9 Personal Web Design Inspiration Nov 9 + 2 comments

written by: ryan coughlin

There has been many websites that i have come across that have inspired me in some way, whether the person behind the design, the articles, design, or the creative edge of the site. I decided I would put together a list of all websites that I have found to inspire me in some way, hopefully they will do the same to you.

Komodo Media

From the first time I saw this site, I was drawn in for many reasons, it is very eye catchy and creative. You can tell just by the image below. The colors and how the whole website has a jungle theme. The tabs on the right provide an easy use or navigation and by far my favorite the “foliage o meter” that uses the jQuery UI slider, you can find this at the site below towards the middle of the page, you’ll see what it does. Another reason why it is inspired me is because Rogie the owner is very nice and open to talk to in the twitter world. The jungle theme that is used throughout the site inspired me to do something similar with my full site launch.

Smashing Magazine

Most of you I am sure have heard of this site and are subscribed via RSS feeds and if not, IT IS A MUST. Excellent articles and resources for both web and graphic designers. You can find just about any type of resource on that site. Make sure you keep this bookmarked for quick access.

Lee Munroe

Another great site for inspiration, great aritcles and posts. The layout is slick and professional. The wording throughout the site, is something that I also payed attention too, such as the small about text and the middle text in gold. I have chatted with him over e-mail and is very friendly. Provides a touch of blog, portfolio site, and great resources.

The Daily Inspired (use to be “Woork”)

This is another great resource that I recently came across this year and I think is fairly new. Started with posts about enchancing HTML forms and in to MooTools scripts with examples that are extremely useful. On top of that, serveral posts on great fonts to use, a must see! As well as Antonios location in Rome, got to love that! He also throws up great CSS layouts using Blogger. My favorite by far was the CNN edition he used.

iStock Photo

You are all probably thinking “what? why this site?” Well to be honest I think it is a great resource to search for objects you want to create in Fireworks, Illustrator, or Photoshop. I just type in whatever I need to look for and narrow it down to “Illustrations” only. If want to design a lighthouse and see what kinds are out there to grasp an idea, iStock Photo is an excellent resource for something like this. They have an extremely broad range of photos on there you can use for your own inspiration. Go ahead and give it a shot!

Yoast

I recently came across this site (about a week ago) and so far I love it! There is a ton of articles on SEO and WordPress that can help you optimize and increase SEO rankings. I have followed several of these articles on WordPress and they so far so good, they have helped me on my WordPress. Yes WordPress and SEO are the main focus of the site but it does not stop there, make sure to check out there tag cloud on the right sidebar when you visit.

Freelance Switch

Do you freelance? Perfect, make sure you check out this website and subscribe to their RSS feeds. They write articles on just about anything freelancing some of their articles include: How long should you be working a day? How to not lose a steady gig, How to spot a dud client and get out when you can, to just name a few, but this is an excellent source for freelancers.

jQuery UI

We all have heard of the Javascript framework jQuery and how they have their UI, which is amazing, and recently updated every aspect of the UI with a full new website. These UI components can be used throughout a website and are full customizable with creating your own theme to match the aesthetic of the website you are working with. They have components such as drag and drag, dialog, color picker, date picker, and much more!

Vectips

An amazing resource for inspiration and quick tips for Illustrator, they provide vector packs, tutorials, articles, and quick Illustrator tips. I am fairly new at Illustrator and when I was starting to learn this site played a huge role in learning the powerfull application. If you design in Illustrator make sure to check this out.

And there you have it, the list of 9 websites that have inspired me in someway with my web and graphic design. If you have any others that helped you out, leave a comment and ill add them to the list for others to see! And you are going to ask why 9? I honestly have no idea

So what do you think? Did you like it? Others you would add? If you did like it make sure to share and bookmark. Any questions? E-mail me.

Take a peak at some more?