home | email
|
Site Design: Get
Inspired STEP THREE: SURF, SURF, SURF / NOTE, NOTE, NOTE I guess some people can just make a brilliant design from scratch. Really, I'm not one and I don't recommend it for you, either. Remember that design is a visual language, and you're just starting to learn how to read and write in this language. Better to find inspiration at this stage. It's NOT that you're looking for a site to copy; rather, you're looking for elements from sites that strike you, that appeal to you. You'll use these elements to create something unique and all your own. So, start surfing. I always start at Cool Homepages, though lately I've also been surfing through the blogs at Blogger. You want this process to be breezy. Each section of Cool Homepages has what seems like an endless number of sites, and if you actually concentrate on each individual site you'll be surfing forever. So instead you just want to click through the sites, letting your eye float (almost slightly unfocused) just on the page, stopping only when something (a layout or color scheme) catches your eye. A quick and handy way to do this is to open a bunch of the pages in a new browser window, giving them time to load, and then going through each to find the ones you really like. Once you do, you can either take notes about what you liked about it, or what's even better, start bookmarking like crazy. For example, here's the list of sites I liked while looking for a design for my dissertation:
Exhaustive, I know, but in the end it's worth it. I can spend a whole night just looking for design inspiration, so don't rush this step. It can actually be quite low-key—as you're online chatting with friends, just head to Cool Homepages and start opening up links. Now, once you have sites you like, you want to start dissecting them for the info you need. And that means starting to storyboard. |