Archive for the ‘Inspiration – Web Design’ 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.

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.

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!

The color purple often exudes a sense of power and royalty over the viewer. I love purple and pink website designs because the focus is often geared towards a single product or company. And these domains are regarded in a more serious tone for the limitations and control of purple gradients, buttons, and navigation designs.

In this showcase I’ve put together 35 examples of my absolute favorite purple website layouts. You can work with any similar shade of purple or pink to bring about the same feelings in your own projects. Some notable examples may include mobile app websites, small businesses, or personal online portfolios. If you know about similar design patterns or suggestions for other websites feel free to share with us in the comments area below.

Animal-related websites, you would think, would be stunning in their design… after all, they have the most photogenic of subjects to work with, and coupled with a wildlife-type theme, the resulting designs could be outstanding. However, this genre of website design seems to have been, in the most part, left behind in terms of producing the ‘wow’ factor, ease of navigation and lots of whitespace so visitors can find exactly what they are looking for in the least time possible.

So here is a round-up of some animal-related sites that have moved their designs into the 21st Century and make an impact either through their great design or ease of navigation or both.

While WordPress started as – and remains – a blogging platform, it’s also the world’s most popular and affordable CMS platform. Which means it is used for much more than blogging. In fact, with the right combination of design and developmental add-ons the WordPress platform can become just about any type of website imaginable.

Which is why we thought it would be fun to put together a collection of 30 inspiring examples of what some companies, designers, and developers are doing with WordPress. Check out our picks and let us know what you think!