As a website designer, every project is unique. In fact, as a professional, you are regularly expected to provide something better than your previous effort. With the market becoming extremely competitive, creativity is always a bit part of this job. The worst moment happen when that imaginative spark required to start off a project goes missing. Still, there are many places such as this page where you can draw some inspiration. Apart from that, there are other premium websites where you get lots of inspiration to build a classic website and web design companies such as Absolute Summit has great templates on their site. We’ve put together a list of some of the best sites to find website design inspiration for you below: (Don’t forget that in order to rank these websites you will need SEO, check seo bournemouth services for more information)

1. Best Website Gallery (BWG)

The website which is managed by David Hellmann is a unique meeting place for web design inspiration. If you’re developing a premium website, this is the perfect site to visit whenever you need to unlock your power of imagination.  Although the website was start in 2008, it has grown to be relied on by millions of web designers across the world looking for inspiration. What makes it popular is accessibility of information. BWG uses a robust tagging system that makes it very easy for the user to find inspiration based on the functionality, style and design approach. With more the 2,000 top quality website to peruse, this is indeed a great place to visit.

2. CSS Nectar

Apart from incredible inspiration, this is one of the most user-friendly websites to visit. CSS Nectar is one websites that makes the finding web design information for specific sites very easy. With its tags and filters, you can easily find inspiration based on category, colour tags, feature, and country. What makes CSS Nectar popular and attractive designers is the triple-vetted content. First, the user is required to pay a fee to submit a website for review. This is meant to prove that people are confident with the website. Second, the submission is reviewed and finally, it is voted by the community. This system gives the sites feedback so it’s easy to see what people like and don’t like about the digital art and design of each site.

3. Abduzeedo

The website whose name simply means “abducted” in Portuguese, is about a decade old. Over the years, it has helped hundreds of web designers. What has made it popular among designers and creative professionals is its regular updates. There is always something new for the users to see. The website boasts of having an array of inspirations regardless of the website that you are creating. You’ll be impressed by the quality of information that the website has. A visit to this site will help in triggering your imagination with brilliant ideas. Apart from digital design inspiration, the website also offers other inspirations such as photography and architecture.

4. Behance- Discover

Visit this website and you will find massive amount of website design inspiration from their creative community. It is very easy to locate the design you are looking for by either looking for popularity, location and timeframe. For instance, you can search for the “most appreciated web design in Brisbane, Australia”. The fact that it’s part of the adobe family of companies, its’ probably the world’s most active creative community. Its detailed filtering options make it one of the most visited sites by web designers and creative professionals. Try it and it will unlock your creativity in a great way.

5. Awwwards

The website provides a unique place for web designers to draw inspiration. The website is managed by a group of international creative who rewards those that submit the highest quality of design. This is what makes the quality of inspiration from this website incredibly high. The jury that awards the best site ideas is hand-picked to ensure that quality is maintained. Apart from the website looking pretty, they also consider other factors like creativity, content, usability and site design. Awwwards has one of the most robust tagging that makes it easy for the users to find the inspiration they are looking for.

6. Designinspiration

If you are stuck with a web designing project, try this website and experience the magic. Created in 2010, the website has been home to many web designers worldwide. The site provides a perfect place where web designers can discover and share information. The site curates and maintains only high-quality content. It’s a user-friendly website and you can easily search information by topic tags or colour. The site also allows the user to organise and save things that they like on the page.

Ever wondered what UX Design is? You have probably heard your tech-savvy friends talking about it during a conversation – where you already have no clue what they are talking about. Not quite as confusing as IQ, PQ and OQ acronyms for the quality control industry but UX stands for User Experience. The experience of being the clueless odd one out is frustrating. Most of the time it makes you feel dumb. Continue on reading, as I’m keen to share what I know and enlighten you about the subject regardless if you’re just curious or wanting to branch out from your old discipline of design. So let me guide you through the “What”, the “Why” and the “How” of the subject. Basically the baby steps for now, because we’ll be here till the proverbial cows come home.

What is UX Design?

Starting with the question of ‘what is it’? It’s a User-Centric design discipline with several facets that need to be addressed and the User’s Experience (UX) is at the heart of it all. I know what you’re thinking… that was quite a mouthful to digest. Don’t worry, as I’ll break it down for you. As illustrated in the diagram below, it expresses a multitude of facets that create the user experience. It’s quite a detailed and thorough process; you’re essentially conceptualizing an experience and then creating it. As you can tell I’ve been emphasizing a particular word that is a defining factor amidst all of this: Experience. Because that’s what it’s all about. The most common example of user experience is an interaction between the user and a systems user-interface, such as using a smart phone. You swipe left, swipe right and you press on the particular app you want to use. An easy experience for anybody. Features like this contribute to constituting a user Experience. However that is merely the beginning, as UX DESIGN essentially aims for a positive and memorable experience for the user and this is when the other factors come into play, even before the interaction. A good example for good UX is the iPhone by Apple. The iPhone UX is so simple it contributes to the brands image, reputation and fits very well. Fun fact even the marketing contributes to a good UX (such as stepping into the apple store itself).

Why UX Design?

At this stage you’re probably wondering why is it such a big deal? It is a big deal. To put it quite simply: we are dealing with and catering to the needs of the user. It’s not rocket science. To justify the need of good UX is easy, because it has a several facets that constitute the experience as a whole. Websites have become bigger, more complex and brimming with additional features – this has taken away the simplicity from the user experience. Not only have websites have become bigger and complex but they have become more accessible from different devices other than just desktop computers; such as through mobile, tablets, and even the television! This has created a need for greater UX Design to tackle these problems. To simplify what is complicated, and to give users a better experience without sacrificing the additional features, and making it accessible on the many new platforms available.

How can UX be done?

Now we must conclude this article by settling the question of “how can this be done?” As I said before, it’s quite a thorough process. There are several tasks that a UX Design performs at different parts of the process, such as evaluations of a current system, Option A VS B Testing, surveys, wireframes and prototypes. The list goes on. For now let’s look at the technique of Wireframing as an example. As you can see this technique is pretty simple to grasp, because all you’re doing is just simply plotting how where features will be placed prior to development. If you’re resourceful enough, you can also do this on pen and paper.  Take into account these wireframes are derived from evaluations, testing’s, surveys etc.  So take your time at this part of the process. At this point the importance of UX DESIGN should be abundantly clear. I hope this article helps you as much as it helped me sharing it. Images credited to the respective owners: UX Spectrum – http://randsinrepose.com/archives/a-design-primer-for-engineers/ Wireframe example – http://webarmy.co.nz/portfolio/ For a more in-depth read on UX check out this great UX Checklist