye on josh davis and the team @ kioken.

Happy Cog all the way! I think that Rob Weychert and Jason Santa Maria have influenced me the most for web design over the last year or so. I met them at SXSW and AEA and they're just great. Definitely try to hear them speak (and Zeldman, too). It's inspiration on a stick.

For non-web design, I'd say that my personal heroes are Paul Rand for branding, Dieter Rams & Jonathan Ives for industrial, and John Kricfalusi for motion. They make a strange bunch, but that's who I've been paying the most attention to for the past 365.

Apart from the well established designers out there (Zeldman, Clarke etc) some of the young up and coming designers are rapidly making their mark and are well on their way and some have even become established.
Keegan Jones is a good example and some of his stuff is pretty impressive.

Also I love the wild stuff that Rob Morris comes up with at Digital Mash

But for stunning graphical work, check out Jon Hicks and Jon Oxton's Rissington Podcast website. The way it scales is amazing! Also on the subject of scalability, check out the amazing design from ClearLeft with their amazing Silverback website.

Mike Rundle

hiya,

Well, Mr Hicks, Mr Rowe, and Mr Boag would be good starts.... I also like some of the work done by various small agencies who like to have fun...

^licks^

Jamie & Lion

Elliot Jay Stocks. A lot of people do clean, bulletproof code... but Stocks is the only one I've seen to combine form with the function. Beautiful stuff.

Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain's taste in effective design is enviable as well. His work on EllisLabs' ExpressionEngine.com should be required study for anyone doing corporate web design.

Veerle Pieters has beautiful, elegant designs that make sense, and are quite functional. And her blog is chock full of graphics, CSS, and coding tips. Her templates and artwork are quite lovely.

Jack Bower. His artistry with a gun influences web designers and programmers alike. Indeed, thanks to him I no longer make websites for money or fame; I make them to stop terrorism.

JK :D.

I am inpired by Elliot Jay Stocks' works right now~