Web design tips: Helping you to stay inspired
Article by Anita Lyon
It’s sometimes difficult to stay inspired when you’re churning out custom web designs on a daily or weekly basis. Strict deadlines and a heavy workload can leave some web developers feeling “creatively drained” or uninspired.
The challenge for every designer is to consistently come up with great designs that are fresh and also consistent with the client’s brand and goals. So here are a few basic web design tips to get those creative juices flowing when it’s needed most. Step away from the computer:
This might seem like a pretty straightforward exercise but taking a twenty-minute breather away from the computer screen will help you stay refreshed. Often the best thing you can do once you’ve hit that creative wall is to simply take a short break from working on a web design. A short walk outside of your familiar office surroundings might give you a fresh perspective on any design challenge.
Back to basics
Often clients will provide you with an existing logo or brand to serve as the basis for the rest of your web design. Designing an inspiring website for an uninspiring corporate identity can be challenging. The best you can do is to look at the basics of the logo and existing brand. Start by looking at the basic shape and colours of the logo you’ve been given. Interesting colours and shapes can complement even the least inspiring logo.
Colour:
Your client’s logo might be as bland as a manila folder but creating a quick colour pallet around a given brand or logo will quickly lead you in the right direction. Online colour libraries are great for thinking out-of-the-box in terms of colour. Kuler is a free web-hosted colour application that enables you to create and edit various colour themes and combinations. You can also find colour inspiration by adding an adjective to the word “colour” in your search bar, e.g. retro colour. You’ll often find interesting results coming up in Google images.
Reference sites:
The web is saturated with great web designs. One way of keeping in step with the latest web design trends is by visiting Web design or CSS galleries. CSS galleries often showcase the latest portfolios and trends. Another great online source of inspiration is The Behance Network. This social media platform showcases the work and portfolios of various talented artists, illustrators, designers and photographers.
Bookmark:
An online bookmarking tool will come in handy when you’re browsing the web for inspiration. This way you can keep track of which sites you referenced for which projects or ideas. Delicious is large social bookmarking tool. You can also use the bookmarking tool in your Google browser.
Subscribe to a magazine:
Stay up to date with current industry trends and design innovations by subscribing to a design magazine. A monthly subscription forces you to read the latest design and industry news on a regular basis. The creative review offers great insights into the latest industry news and events.
Typeface:
Typeface is a preference and sometimes in web design things like legibility and the style of the website will determine the type that you use. You don’t have to limit your use of fonts to the selection of default fonts on your computer – rather take a look a how other web designers are using fonts in an interesting way. Take a look at some of the webfont sites and out there.
Coming up quality web designs on a regular basis requires some creative inspiration. The web is saturated with creative web portfolios and fresh design ideas. If however the Internet’s not doing the trick, you can always take a stroll outside and smell the flowers.
About the Author
Anita Lyon is a Professional freelance SEO Copywriter and writes on various topics. Staying inspired is tough but with the help of some web design tips from the leading Web Design Company In London, Lilo, this will not be a problem anymore.