15 Brilliant Website Design Examples To Inspire You. 7 Steps To Awesomeness

Creating a brilliant website design can be a daunting task sometimes. Not just because of all the steps involved in this process, but also because of all things you should take into consideration and the direction your website design should take on.  

And a good website, which accommodates effectively plenty of content with an excellent user experience is often a tricky balancing act to pull off.  Should you attempt to present the user the whole information in a clean, organized manner, or you should reveal it bit-by-bit, to create an engaging trip that tugs the visitor on the road to the enlightenment?

If you get it wrong, and you will overwhelm your visitors, they’ll leave your website without retaining anything from what they’ve just read.  And maybe they will not come back again, as long as their experience on your website was not exactly what they expected.

But if you get it right, you’ll gain a new audience, who not only understand your message, but they will come back again and again, and even bring few friends with them.

If there is one thing true about the website design, it’s that it is always evolving. The design is dynamic, and it must adjust to accommodate the form and the function. And because of its ever-changing nature, it can be a challenge not only to keep up with the newest design trends but also to follow few principles that should live in every website design.

1. Color – the site’s color should always match your brand’s color scheme and have consistency through the site. Colors evoke emotions for your website visitors and sustain your brand messages. Therefore you should take it into consideration when choosing the colors for your website.  Also, you keep in mind that the colors on your website should be easy to read and pleasant to the eyes.
2. White Space – by using the white space for your website design, you will allow the content and the visitors’ eyes room to breathe   
3. Font – the site’s font doesn’t necessary match your logo but it should fit in your brand. Aside from this, making sure that the font is legible, is one of the most important things. You can vary and mix different fonts through the site, to increase the visual intrigue and add visual appeal, but make sure they complement each other well. Also, keeping the body font consistent across the whole site is essential.
4. Simplicity – the simpler, the better. Keeping your website design simple allows that “clean” look your visitors are looking for.
5. Consistency – keep the design consistent. The website colors, fonts, button styles, heading and subheading sizes and styles, image styles and sizes and backgrounds are among the pieces to keep your site consistent.
6. Usability – make the functionality the key of your website. An appealing visual website shouldn’t sacrifice the ease of usage for a better visual. Creating user-friendly websites with easy to understand navigation and page layout is what determines how your visitors will interact with your website.
7. Visual hierarchy – the relative importance of different content areas and elements can be visually implied in many ways, ranging from the typography (headlines, sub-headings, body text, quotes, etc.) to image size, style, and saturation, placement, etc.   

We gathered 15 website designs for your inspiration. Some of them are new, some of them you’ve seen before. In all of them, you’ll see some of the best practices mentioned before. These sites are, in my humble opinion, well-designed for their clearness, usability, aesthetics and user experience and for sure, they will give you inspiration for the next project you’ll be working on.

 

• Bienville Capital Management

http://www.bienvillecapital.com

This is a very simple responsive design that transitions to mobile perfectly. They kept the information concise and focused, taking into consideration that you don’t need walls of text for attracting and engaging your visitors. Give them the most important information first. In the same time, the navigation menu is very friendly, letting you drive easily through the website.

 

• Brooklyn Soap Company

http://bklynsoap.com/

One of my favorites in the list. The website design is clean and bold, using the white space very well and allowing the visitor’s eyes to rest. The company makes quality products and they don’t need to astonish with a lot of sparkly or complicated graphics and animation to get your interest. Both the website and soaps have an undeniable classy feel, underlined by the black and white color scheme.   

 

• Emblem

  

http://emblemip.com/

This website is entirely funky and funny. The visitor’s curiosity is caused by bright, vivid and sparkly colors, lots of eye-catching imagery, icons, and fonts you wouldn’t usually find in a law company’s website. In the same time, they offer a great user experience, especially with the services section. And guess what? It’s responsive!  

 

• Auger

http://www.auger.co.uk/

I like this mostly flat website, which is responsive and looks good on any device. The solid bold and contrasting colors, combined with vector images and the photos from this website seamlessly melt between devices.  

 

• Falve

 

http://www.falve.co.nz/

This site is a carousel of color-rich full pages images, combined with a lot of white space and clean serif font. The general design is clean, bold and simple, and the overall feeling modern and undoubtedly classy. A site where you are welcomed from the homepage and which implores you to stay.

 

• Brave People

http://www.falve.co.nz/

Check out this website, and you will be rewarded with a brave experience! Simple, clean and bold design, color-rich photography are complemented nicely by the simplicity of the typography. The last, but not the least, the videos from this site tell you the story of this fast-growing digital creative agency in a way you can’t resist!   

 

• GC Watches

  

http://gcwatches.com/

Take a look on this website, and you’ll convince yourself (if it was still necessary) that timeless designs always stand out! Clear copy next to bold and vivid images, in a white and black color scheme, pass the test of the time and become more valuable over the time. Besides, the website is responsive, and its usability gives a great user experience to the visitors.  

 

• Feed

 

http://feedmusic.com/

Feed presents us an interesting concept, with a stunning execution that challenges our understanding of what could be possible on the internet. Using the contrast in the best way possible and blending creatively animation and video, the site provides the users a very engaging experience. A totally atypical site, which contains several unique usability elements, including a navigation that doubles as a scroll progress bar.   

 

• ETQ

 

http://etq-amsterdam.com/

ETQ takes a minimalistic approach to e-commerce with their clear and bold website, with big and compelling visuals for their products. Simple, flat, mixing the powerful and endless elegance of the white and black visuals with a color-based background, the imagery is accompanied by strong and simple typography that helps users to focus on what they want to see: shoes.     

 

• World of Swiss

http://world-of-swiss.com/

Swiss Airlines built a thrilling website that tells their story and describes how it’s like to fly with them in a powerful and engaging way, by captivating their visitors from the first glance. The strong visuals and animation introduce the users to the different sections of the site, which are packed in an unusual sales and marketing pitch.      

 

• IWC Schaffhausen

http://iwc.com/

A timeless classic elegance, perfect for this premium brand. That’s what IWC Schaffhausen’s website offers to their visitors through a refreshingly clean and unexpected design for a watch manufacturer. A simple, clear and bold design, determined by the strong contrast between the neutral colors of the background and the rich-colors photography.

 

• Jack Daniels

  

http://jackdaniels.com/

Once you pass the age verification, the Jack Daniels’ website offers you an incredible experience and tells a great story! A stunning design, rich in colors and contrasts. Once you open the “Our History” page, you are transposed in a world full of history and passion. And you experience the same feelings while you are greeted with a carousel featuring different varieties of whiskey.

 

• Juliana Bicycles

http://www.julianabicycles.com/

If you prefer a photography-infused web design, you should take your inspiration from this site! It is a good inspiration for people who are both goods in photography and web design, as the photos are exquisite and manifest the magnificence in the simplest way possible. Also, like many other websites, this is a responsive one, which makes it good also for tablets and smart phones.     

 

• JOHO’s Bean

http://johos.at/

This website tells the story of a coffee bean’s journey in a compelling, emotional and engaging way. Storytelling, incredible imagery, animation, interactivity, visual design and sound engineering (which you find out from the very first moment you came up on the home page). These all come together and offer the users a unique experience.  

 

• Ogilvy One Worldwide

http://adayinbigdata.com/

The simplicity of this website is amazing, the main focus being on the content and how it could be delivered in the simplest yet prettiest way. The flat design and the minimalistic approach present the content in a readable and logical way, while the very easy navigation makes it better.  All these ensure that the content is properly delivered and understood by the user. The site is also responsive, and this makes it even more beautiful and friendly.     

Bonus: Here are 8 names every graphic designer should know.

Read More at 15 Brilliant Website Design Examples To Inspire You. 7 Steps To Awesomeness

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/15-brilliant-website-design-examplese-to-inspire-you/

Best Places to Find 3D Printing Templates

3D printing is a relatively new field where three-dimensional design projects are being translated to the real world with the help of special printers. This 21st century design field is getting more and more popular with year passing year. 3D printers are becoming more available for the mass consumers which has lead to the opening of many community-driven resource websites for 3D printing templates.

This collection contains some of the best 3D printing template resource websites you can use to meet other fellow designers, download free models, and share your creative projects online.

PinShape

Pinshape is a community driven online marketplace for 3D printing templates. The website serves as a great resource for free STL files but it’s also used as a marketplace for buying and selling 3D printing files. The Pinshape community is comprised of more than 70,000+ designers and makers who are adding up new STL files to the marketplace each day. The website features different designers and helps sellers develop their shops through a series of guides.

Thingiverse

Thingiverse is known as the largest content repository for 3D printing templates. The website is built by MakerBot, the company behind the popular Replicator 3D printers. The site has a great community of 3D designers and specialists in the field who are contributing new STL files on a daily basis. 3D printing templates range from basic shapes to complex multi-part objects.

My Miny Factory

My Miny Factory is another great site on the lists which serves as a resource base for quality 3D printing templates. The STL files are separated into 15 categories ranging from fashion, fan art, cosplay and home accessories to gadgets, electronics, spare parts, and BBC micro:bit objects. My Miny Factory offers quality-tested 3D printing files designed by professionals. The site contains lots of templates, yet if you can’t find what you need, you can always request a specific object by the designers.

NIG 3D Print Exchange

NIG 3D Print Exchange is a STEM-driven community platform. ( STEM is short for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics” ). In this website, people share and distribute a special type of 3D printing templates which are scientifically accurate and medically applicable. The STL files library includes prostheses, neuroscience, molecule models, and more.

3D Warehouse

The 3D Warehouse is a 3D print files repository website which is focused on architecture, scale models, and product design and anything created with the SketchUp software. The website has a great community and features different designers. It is also targeted at manufacturers who wish to share, pitch, and promote their 3D models.

SketchFab

SketchFab has an amazing library of excellent 3D printing templates. The site contains mostly character designs, sculptures and different models in both STL and OBJ format. OBJ is a file format that provides coloring information as an addition to the 3D model and is used in advanced printing. Another thing that makes this website unique is the universal 3D model viewer which allows a full 360-degree view of the object directly from the website prior to downloading.

Instructables

Instructables is a community-driven platform for DIY enthusiasts which originally started as a website for all things do-it-yourself. It’s mostly focused on home and garden DIY projects, yet it also has a great collection of 3D models and various 3D projects. As part of promoting its newly established 3D printing community, Instructables also has a free online class for 3D printing that’s a great start for beginners in the field. The class has everything you need, from templates and guides to materials list, full instructions, and fully accessible classes 24/7.

Grabcad

Grabcad is a community-driven resource base for 3D printing templates which aims at helping mechanical engineers build great products faster. The site works as a collaboration tool between designers and helps them build 3D models together. The community has over one million engineers who are updating the open library daily with free 3D printing files in STL and other formats.

Youmagine

Created by Ultimaker, an open source 3D printer company, Youmagine is a great community resource website for 3D printing enthusiasts and specialist designers who are in search of some quality 3D template files.  Youmagine’s main purpose is to help creatives collaborate and build print-ready 3D models.

Related articles:

 

Using 3D Models to Accent Your Website

8 Best Tools For Making Animated Videos

 

 

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from SpyreStudios http://spyrestudios.com/best-places-to-find-3d-printing-templates/

Color Theory for Web Designers – How to Choose the Right Color Scheme for Your Website

You have decided to create a website. One of the first questions that you will face sounds like “What colors should I choose to make it professional and at the same time visually appealing?” This is not surprising because color is the first things that attract your visitors’ attention, that’s why a color scheme is considered to be the foremost thing every designer should know.

Color affects not only the appearance of a website, but also its effectiveness. It means that an average time spent on site, a number of returned visitors, and even conversion depend on the choice of the color scheme. Moreover, taking into account visualization of modern technologies, color plays one of the main roles on the Internet. And you shouldn’t forget this rule when you start your own website.

However, some of us can hardly pick up a t-shirt that matches the color of the jeans, so it’s not always entirely clear how to choose the right color scheme for your website. But don’t give up, because the theory of color comes to the rescue. Having studied its basics, you will be able to create beautiful and effective color combinations. All experienced web designers rely on the theory, which means that you can do that too! Let’s talk about its main principles, and you will see that everything is much easier than it seems.

Your Working Tool

A color wheel is a basic element of the color theory. We think you all saw him, but if not, here you are:

 

Color circle is your main working tool, clearly demonstrating how colors are created and combined. They are divided into three basic ones – red, blue and yellow, that can be used to create additional colors like green, orange, and purple.
However, circle does not always consist of six sectors, they can include twelve or more variations. In this case, six colors are added as a result of primary and secondary colors mixing. Those are yellow-green, green-blue, blue-violet, violet-red, red-orange and orange-yellow. There are circles that contain 24 sectors with even more additional hues.

Warm and Cool Colors

All color wheels can be divided into two halves. One of them includes warm colors like yellow, orange and red (most shades of brown also belong to the warm color palette). Cool colors are: blue, green, purple and all shades of gray. And here goes the question “Which colors are better – warm or cool?” The answer is obvious – there is no “better” color. Your choice should depend on the effect you are going to achieve and on associations with a particular feeling or idea. Warm colors are considered to be cheerful, friendly and stimulating; cold colors are in most cases calming and relaxing.

As a result, the choice of color depends on your corporate style, needs, and an atmosphere you want to create. If you like experimenting, and you probably do :), you can mix warm and cool colors, the main thing here is to know how to do that right, and in the next part, we will show that to you.

Color Mixing Basics

There are several working color schemes based on the position of colors in the circle. Let’s start with the simplest one, and then move on to more complicated schemes:

Complementary color scheme

According to this scheme, you can combine two contrasting colors located opposite to each other. For example, you can use red and green, or yellow and purple. For a more elegant combination, it is recommended to add neutral additional shades – beige, light brown, light gray, black or white. Those can be the background colors, for instance.

Analogous color scheme

According to this scheme, three colors located next to each other are used. Examples: orange, yellow-orange and yellow, or purple, blue-violet and blue. All these colors will be well combined with each other because of their close neighborhood in the color circle.

Color triad

Speaking about this scheme it will be necessary to remind you some basic geometric rules. Do not be afraid, there is nothing complicated: you take any three colors equidistant from each other. If you connect them using lines, you will get an equilateral triangle. Possible combinations are: yellow-green, orange-red and violet-blue; yellow-orange, red-violet and blue-green. This is a very rich, contrasting scheme, so you will need to find a balance and choose one color as the main one, and make the other two additional.

Split-complementary color scheme

In this scheme, you select a color as the main one and combine it with the other two, that are standing close to its complementary color on the color wheel. If you connect the selected colors with lines, you will get an isosceles triangle. Possible options are: red, yellow-green and blue-green, or purple, yellow-orange and yellow-green. This is a rather contrasting scheme, that has less tension than a complementary one.

Rectangle color scheme

Here you need to choose two pairs of complementary colors. If you connect them with lines, you will get a rectangle. Example: yellow-orange, yellow green, blue-violet and red-violet. This scheme is a perfect option for unusual combinations and creative websites. Though, if you are afraid of creating a color chaos on your website you can choose one color as the basic, and use the other three to make accents.

Monochromatic color scheme

It is clear from the name that this scheme combines shades of the same color. You can both mix dark and light shades, and choose either dark or light variations.

From Theory to Practice

Congrats! Now you know the main color schemes and understand their pros and cons. Let’s see how to use this knowledge in practice. Here are some premium WordPress themes with different color schemes created by TemplateMonster. I think they can be good examples and a source of inspiration. If you have carefully read through the theory and are ready to show your knowledge – guess which color schemes were used in each of the websites and comment below.

Houston Business WordPress Template

Details |  Demo

Bright Print Shop WordPress Design

Details |  Demo

Fast Cleaning Service WordPress Theme

Details |  Demo

Bellaina – Realtor Services WordPress Template

Details |  Demo

Sweet Cakes and Bakery WordPress Theme

Details |  Demo

Wine Store WooCommerce Theme

Details |  Demo

Fashionable Apparel WooCommerce Website

Details |  Demo

Sketchfield – Web Design WordPress Site

Details |  Demo

SEO Agency WordPress Theme

Details |  Demo

Elegant Photography WP Design

Details |  Demo

WordPress Theme for Professional Designer

Details |  Demo

Reliable Financial Company WordPress Theme

Details |  Demo

Bright and Fashionable WordPress Template

Details |  Demo

Vegetarian Restaurant WordPress Theme

Details |  Demo

Best Event Planner WordPress Design

Details | Demo

Read More at Color Theory for Web Designers – How to Choose the Right Color Scheme for Your Website

from Web Design Ledger https://webdesignledger.com/color-theory-web-designers-choose-right-color-scheme-website/

7 Great Ways To Learn Swift Online

As web developers, it’s our responsibility to make sure our clients have beautiful, functional and maintainable websites. But in today’s development environment, more and more clients need a mobile app solution of some kind, and they’re looking to web developers to help them create it. And in a world where some 91% of Americans have cellphones, and 61% of that 91% have the “smart” variety, it’s hard to blame clients’ for wanting to expand their digital presence.

It’s easy enough to up your web development game with new tools like developer extensions. But if you have the skills to help your client create a mobile app, you’ll be bringing in new business for yourself and your company. Learning Swift, Apple’s programming language for iOS devices, is an excellent way to get started down that path. Check out these resources below to take your first step.

1. The Swift Programming Language by Apple

The Swift Programming Language is Apple’s official documentation of the Swift language, but it also makes a great learning resource for developers with the necessary prerequisite knowledge. It’s designed to help programmers that are already familiar with common programming languages pick up and get started with Swift quickly. If Swift is your first programming language, this volume might leave some rudimentary information out, but overall its an excellent-and free!-resource for those getting started with Swift. You can view the document online, or download an ebook copy from iBooks.

2. iOS 10 & Swift 3: From Beginner to Paid Professional by Udemy

iOS 10 & Swift 3: From Beginner to Paid Professional on Udemy.com isn’t cheap. But if you’re serious about learning to use Swift professionally, it’s well worth the $200 price of admission. The instructor, Mark Price, is well known and widely respected, and he’s been teaching Swift courses on Udemy since the language was first released in 2014. He’s had thousands of students and many thousands of reviews, so you can trust that its decent content. And the course is specifically calibrated for those looking to start making money with Swift as soon as possible, so it will be well suited to your professional needs.

3. Swift 3 Essential Training: The Basics by Lynda

If you have access to a Lynda subscription, you can’t do much better than Swift 3 Essential Training: The Basics with instructor Scott Gardner. The course is designed to take you from a novice programmer to someone who can develop basic apps in Swift, but you might need some post-course training before you’re ready to take on the professional world. It covers all the basics, from creating playgrounds, working with strings, controlling program flow and working with structs. It’s great for users looking to get familiar with the structure of the Swift programming language while learning the basics of programming.

4. Developing iOS 10 Apps with Swift by Stanford

Developing iOS 10 Apps with Swift is a full Stanford app development course that’s available for free on iTunes U. If you already have some familiarity with Swift or other programming classes, this is a highly rigorous course that will launch the next step of your journey with Swift. The course calls for experience with C and object-oriented programming, so complete newbies should probably look at one of the more basic courses on this list. Advanced topics covered include object-oriented design using the model-view-controller paradigm, memory management, object-oriented database APIs, animation, mobile device power management, multi-threading, and networking and performance considerations.

5. Learn Swift by Treehouse

Subscription-based education provider Treehouse also provides an excellent track for learning Swift from scratch. The 14-hour course starts at the very beginning, covering the basics of the Swift language, object-oriented programming and simple iOS app development. It’s an excellent course for newcomers looking to get their feet wet, but experienced coders should probably look elsewhere. Subscriptions to Treehouse currently start at $25 per month, and you could likely get through the entirety of the Swift track within that period.

6. Swift Playgrounds for iPad

Swift Playgrounds is an iPad app from Apple that introduces users to the basics of programming in general and Swift in particular. It’s built with a playful interface, making learning engaging for novice and younger users especially. For example, many lessons involve moving an avatar around the screen using the Swift language’s tools. If you’re looking for a rigorous course, this likely isn’t it, but it’s a friendly way for users of all ages to dip a toe into what Swift has to offer.

7. LearnSwift.tips

LearnSwift.tips isn’t an educational course in its own right, but rather a collection of educational resources related to Swift. Even so, it’s an indispensable hub for anyone looking to advance their understanding of the programming language. In addition to links to many of the resources above, it includes cheat sheets, code samples, Swift libraries, Q&A pages and more. And because resources are organized into “Beginner,” “Intermediate,” and “Advanced” difficulty, it’s easy to find content that matches your current skill level.

The Future of Swift

Swift is an excellent language to add to your programming tool belt. Users experienced with C/C++ will that Swift shares a lot of commonalities with those languages, and novice programmers will learn a wide array of programming paradigms and thought processes that transfer easily into other languages.

Aside from the opportunities to be had developing iOS apps, Swift is fast becoming a more popular language for non-iOS tools. It’s likely to see a wave of popularity in the future as the language continues to develop. In a couple years, we might even start seeing server-side applications developed in Swift—the sky is really the limit.

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