“Where do you find inspiration?” This question is very common in the field of web design. It allows one to dive in to the more critical aspects of designing a site. In this post we will discuss the most effective ways of drawing inspiration that is not only good in terms of design but also in terms user experience.
When you work with clients either on a website design or whatever related project it might be, your main goal is to deliver a product that is visually interesting but at the same time that product needs to effectively market your client to their customer base. More often than not inspiration for new creative designs will stem from a conglomerate of ideas that you gather from websites all over the web. When you sit down and start a new project you can constantly create new ideas from blogs, portfolios or generic websites that you’ve found or stumbled across the web. Try to incorporate some of these really cool ideas into the product that you deliver to your client. By simply browsing on the right sites, you can build different ideas for inspiration and the possibilities are endless. It can be an idea with a logo, a layout or any page element that can stem out from any design that you have seen. It is also a good way to challenge your creative ideas upon seeing other people’s work to work those designed into the overall approach that you’re trying to give to your client. It can also challenge you to put that idea into practice whether it be on Photoshop, through CSS or whatever it might be.
When creating websites it is also good to work within the confines of an existing marketing strategy. For example, the client may have a colour scheme that they have been using for years or they may have a logo that they need to use and that’s something that you have to stick to. These will definitely present you with unique set of challenges as a web designer. But did you know that the best inspiration in this case really comes from asking the client? All you need is to ask relevant questions about their services or the background behind their company and the answers to these questions really tend to open up a bunch of creative doors for ideas.
Keep in mind a good design isn’t just about having a good layout and an eye-catching theme. It has to present a product or service that has a strong and polished user experience and in order to achieve this, you need to mesh different points of view. It has to be something that helps the user accomplish something more easily than they could before. It also has to be something that treats the user in a good way and it should also help organize the pieces of content for the user as the main purpose of the website is to make the user’s life easier. So if you have an inspiration that is able to deliver an excellent user experience to your readers and visitors then you certainly have struck gold in your web design.
It would depend on what type of product, service, or persona I’m trying to represent on the website. I would usually Google for good designs and vary from some of the images that I find there. I won’t completely copy an existing design; it will only serve as some sort of an inspiration of some sort.
= Gerald Martin, SEO Reseller =