Inspiration

When starting to design a website, where do you go for inspiration?

Inspiration can come from anywhere. When starting to create a website you should browse the web for designs and see what you like and don’t like. Looking at other designs can help you decide upon many elements of your design including:

Layout

As we mentioned in one of our previous blog posts, it is good to go outside the lines of your grid layout. However, it can be difficult to step outside of the grid when you are used to using this system in your design. We suggest taking a look at www.designshack.co.uk, here you can find many different types of designs and layouts to inspire you. One website that I stumbled upon was www.leidsfilmfestival.nl, it uses a simple 3 column system that we are used to seeing but steps outside the box by having different levels to each column and box.

Colour Schemes

When looking for a colour scheme to inspire you, I would first of all think of the subject for which you are creating your website. For example, if the subject were an expensive hotel, then I would use a rich colour like gold or navy in your design. Once you have decided on your colour you can think of looking at similar websites and see how they use colour and what colours they use. Have a play around the colours you have chosen and if you feel that they don’t work with your design, then they can always be changed.

Typography

When creating your website design, you must keep in mind that there are certain fonts that are safe to use on the web. The web safe fonts are:

All these fonts can be added to create style to your website and give to inspiration for the look you want for your web design. Have a go and try them out.

Background Design

There are many websites out there to inspire you to create a great design for the background of your website. Even a simple gradient, can help to bring a website to life. Search the Internet for tutorials; these can be great to help teach you new tips and tricks for creating your background and overall design.

Flash

Flash is a great tool that can be implemented into any web design to help create a different feel. Flash can be extremely hard to optimise so we are not suggesting that you create your entire website in Flash. However, creating a simple Flash rotation to go onto your web page can be great inspiration to the rest of your website design. Go and find some images and create a simple transition with some text to compliment. This can give a certain look to a website with the use of flash from elegant to fun.

Now go search the web for some inspiration to help you along with your website design. You might find that you are even inspired by something that isn’t on the web. It could be a billboard advert to a design that you have seen on a mug. If it inspires you then have a go and see where it takes you.