One of the biggest advantages of creating a custom website design is that you can pull inspiration from anywhere.
At the start of a web project or anytime you are considering design improvements, it’s helpful to gather inspiration sites. Then your web strategist and web designer can guide you on how to incorporate these ideas and pair them with the latest design trends and best practices.
Whether you are considering a redesign or looking for creative ways to improve your website, here are some tips on how to find inspiration:
- Check out the competition. Start with your competitors’ websites. Sometimes your competitors may be ahead of the game or their sites are examples of what NOT to do. Take note of any trends that you see on multiple competitors’ sites.
- Go outside your industry. Unlike a template design where you are limited, a custom designed site doesn’t have to look like the typical financial website or law firm website.
- Think about your favorite websites. While performing ever day tasks online, such as booking a trip or buying a product online, think about the websites you enjoy visiting and why they appeal to you. Is the check-out process seamless? Do you easily find what you are looking for? Are you hooked by the branding and story expressed in the design?
- Cherry-pick ideas. Look at many websites for inspiration because when creating a custom site, there is a lot of room for flexibility in the customization. You may only like 1 small design element or piece of functionality from a website but that 1 piece will help complete the puzzle when working on the new design.
- Don’t forget the bad. We can’t deny it. There are a lot of bad designs and poor performing sites out there. Don’t hesitate to tell your web designer what you don’t like. In some cases that can be just as helpful as telling them what you like.
Although you can draw inspiration from everywhere, some ideas may not work well for how your business uses its website. You’ll want to review the ideas with a web strategist & designer to see how these ideas can be used to elevate your custom site. Remember that the search for new ideas never ends if you want to keep your website up-to-date and performing well.
Ready to start? Let’s chat about a redesign or design tweak.
