Feed Your Inspiration
Great design is sometimes synonymous with great inspiration: coming across a website with a flawless design or an intricate layout and unique theme can be inspiring in and of itself. So, what do we do when everything feels dated and stale? Just like with any other art, web designers need places and sites to draw their ideas from, and sometimes simply exposing yourself to new design is the key to sparking fresh ideas for your own work.
Need a place to start? Check out this, where sites have been awarded for their spectacular use of CSS. Another route to exposing yourself to great design? Talk to other web designers. What are they working on right now? How did they get there? The best way to dig deep when you feel like you’ve hit a roadblock is to talk to someone who has done something you absolutely love that inspires you. Next time you stumble across a web page whose design strikes a chord with you, email the info address and ask to chat with the designer. It’s like when a barista somehow manages to make Starry Night out of the steamed milk on your latte; sometimes you can just ask how it was done.
If all else fails: take a break and close the computer—stop looking at your screen for, say, five minutes, guys! Sometimes just getting back to the real world can remind you of the beauty you’re able to create on the screen itself; you just have to step away in order to see it.