It’s very easy to just go on social media and follow accounts that are directly related to website design. In fact, this is the most intuitive way to find this type of information. After all, you are following people who have made it their life’s work to design for clients and for themselves. What could go wrong?
Well, here’s the problem. You’re not the only person thinking this way. In fact, your competitors are probably doing a much better job. They probably have a long list of all the top design accounts on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and what have you.
In fact, a lot of them even have videos up on YouTube and believe me, their YouTube channels are definitely pretty. But as you probably already know, if you’re looking to do any kind of effective website design, pretty doesn’t necessarily mean money.
That’s right. Just because something looks good to you doesn’t necessarily mean that it can work in the way that your customers want it to work. As you probably already know, when people approach you for website design, they’re looking for one thing and one thing alone. They’re looking to make money.
Sure, they may talk a good game. They may talk about all sorts of other values. But don’t be distracted. At the end of the day, if you discount everything else and you get to the heart of the matter and the bottom of it, it’s all about making money because money is what pushes the dream forward.
I don’t want to sound mercenary and I don’t want to sound crass or vulgar. But that’s the absolute truth. So with that in mind, it’s really important to look for website design inspiration from places that are not saturated.
Unfortunately, there are so many social media accounts that are known to attract other website design agencies and design practitioners such as yourself. If you go to these places, you are sure to find saturated designs.
Before you know it, your blogs, your websites, or any other kind of online product that you produce would look just like everybody else’s. This is not an accident. In fact, it’s all too predictable. Why? Because you go for the same places that people go to for website design inspiration.
You have to think outside the box. I know, you probably have heard that phrase or saying many times. It’s annoying to me as well. But there’s really no other way to say it. You have to do something that people don’t normally do when it comes to website design inspiration.
This is why I suggest that you go to social media and look for people who are simply interesting. I’m talking about business entities that have made a name for themselves because they have very interesting views or they have a reputation for going off the beaten track.
When you pursue such accounts instead of the typical website design specialized account, you get to see the intersection between an online personality, a digital brand, and whatever design elements that are attached to those attributes.
Do you get where I’m coming from? Normally, when people have a certain personality, they usually have a matching graphical representation of that personality. It may be a logo. It may even be just a simple color scheme. It may be a certain website design.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Okay, so I followed one interesting person after another. A lot of these are very idiosyncratic. Some are very quirky. In fact, others are flat out weird. Now what? I got all these weird stuff, but how do I get inspired?”
Here’s the thing. You shouldn’t just copy and paste their design. If you are defining website design inspiration that way, stop it. Take a step back. Take a deep breath and stop it. instead, look at the intersection of their online personality.
There’s a reason why you follow them. There’s a reason why they stand out from the crowd. There’s a reason why they’re not just another face in the crowd. It’s their personality. Pick that apart. Mix and match. And then you will see, based on that graphical presentation, that there may be something there.
There might be that weird quirk that you can apply to your colour scheme. I’m not saying you should wholesale copy these people. That would be bad advice. Nobody’s advocating plagiarism here. Instead, feel the vibes. Feel the attitude and see how this can take you to a different level of inspiration.
You see, website designs inspiration is not a direct path from point A to point B. Instead, it’s all about analogs and metaphors. Sometimes, you get triggered by a weird design quirk and this gets you thinking about certain design elements that you’ve been exploring in the past.
This might be just the inspiration you need to take things up a notch or two. I hope you can understand how this all works because inspiration is not something that you can slice and dice and fit into some sort of equation. I wish it were that easy.
If that was the case, then design inspiration would just be another commodity like pork bellies or bushels of corn. It obviously isn’t. It’s something that is unique, personal, and often times, it takes a special trigger in a special moment for it to happen.
The good news is that it’s worth waiting for. It’s worth cultivating because when it happens, it can blow up not only your creativity, but it can also help you establish a brand that leaves everybody in the digital dust.
Why is all of this important? Well, it all boils down to the fact that everything on the Internet, like social media marketing, moves at light speed. If you are not keeping up or setting the pace, you can bet your competitors or your customers will. You cannot afford to be in the dark. Otherwise, you will get left behind regardless of how solid your brand may be now. You’re only as good as your next victory.