It’s time for what (if you’re a designer) will probably be your favorite step in my free report, Get Your Website Done: 12 Actionable Steps for Designers . . . take inspiration and design! Now that you have picked a niche, written your content, taken photographs, and prepared your portfolio, we can finally look for inspiration and get down to the design.
Personally, when it comes to my new website, I took some inspiration from my current website design. I think there’s some strength there and I want to keep certain elements of my brand alive. I tried to do this in an organized way, so let’s get to it!
Don’t have a clear point of inspiration? Starting from scratch?
Look around (with a time limit). In my opinion, time spent surfing the web is time well-spent as long as you have a timer set (or else you could be surfing for years). Find other designs that make your heart flutter. Go through your bookmarks and Pinterest boards. Go to the sites of the colleagues you admire. Look at the website of your competitors.
Go back to the basics. Sometimes, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’ll find great ideas and clarity by going back to the basic principles of design.
And, now the design . . .
Work on your site during your most productive time. Don’t banish it to your sleepy hours.
Schedule it like you would a client project.
Have a deadline—mine is March since I’m speaking at WordCamp Atlanta again!
Use your process. Your process works for clients and it will work for your project too.
Just get started. Sometimes the hardest part is beginning. I find that when I simply start a design—open up Illustrator and get to work—ideas start to flow and everything comes together nicely.
If this all seems too overwhelming, maybe you need two creative brains designing your website. I’m happy to help. Let’s talk.
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Very helpful post. Thanks for sharing.
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