Where Do You Start On A Redesign
One of the critical parts of website research is what you do, and maybe more importantly, what you do NOT like on how a website looks and works. Often clients refer to competitors when they point out these likes and dislikes, which is OK, but can force these clients into a corner.
But I would encourage you to look outside your competitors, and even your business classification for inspiration. Find a look that is user friendly, modern and gets your business and culture across to your clients.
Sites To Inspire
Apart from just surfing the web looking for inspiration there are places dedicated to inspire design. Here we’re going to list five sites that can provide some layouts, functions and tones for your potential redesign.
- WebDesign-Inspiration – Seems like a logical place to start, doesn’t it? Pretty easy to figure out, browse and find a site that inspires you. https://www.webdesign-inspiration.com/
- SiteInspire – Again, look through the site, find something you like, and take it to your development team. https://www.siteinspire.com/
- Hubspot publishes a list of the best website designs to inspire every year since 2014. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-website-designs-list
- AWWWARDS – place to submit, vote and view cutting edge web designs. These are often very progressive and artistic, but there are some great inspiring elements on these sites. https://www.awwwards.com/
- Elegant Themes Divi Showcase – The last one is Divi specific, since I design primarily in that theme. Elegant Themes has a site where users can submit their designs and the best are displayed for users. https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/#customer-showcase
Again, it’s important to look past the content and to see the design, the layout and even some of the plugins that can be implemented into your site when it’s time to discuss a redesign or initial launch. This can save DOZENS of hours of redesigning and tweaking layouts in the long run. Don’t forget to look at and discuss fonts, heading and text sizes, colors, image sizes, social media feeds, calendars and anything else you think you need.
#WPWednesday – WordPress 5.4
WordPress 5.4 scheduled for launch 3/31/2020 with several “block editor” improvements. Not sure an update during these turbulent times is a good idea, but the updates include :
- Several “block editor” improvements
- Social Icons block – allows easy insertion of social media profiles (FB, TW, IG)
- Buttons block – allow adding more than one button per line
- Better background color options for blocks
- Drag & drop an image to the Featured Image section. Great for social sharing and blog images.
- Select text in a block and change its color instead of changing the entire block
- Fixed mobile toolbar on mobile
As always, run backups and take other precautions before you run the update. Good luck!
What are your favorite ways to be inspired on a website redesign? Leave them below, or send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!
