Bits of Inspiration #5
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. Koodòz Design Menu
This menu is very rich and creative. On normal state it features simple white links, but on hover a big effective red arrow and a handdrawn description for the linked section appear. Also, when needed a submenu shows up with a little Javascript magic.
2. Upstruct Contact Page
Using a Google map as a web page background I’d never seen before…
3. Sevenality Color Palette
Ooh, lovely color scheme. Don’t you think?
4. Particletree Comments
I don’t really like how comments are styled on this blog, but they are unconventionally laid out in two columns. I’m not so sure it’s the right way to go as it looks a little hard to understand who commented before who, but it could be fun to pitch the idea and play with a little more.
5. Guggenheim Museum Home Page Slideshow
I really like the transitions in the Guggenheim home page slideshow. You hover over the next item in the list and the corresponding image slides up vertically. I also like how the text link gets bigger when hovered, although the color transition should have been smoother in my opinion.
6. CSSBuilt Pagination
I was browsing CSS Built for inspiration when my eye was caught by its pagination. It looks very interface-y and I love the color scheme they used. The hover effect is a soft gradient, just like how gradients are supposed to be.
7. Nicole Bishop Header
The header of this website is probably not the best crafted one, but the drawing is just fun.
8. Life in Mono Mood
I was immediately attracted to this website as soon as I saw it. The graphics set an elegant but welcoming mood that draws you in - it drew me on, at least. I particularly like the header and the vertical menu.
9. Meomi Footer
I was almost going to rule out this element from the list because the footer is a Flash animation, but then I thought this series is meant to inspire you, and have you ever thought of using a Flash animation as the footer of your blog? I hadn’t yet. Now I have.
10. Storypixel Diet
Storypixel is the portfolio website of web developer Sam Wilson. Wilson presents himself as a paesant, hence the detail of his professional skills presented as a diet.
It’s actually a nice websites in any way. Beside the strong concept behind it, it features nice graphics, a warm color scheme, good typography and a particular effect on the header - try resizing your browser window…
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.
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