Looking for Inspiration
When designing a new site, and new version of an existing one, or just giving a face lift to a current design, it’s always good to have solid inspiration, or at least something that can put your mind in the right place when designing. While designing for myself (the new version to go right here) I try to know what I want, like a general idea, before I go inspiration hunting. The idea I have right now is either big, bold and stunning or simple, calm but still great to look at and read.
There are a few places you can go to start, CSS galleries being pretty popular. There are an extremely large amount of said websites out there, but I prefer CSS Remix because not only does the site itself look great, and the designer is great, but it gives you a little bit of insight on the site displayed. Whether it be a People’s Choice, Editors Choice, having Valid and Semantic Code, it all helps you single out the best ones. Right off the bat, here are some sites off of CSS Remix I find inspiring.
- 5ThirtyOne - I really like when someone can either do a dark, or monotone design really well. There’s a really subtle background image going on here, and I also like the lack of colour- another thing that’s hard to do well.
- Benito Castro - It may not be in English, but I really love the natural colours here. It’s hard to comment on how the design relates to the topic, but as far as colours and structure goes, this one seems to be a winner.
- Marler Blog - He may be a food poisoning lawyer, but he has a great blog design. Bill Marler’s blog is definitely a great inspiration.
- WorldSpan Group - Again with the natural tones, this one is more of a beige focus, but still manages to get a lot of colour in here. All the shapes and subtle JavaScript effects also add to the experience.
There is a mix of simplicity, and the combination of color and shape to make a site’s design look good. Now, moving away from the CSS galeries, another great source of inspiration is 9rules, and the members of the 9rules network. Just by simply browsing the design community, it’s easy to pick some standouts. Here are some of my favourite, and most inspiring 9rules sites:
After visiting all those sites, noticing the trends in colour, shape, structure, etc… and getting your own ideas, now you have to put it all into action. While designing, you’re going to be inspired most of the time, but what you need to avoid is the copy cat factor. Sure I could put out a Modern Life of Warpshire copy cat, but that would only hold everything back. People won’t visit you, people won’t read what you write, or subscribe, and it all snowballs, until your next redesign.
So use your inspiration carefully, and always respect those who inspire you. Maybe after all this you’ll have such a well designed site that people will be writing about how it inspires them 
Leave a comment
john
March 14th, 2007 at 4:56 AM
I read above article is very marveless information is design
field disgner is CSS galleries being pretty popular.Whether it be a People’s Choice, Editors Choice, having Valid and Semantic Code, it all helps you single out the best ones. Right off the bat, here are some sites off of CSS Remix I find inspiring.really like when someone can either do a dark, or monotone design really well. There’s a really subtle background image going on here, and I also like the lack of colour- another thing that’s hard to do well.inspiration
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