11 Places To Look For Website Design Inspiration

Have you ever wondered where do some designers get their website design inspiration?

There are moments when you will land on a website and go ‘wow’!

If the UI and UX have been able to attract you, it might have been able to attract others as well.

These websites are instrumental in creating a digital brand name for their business online.

Not to mention, how stunning looking websites directly contribute to boosting sales and revenues.

Some websites stretch their imagination and push the boundaries of what is possible.

The best designers and developers think of themselves as digital artists, weaving new life on screen.

From layouts that draw you in, to interactivity and dynamism that enthralls you, web design has progressed rapidly.

In this article, we will look at the 11 top places where you can look for website design inspiration.

In addition, we will also be looking at how great web design services and web development services are necessary to grow your brand. However, before we get to the list, let us examine why website design inspiration is crucial for a designer.

Website Design Inspiration: Why is it Important?

I have always maintained that creating a brand website is like designing a house.

There are so many elements that you need to choose between.

From theme colors to logo placements, from layouts to images. There are many things, which a graphic web designer needs to take care of.

The process gets challenging as clients have their own inputs. Redoing a design is now considered quite standard in the industry. However, the best designers deliver stunning masterpieces in one shot.

That is because unlike others, they do not get a creative block in their vocation. Any great agency offering web design services has a regular study session for their web designers.

I can say this because, in my agency, Fridays are when we sit down with designers and just look at websites. This helps them stay fresh, relevant, and updated with the best design and development work on the web.

Website design inspiration Platforms are crucial to stay on top of the design game. You do not want clients to show you references when you are yourself an agency, which offers web design services.

That will be quite a slap on your professional expertise. Seeking website design inspiration is important because-

• It helps web designers add to their growth and development.
• The practice helps develop fresher and newer concepts that are in tune with modern times.
• It displays the design prowess of a web design services and web development services agency.
• Great designs lead to better client satisfaction and add to a number of referrals.
• Excellent designs help build businesses from the ground up by contributing to sales and revenues.
• It builds the credibility and name of the web design services agency in the digital world.

When you face a designer’s block but have pending assignments what do you do? Some of the best agencies take help from freelance illustration jobs. Freelancers are brought into just to lend a new flavor and bring in fresh creativity.

How Great Websites help build a Brand

In recent times, businesses want a website just because they want to make sales. This is not a cringe-worthy sentiment at all. Most businesses want to set up e-commerce and earn handsomely through digital channels, especially their website.

However, brand websites serve a crucial purpose other than direct selling and marketing.

They serve to build a brand; they also aid in spreading awareness about the brand.

Let us take a pause and think about some issues. Thousands of businesses are now catering to consumers that have never visited their physical stores. They are servicing them through their websites and e-commerce platforms.

For millions of brands, a brand website is the only property your consumers are going to know about you. This means that your website should be an exact representation of what your brand is all about.

In many ways, this representation becomes more complicated than mere selling and marketing.

When you start a brand, there is always a story to it. Why you are different from your competitors is going to be your USP. This is where your website will become the face of your brand.

Investing in a great-looking website, which is functional, is going to be the best decision of your life. Depending on the niche of your target audience you may wish to consider looking at WebCitz, or another service to help you with your web design. Your website should be able to narrate your-

• Brand story
• The intention behind setting up your business
• What sets you apart from your competitors
• How happy you have made consumers who have tried your brand
• The emotion about your brand
• What the future holds for your brand

Brands and designers use a website to narrate a story about the brand. This story-telling process is what helps in creating a relationship with users and consumers.

A great website helps build a brand, unlike any other digital platform.

List of 11 Top Website Design Inspiration Platforms

1. Pinterest:

Unlike some of the platforms, which are going to charge you, Pinterest is free. This means you can scour thousands of web designs in one place.

It is possible for you to do a generic search for ‘website design inspiration’. You can also do specific searches with regard to ‘WordPress designs’ or ‘Minimal website designs’.

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The sheer volume of pins on each search will ensure that your creative block is gone. All the designs are contributed by common people, which means that some of them might not be good.

Pinterest can be like finding a needle in a haystack. However, some of the best web designers swear by the sheer volume of designs on the platform.

2. CSS Nectar:

In recent years, CSS Nectar has made a name for itself as a niche platform for website design inspiration. The best part about CSS Nectar is the segmentation between-

• Design
• Programming
• Creativity

The designers give the vote and rate designs themselves. This means that you can be sure of the quality of designs from an expert perspective.

CSS Nectar has emerged as one of the top website design aggregators in the industry. It has come to maintain its standard through a fee model ($5 USD Submission). This helps keep out designs that are not great.

However, if you are looking for WordPress website design inspirations, you are not going to get them here.

Read more: Top 10 Best Free WordPress Themes for Blogs

3. Site Inspire:

When was the last time you could not fault a website? In my experience, it has been quite a few years. Site Inspire is one such platform that delivers on all fronts. In terms of functionality, it has at least a hundred-odd functions.

You can narrow down your search for website design inspirations to your exact requirements. The fluid grid display makes the websites look visually stunning and attractive.

The best part about Site Inspire? The selection of websites that it curates. It truly is not a listing platform; rather, it is a curation platform for stunning websites.

I introduced my junior web designer to Site Inspire six months back. The poor guy was truly stuck in a creative rut, post a bad break-up. In less than a month, he was churning out brilliant web designs. Long story short, I had to double his salary in six months!

4. Responsive Design:

Sometimes a website needs to be more than just about design. It needs to be interactive, responsive, and dynamic. I have always maintained that a trip that starts from Site Inspire should always visit Responsive Design.

Responsive Design is not only about seeking website design inspiration. It is also about seeing how the designs will look across multiple platforms.

You not only get design tips but also well-researched content on development, marketing, and consumer behavior. A designer is as good as is his ability to read consumer behavior.

This is why all web designers need to make it a habit to read resources from responsive Design. The sheer volume of resources on design and development makes it a wonderful educational platform.

5. Awwwards:

Some of you might criticize putting Awwwards at the number five position. In my defense, this list is not a ranking one. Rather all the platforms on this list are credible and useful from one or the other vantage points.

Awwwards holds a special place in my heart. It is one of the oldest and yet most updated Website Design inspiration platforms in the world. The regular flow of content along with the grid layout makes it a go-to-choice for the top web designers.

It has become the gold standard of the industry and for good reasons. When prospective designers start including Awwwards link in their Portfolio, you automatically think of them being better.

The best designers swear by Awwwards and for good reason. It offers the best website design inspiration on the internet and is definitely the ‘Pro’ on this list.

6. Behance:

Do you remember a time when Behance and Awwwards were the only two website design inspirations? If you do then you have lived through the golden age of website design services.

Behance and Awwwards are similar in many ways. However, Behance’s x-factor lies in its classification of websites. For example, you will get design inspirations for thousands of websites across categories.

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Most designers think of Behance as a social media platform for designers and developers. In order to understand this, I asked my designer to give me a small tour of his daily engagement on Behance.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how you can build a community of like-minded individuals on the platform. Being owned by Adobe, Behance gets access to the latest tools and information from the design world.

7. The Creative Review:

Sometimes website design inspirations are more than just looking at websites. Learning from ad campaigns, art, and other sources of creativity is equally as important.

This is why a website like Creative Review becomes such a game-changer. Creative Review presents a canvas for creative people not merely restricted to designers. Even content writers, social media copywriters, and developers can take inspiration from their content.

The site provides a roundup of some of the best creative campaigns run by agencies and brands. This is very helpful if designers are looking for campaign ideas and not merely websites.

For example, designing perfect Landing Pages, Social Media Campaigns, and Pitches are something that Creative Review can help with.

8. Booooooom:

As raucous as the name sounds, Booooooom is a great source of inspiration for designers looking for illustrations. Website designs are increasingly becoming illustration based. Some might say that this is a trending feature of the design world.

Well if is trending, clients would definitely want it for their websites. Boooooom brings together the work of artists and design studios excelling in illustration based work.

You can also explore many graffiti-themed designs on the platform. In the last few years, the platform has become one of Canada’s top-rated ones, offering young artists an opportunity to display their creativity.

If you are looking for contemporary art, Booooooom should be right on top of your list.

9. The Design Blog:

Sometimes elements of particular websites need inspiration in themselves. For example, if you are designing a website for a product company, you would also need to showcase the products.

This might be a challenge if you do not know how product displays work. Framing products on a website’s e-commerce platform would then become a nightmare.

Thankfully, sites like The Design Blog help you design stunning product layouts through references and inspirations. A visually rich product can help do wonders for your client as well as your website design services agency.

The Design Blog helps web designers understand branding. This is a critical component of learning for any designer. From fonts to layouts, to branding products, The Design Blog covers it all.

10. Mirador:

Mirador is a French-based Studio that curates some of the most eclectic artworks from Studios. It is a brilliant exercise in how physical art can be digitally amplified through websites.

By curating works from some of the finest boutique art studios, Mirador helps in infusing creativity. Young designers who want to keep pace with global art and design trends should look up and follow Mirador.

Inspiration and creativity can shine at the unlikeliest places. The aim of web designers should be to adapt creativity and contextualize it. By knowing about the best artworks from studios globally, you can learn a lot about contemporary designs.

11. The Modern Met:

As designers, we sometimes get too abstract and ambiguous. While it has its benefits, we forget that art and design exist in the human world. This is where The Modern Met helps blend art with contemporary human surroundings.

The idea behind the site is to celebrate art and humanity. This is crucial for a designer to understand. The interplay between art and the real world through humor, entertainment, music, grief helps make designs more humane.

The primary purpose of art and design is to evoke human emotions. That is where the challenge and success lie for a website designer. By taking inspiration from sites such as The Modern Met, designers can hope to stay grounded and connected.

Conclusion:

In this article, I have tried to provide a holistic balance of purely website designs and art designs. I have seen many designers suffer from a lopsided view of design. While they can be great at website design, they suck when it comes to designing Landing Pages.

You might say that specialization is great, and I would completely agree with you on that. However, design cannot be one-dimensional. Like art, it needs to have a strong human component to it.

A successful designer is able to take this forward and create website designs that appeal to users. At the end of the day, every user who comes to a website should say- ‘this is my website’.

I hope that this article on website design inspirations has been able to help you. Please feel free to add your most inspirational platforms for art and design in the comments section below.

I would love to hear from you.

Read Also:

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• 10 Best Web Design Software and Tools (Free & Paid)
• What are the Top Trends You can Incorporate in Your Website?
• How to Set Up Your First Website: A Beginner’s Guide to Web Development