Design Ideas

[David Harrison]

I've never actually put any effort into web-design when I'm designing wep-pages, therefore the're always a bit of a disaster. So I'm going to design a template for my future use, however I have absolutely no ideas because I'm the most unimaginative person alive.
So I was wondering if you could all tell me what you do for inspiration when you're stuck, or where you get your ideas from.
I know it's a bit of an unusual request but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)

[Aronya1]

lavalamp,

My primary concern is always navigation. If the user can't get around the site easily & intuitively, it probably means that the site's coding is a mess, and making changes to it will be ugly down the road. Also, your user won't spend much time there & won't likely come back.

The type of site I create is always based on the type of client I have, so trying to create a template ahead of time is like the old cliche of putting the cart before the horse. I don't think you can do it with any real success. You COULD create 2 or 3 basic idea models, with different types of sites in mind.

I also try to get as much input from the client as possible regarding what they'd like to see. Which of their competitors' sites do they like? Which don't they like? What's the site content going to be? What's the site's purpose going to be? Informative? Sales-oriented? A teaser designed to get the viewer to call?

Maybe laying out the concept on paper before you try to create the site would help you. Draw it out like a cartoon storyboard.

Hope this helps.

[David Harrison]

The problem for me is not only the lack of images (because I cannot create any good looking images to save my life) but also I get stuck in the same style of layout every time, links at the bottom or left hand side and then the main page for the rest, sooooooo boring and dull.
Not only that but, even though I'm not colour blind, you may think so when I pick colour's like #f00 and #00f, and that's it for the entire site.