Bits of Inspiration #4

I travel to a number of websites everyday as I think this is essential to keep up with the latest best practices and always improve my design skills. Also, it’s fun :)

There is a good number of websites out there that are awesome in every way. It’s a good number, but not great: perfection is not exactly around the corner. I also happen to see a lot of websites that are just nice but won’t make your jaw drop thinking “Geez, why didn’t I design that?”. Yet some of these websites have really great details, such as a nice color palette or a well designed form.

Enters Bits of Inspiration, a series that showcases nice web design bits.

1. Arcade Wordpress theme light spots

http://demo.obox-design.com/arcade/

I really like all the light spots on the Arcade Wordpress Theme. They’re very well crafted and add a metallic feel to the design.

2. Demonico the Day Dreamer headings

http://dthe3d.tumblr.com/

The headings on this Tumblog are very creative and catchy.

3. Carsonified background gif

http://carsonified.com/team/mike/

This gif actually isn’t the background of the whole website but it is only used on the page of one of Carsonified team members. Gifs like this one are probably not the best choice to go with in most cases, but we’re talking about one of the most creative agencies here.

4. Carsonified typography

http://carsonified.com/

Yep, Carsonified new website makes the list once again. I’m a fan of typography so I couldn’t ignore the way they used big Cooper Black headings.

I strongly advice you to browse all the rest of the website because it’s creative in a lot of other ways. Check out how little icons show up hovering on the main menu, how illustrations are consistently used through the whole website and how each page has a different background color. Lots of inspiration.

5. Hope Unlimited color palette

http://www.hopeunlimited.org/

Hope Unlimited uses a nice palette made up of grungy light colors.

By the way, I have created a profile for Blogging CSS over at COLOURlovers where I create palettes from websites with nice colors. Go take a look if you want to ;)

6. 5pieces background texture

http://5pieces.com/

This website isn’t exceptionally designed in my opinion, but I think the background texture is a good one.

7. Mirasim header

http://www.mirasim.com/

I think it’s great how colorful and vivid this website header is. You just can’t not like it.

8. Treforest contact page

http://www.treforestdesign.com/contact.html

The contact page on Treforest portfolio is quite unusual, starting with the nice What can we do for you? headline to the “untidy” layout of the contact information. Huh.

9. James Chambers portfolio layout

http://www.jameschambers.co.uk/

You can totally feel the use of grids on this portfolio website, which features a very clean, tidy and well-spaced layout.

10. Weightshift headline

http://weightshift.com/

This image is an example of how great graphic design can serve a website well. Love it.

So, what do you think?

Did you like these bits? Did they inspire you? If you’ve seen something that could qualify for this series and want to suggest it, email me.

Pubblicato in Bits of Inspiration, Showcases.
Tags: Bits of Inspiration, headings, headline, layout, palette, Showcases, texture, typography