Getting Your Creative Juices FlowingWhether or not you're a professional web designer doesn't mean you won't ever find yourself staring at a screen wondering what to do best. It happens to all the best of them and it can happen to you no matter which of our free Flash templates you're working on and especially if you're not working with free Flash templates at all. Here are a few tips to getting started even when all inspiration seems to have evaporated. 1. Creating a Layout. When writing an essay, often teachers tell you to start by writing a title. This is not necessarily the best course of action when you're staring at a blank page which you need to fill with a design. Start by adding the readymade texts, such as pictures and videos, any paragraphs you have ready and that sort of thing. This will help you create a general page layout and structure that will make it easier to understand and design the rest of the page. Once things are already arranged on the page it will be easier to get the inspiration for the next few steps.
2. Drafting. Don’t be afraid of erasing. If you haven't erased anything on your web design you're probably not being very creative. Why don't you start by sketching ideas for your web design on a piece of paper with a pencil? Pencils make things less final and it's easier to keep an open mind this way and stay creative. Trial and error is the best way to learn anything. Once you've made at least 20 drafts, you'll be sure to have something in the works. There's a good chance that as you erase elements on your web design, certain other elements will remain.
3. Outsourcing Inspiration. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. An old art teacher of mine once told me that we stand on the shoulders of giants. What he meant was that so much has already been done to define and refine the art language, our task is to understand what has already been done and use it to jump much, much higher. The same goes for web design. There are many different websites out there, some designed better than others. Browse through sites from the similar niches as your own and see what your colleagues are doing. This may give you ideas and inspiration and is definitely more effective than staring at a blank screen. This is not a recommendation to copy or imitate someone else's design.
4. Be a Sponge. Stay observant. This isn't just relevant when you're on the internet. There are lots of examples of graphic design around us. Look at billboards around you, commercials, fliers… you may even learn something from commercials. When you see something you like, put your thoughts into words and jot them down on a piece of paper. Ask yourself the following questions: what do I like about this design? How is this effect achieved? What do I dislike about this design? This will help you learn as you go.
5. Play Hard to Get. You've just spent three days designing the perfect button. It's a masterpiece of design with an intricate code you spent a week studying to achieve. You absolutely love it and you've been sending all your friends urgent texts asking them to admire your work of art button. You're considering building a statue to immortalize this design achievement… and the only problem is that it has nothing to do with the rest of your website. One says tomato and the other potato – well, you know what I mean. Don't throw it out. I won't be cruel, you can keep it, you never know when a fabulous button will come in handy, but let it go. Breath in, breath out. It's okay. Tomorrow is another day.
6. Recognize the Right Time to Step Back. Designing a website is a long process and often after you've spent a certain number of hours perfecting a specific group of pixels on your screen you'll find that you're starting to second guess yourself. Your freshness is starting to disappear and you can't make up your mind what's good and what's not. Once you've finished a draft of your design take some time to concentrate on other things. This is a good time for paragraphs 3 & 4 for example. Take the evening off to let your mind rest and absorb. Come back tomorrow when you're refreshed and ready to continue. Trust me, it’s a good idea no matter how great you are.
7. Don't Give Up Versatility. Just because you know how to draw a perfect circle doesn't mean your entire web design needs to be made up of perfect circles. Somehow, I'm pretty sure that on your 50th circle, the circle will have lost that special glow your circles used to have. Learning is an endless process and no one who is closed off from new ideas can ever really be good. Don't repeat yourself. Search the horizon for new ideas, new directions and new sources of inspiration. Evolve and your websites will evolve with you. Trust me, it's worth it.
8. Get Feedback. I'm assuming you're not going to be your own website's end user. Whether you're creating a website for your music, photography, business, non-profit organization or anything of that sort, it’s a good idea to get feedback. Don't just as for it – listen to what people are telling you. Good things to pay close attention to in the feedback process include the navigation's clarity and functionality, what people are understanding from your website, which pages they tend to reach first and what kind of vibes they are getting.
Good Luck.
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