Sycha Web Design & Development» Design Inspirations

Colourful Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:03:00 +0000

Initially the thought of finding some inspiring website designs that were “colourful” was a little daunting. There are plenty of websites, particularly those aimed at children, that are intensely coloured with a every hue in the rainbow, but finding some alluring, yet colouful designs seemed like a challenge.

I’m happy to report that I was pleasantly suprised with what I found while searching for colourful websites. Lively, vibrate and ultimately enticing websites are abound in the kaleidoscope collection below.

Purple Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:18:59 +0000

Purple is a general term used in English for the range of shades of color occurring between red and blue. Depending on the mix of blue and red, purple can have both warm attributes of red or cool attributes of blue. Deep or bright purples suggest riches while lighter purples are more romantic and delicate.

Common connotations of purple: royalty, imperialism, nobility, Easter, Mardi Gras, upper class, poison, friendship, sharing, wisdom, homosexuality, imaginative and sympathy.

Collage Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:18:05 +0000

Digital collage in website design has increased in popularity over recent years. A collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a work made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. Website designers looking escape the one dimensional web page have employed various techniques over the years. For example, only a few years ago using various gradients was almost mandatory in creating a professional looking web page.

The use of collage and creating a layering effect on websites has long been favoured by Flash designers. Creating depth and interest in modern website design employs the use of numerous elements, often with the drop shadows or transparent layers interacting and multiplying. Images with texture also add to overall appeal and move away from a flat page. Grunge textures are popular and are used with varying degrees of subtly. Hand-drawn elements are another key player and add further visual appeal to some sites.

Scanned in aged paper/cardboard (or digitally created), ripped paper/cardboard, paper tags often complete with string, drawing pins (thumb tacks), polaroid photo treatments, fabric sometimes complete with the appearance of being stitched on, ribbon and sticky tape are common elements.

Below are 10 non-Flash websites employing various collage effects.

(Ctrl+N)

Oakley Uniquely Women

The Ernest Hemingway Collection

Useful Links

Texture Vault
stock xchng (free stock photos and huge texture section)
Love Textures
Lost and Taken
Webtreats etc

E-commerce Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:14:54 +0000

E-commerce websites continue to evolve. Design versus function is paramount in e-commerce design. The ultimate goal is sales, so it is much like an actual “real” store.

Can the shopper find the item they are after easily? Are the products shown in the best light (attractive photography)? Are the website visitors shown an array of products to possibly tempt further purchases (opportunities for add-on sales)? Does the website appeal to the target audience (is it “cool”, or technical)? Is the check out process easy? Can the website be trusted?

I’ve put together a list of 10 interesting e-commerce websites that I find appealing for one reason or another. I think all are all aesthetically pleasing to some degree and there is a variety in design and function. Obviously this is only my personal opinion and tastes differ, so check them out and feel free to agree or disagree to the merits of each website.

Threadless Kids -The Threadless Website is a huge e-commerce success story. I like the design especially of the their kids store. The design offers a nice pastel-child friendly look. I also like the design of the original shopping cart. The landing page isn’t over-cluttered. The photography is superb and you are immediately shown a variety of designs. The website invites the shopper in, much like a good store front draws the pedestrian in off the sidewalk. I think this website illustrates a highly successful mix of design and function. I would shop here (actually I do shop here).

IKEA -Straight from their original print catalogues, you get images of complete rooms featuring a vast range of Ikea products. Interior design made easy. If you visited this website to buy, say a bed, it’s easy to see how you might just want to get the lamp and the bedside table as well…can you say add-on sales!

Kidrobot -The landing page offers a nice overview of some great looking products. I love the contrast between the rich, colourful photography and the white and grey. Nice large font size for a modern look. Very nice.

Dripping in Fat -I know, some of you reading this are going to complain about the use of Flash, but the design is very nice, if a little slow. The product size selection may not be intuitive and might prove difficult for the less frequent web user, but then they’re probably not the target audience. It’s great to see an individual in a sea of cardboard cutouts (or templates).

Blik -Love, love, love the design of this website. The texture effect of the sticky tape for the top navigation, and the 3D collage effect are visually appealing. Nice use of fonts. Love the product photos and display. The left navigation is easy to use and the accordion style keeps the page from being too busy.

Icon Dock -Love the drag and drop functionality of the shopping cart. The website visitor can start shopping immediately by adding icons to their cart from the homepage!

ShoeGuru -Great design with the stark black there is nothing to detract from the good looking shoes.

DNA 11 -So many website are now selling to a global market rather than being limited to a specific country, so I like it when I visit a site and it knows that I’m in New Zealand. The other thing that this site does very well is it doesn’t overwhelm the viewer with choice, rather it’s more of a step by step reveal of the variety of products available.

Drop Dead Clothing -Killer photography and model selection. This shop oozes with the “cool” factor. Clear navigation for the website visitor and again I like the shopping bag in place of the tired, old pixel shopping cart.

Zoomii.com -I added this website in because it is definitely interesting. It might not be the fastest way of finding a book but it does give the shopper a real bookstore experience. I think this is definitely a glimpse at the future of online shopping. This concept works incredibly well for children’s section, also art books and comic and graphic novels.

Black & White Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:13:06 +0000

Far from being boring, the contrast between black and white and the use of monochromatic color schemes can have a dramatic effect on the design of a website. Black and white designs have long been favoured with photographers portfolio websites. A limited or stark colour palette can make other featured images, such as photographs, pop off the page. With the lack of lots of saturated colours competing for your attention, the viewer’s eye finds it easier to focus on what is important.

Despite the limited use of colour, it’s interesting to note how the black and white websites are still able to vary greatly. From refined and clean, minimalist design of Chanel, to the grunge and cool of Hellcat Records.

Lowdtown Friends & Freaks

Retro Website Design Inspirations

Melissa Evans — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:40:30 +0000

What is considered “cool” is constantly changing in website design. Hot design elements of the moment can soon be considered to be “played out”. The love of retro has been around for decades but there has been a really strong surge recently, from tattoos, to old cars and furniture, to things on a large scale like architecture. It makes sense then that retro website design is the new seriously hip. So designers, do away with following the current trends and look to the past for inspiration. Retro website design offers the dream of avoiding a whole website re-design in a few years time.

This post is aimed at all you suffering from the condition Retrophilia; the love of all things retro. If you are not already showing signs of retrophilia, the mere viewing of this article will undoubtedly spark your interest in the quirky and attractive realm of retro website design.

What follows is 10 really great retro themed websites that I have found during my many hours on the web. Enjoy!

Super retro styling is abound at The Hipstery website, where you can buy mystery shirts from different sources. This is their punchline: Offering the finest t-shirts known to man, without man actually knowing them. Put simply for the simple – Mystery Shirts. The Hipstery liberates you from the burden of choice.

The Hipstery

The image shown left is a nicely designed piece of retro internal advertising on The Hipstery. Little humorous gems like this advert pepper the site and add to the whole appeal. I must saying I’m loving the use of the old 3D glasses.

Can you tell yet that I love the design of this website? This website could stand the test of time…until everyone realises how great it is and copies it.

If there had been an online t-shirt store in the 80′s, then the design of it would have probably looked like Glamour Kills. Now for those of us that remember first hand the fashion disaster that was the 1980s (eek I’m showing my age), and cringe now as more and more of those trends seem to popping up, you’ll definitely wanting to avoid the 80s look. Use of the Miami Vice shades of colour can be good, but never, ever perm your hair.

Glamour Kills

The New York Moon website has a classic feel, styled after an old newspaper. Sometimes it’s just the small elements that capture our interest, I love the fact that the controls on the vintage radio work! I’m listening to “A Festival of Death” as I write this from Moon Radio.

The New York Moon

Edgewater captures the look of the vintage travel posters of yesteryear. The romance of the perfect life, captured perfectly. It has a slightly unpleasant “The Stepford Wives” feel with all the perfectness but maybe that’s just me.

Edgewater

CSS Tinderbox offers up a Russian Retro design. Very nice use of vintage images and dirty textures. This website wins extra points for the article “Friends Don’t Let Friends Use IE6″

CSS Tinderbox

The old style typography and muted tones of colour used add to the retro feel of the website of Brian Despain Art. The super beautiful line detailing has an art deco feel too. If you have time I highly recommend you browse his absolutely stunning gallery.

Brian Despain Art

Ripley’s website is cleverly designed with a lot of retro elements. Very original and obviously a lot of thought went into the design. I like how the RSS feed link is an old looking tag.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not

Burlesque Hall of Fame will appeal to the retro purest. The old looking image of the woman with the halftone shading, the colour palette used and those shapes and lines. It has a classic Las Vegas feel.

Burlesque Hall of Fame

This By Them is a hot little number. Great retro design.

This By Them

mediaBOOM another stunner complete with music!

mediaBOOM