Bookmarking inspirational and interesting web designs is all well and good but how can these be used when starting a design project?
When I researched the new hospital website design I knew the sort of design I needed to create very early on. I knew it had to be clean, simple and have a lot of white-space. It also had to look like an ‘NHS site’ but significantly different to our old site.
Pulling inspiration together
So I spent some time noticing key features on certain sites I frequented and when I saw something new I would bookmark it for later use.
Some obvious examples for inspiration were the Number 10 website, the new BBC Beta site and the Whitehouse. Some less obvious examples were sites like MailChimp, Font Deck and Evernote.
Once I had a decent library of inspirational work I took screenshots and then printed them off so I could physically play with them and move them around on a spare wall in my office – this became known as the ‘inspiration wall’:
Similar to a giant mood board (which I’ve used in the past but not on this scale) the wall supplies a constant reminder of the style that you are trying to achieve.
Making your own inspiration wall
- Find a blank wall (doesn’t have to be in the office, try a corridor)
- Print off A4 sized landscape screenshots in black & white (no colour please)
- Don’t just use the homepage/above the fold also print footers and sub-pages
- Use post-it notes to leave ideas and comments on inspiring elements
Why this is a great thing to try
- Your screen may be big, but its not as big as the wall behind it
- Its tactile, you can draw and sketch, cut, tape and play with things in a new way
- Common design trends are more easily noticeable
- It helps engagement with other people
Involve co-workers
You can also try this little test with one of your co-workers, preferably not another web designer:
- Make 5 post-it notes with the numbers 1 to 5 on them
- Find a willing participant who has never seen the wall before
- Give your participant one minute (no more) to rate the designs on the wall on a scale of 1 to 5 by sticking the post-its on the designs they find most appealing
- Repeat the test with other participants and note down any interesting results
The one minute time-frame is the key here. Don’t make people think about what they like, let instinct decide.
I did this in our office and the results were very similar. Almost everyone went for the Number 10 and BBC Beta as their top-rated choices. MailChimp was also popular (people do enjoy primates).
My inspiration wall for this project worked better than I imagined for a number of reasons but the main one was the feedback and conversations that came from collogues who would experience the wall and use it as a way to better understand the hows and whys of the web design process.
