Thinking Design
This week, I’ve become obsessed with design. I feel this is my weak area when it comes to web design–the creativity, the artistic sense, the simple beauty. Instead, I’ve seen myself as a good coder, a quick learner, a problem solver. I am probably just something of a perfectionist and have standards so high that I’ll never meet them (but that’s another issue).
All this is to say that “design” is first among my many top priorities these days. I want to learn how to use color, type, whitespace, and artwork for maximum benefit in a standards-compliant website. I don’t want my websites to look overdone, I like things clean and simple, but I don’t want them to look plain and simple.
So, as I’ve been going about my life in the past week, I’ve started to see design everywhere. Buildings that look like good frames for a webpage. Shapes that inspire background or header images. And, of course, fonts. I thought I would post here a few of the websites I’ve noticed in the past week that I really like. We always take inspiration from others’ work, and looking at my favorites is one of the first places I turn when I start a new project. I note their colors, their code sometimes, their artwork. I note what I like and what I don’t like.
Erskine Design: Clean, elegant, and a little bit playful.
Hicks Design Creative, artistic, and still simple.
NDesign: Graphic/web designer Nick La’s portfolio really showcases his artistic ability and serves as a great spot for web inspiration.
OPM: Finally, the Office of Personnel Management updated its site with excellent, clean design.Hopefully, you will find them (and the sites they link to) inspiring, too.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Laura, I think you are on to something by focusing on design around us. It’s everywhere! That’s the kind of awareness that will be sure to lead to inspiration.
Kind of the opposite of the focus we’ve had to apply to getting these assignments done – that’s more of a put-the-blinders-on-until-the-job’s-done survival-based focus. Much like Norman talked about in his “Attractive Things Work Better” essay – creative thinking is the opposite of focus.
February 19th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
For the record, I think you have a great sense of design… clean and simple yet insightful and with good depth. I’ve loved seeing your different versions and I’m anxious to see how it all turns out.