Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

The subtle use of textures in web design has been very well documented and showcased, so today we are bringing you a collection of web designs that use texture as a major part and effect of the design. Here the designers have used texture to style the design, creating various effects, including vintage, organic and modern/trendy. These examples show how effective it is to base web design around a texture.

Retro and vintage has been a trend in web design for some time now, and shows no signs of going out of fashion. It therefore follows, that this style is also trending in logo design. There is a lot of skill involved in designing logos, the designer is expected to create a ‘feel’ in a very small piece of art and/or text, and to convey the message the company wants to put across to their existing and potential customers.

In this round-up we have selected 60 retro and vintage logos that have been beautifully designed, some of which have been designed for companies, others have been created for practise or for portfolios.

Organic website design is a style of design that uses natural textures such as wood and paper, as well as scenic or floral imagery. There are many, many sites that could be considered organic in their design, and in this collection we have selected 30 of the best we could find that are beautifully presented and use organic elements to their very best effect.

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ according to Frederick R. Barnard, and it seems web designers have eventually taken this quote on board with fullscreen background images seriously trending in web design right now. This collection of more than 40 websites that use fullscreen background images comprises some static images and some sites that incorporate another current trend: a fullscreen slideshow.

There is no doubt that these sites are user-friendly in terms of visual appeal, but using this style of design gives the designer the problem of how to incorporate navigation. Why not visit the sites listed here and see how the designers have worked the navigation into the fullscreen background.

Vertical scrolling is predicted to be one of the trends of 2013, and it makes a lot of sense. Actually, many of the predictions for new trends lean towards mobile device browsing, and given the rise in the use of mobiles, it is no surprise! Vertical scrolling is the art of putting all the site’s content on one long landing page, and the user simply has to scroll down through the site. The clear advantage of this style of design is reduced time waiting for the next page to load, especially for mobile users.

In this collection of vertical scrolling sites, the only links that take you away from the page are those to blogs or other sites, otherwise the entire website content is on one page and clicking the navigation links will take you up or down the page.

Many designers will say that your typography choices are what make the design. Well that is certainly the case with this collection of 40 web designs with big type.

Surprisingly though, choosing to put an emphasis on large type when creating a website can still allow for versatility. As you can see in the screen shots below (and at the sites themselves if you choose to click through and view the pages live) these designs still manage to vary between minimal, busy, elegant, and bold. In fact, what I found most interesting as I put this post together was how each company or individual was able to make the same basic design choice and yet say something unique about their brand.

I don’t know about you, but now that it’s officially the holiday season that means one thing for sure: I’m going to be around a LOT of people almost ALL the time. In the midst of endless dinners, parties, get-togethers, gift exchanges, etc.

I am asked each year – without exception – for my business card. And yet, I am embarrassed to say that until recently, I haven’t even had one! I know, that’s bad, because business cards are important. In fact, it’s even worse for me because I’m always harping on my creative friends to get a website up when something as simple as a nice business card can make an equally good impression on a prospective client. It’s sort of a no brainer.

Branding design is a tough area in the field of digital graphics. It can take years of practice to build a solid branding for your company. Yet with enough time anybody can pick up these techniques and apply them to project work.

I have put together this collection of 31 inspiring logo ideas. This is a wonderful collection for designers who aspire towards simple minimalist branding concepts. More elegant & flashy logos tend to cause more of a distraction than anything else. But if you can find the proper balance of coordination and simplicity it is easy to create memorable brands which last lifetime and beyond.

Many e-commerce websites are not well designed and presented, so it is a real pleasure to find those ones that are. It is a juggling act for the designer to create a great user experience, whilst projecting the style of the company’s products at a glance. The plethora of slider and carousel plug-ins that are currently available go a long way to helping with this dilemma, but a beautifully presented e-commerce website still remains a relative rarity compared to the amount of poorly designed sites.

Freelancers are generally interested in their field by first reading about it online, or hearing about the experience from a peer. Once you start landing projects you begin to realize how lucrative the freelancing track can be. However building up a portfolio is one task which requires a bit of background study. You’ll need to good work to showcase, along with looking over some example websites for layout structure.

I have put together this huge collection of 40 stunning freelance portfolio layout designs. You can go through our gallery below and figure out which interfaces look right. What kind of portfolio design would work best for you? What would make you confident in your work to share your link around with potential clients? By asking yourself these questions now you’ll be prepared when the time comes to finally sit down and build your portfolio!