25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites – Part Two

Last year I published 25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites. Today I’d like to follow up with another set of 25 sites for your design inspiration.

In this collection you’ll see a good deal of variety between the sites. Some use a minimal layout that showcases the photos without distraction, and others are a bit more flashy.

Joshua Sterns

Gallery of 3D Elements in Web Design

If you pay attention to web trends you have probably noticed that a growing number of sites are using designs that give the appearance of three dimensions. 3D design elements can help to make the design look more unique, as well as to highlight something in particular by drawing the visitor’s attention. In this post you’ll see 25 websites that use some type of 3D element in the design.

Yoast

Announcing the Launch of 5 Niche Galleries

Today I’m happy to announce that I have launched a network of five niche gallery sites! Many of us visit design and CSS galleries on a consistent basis for design inspiration, and there is no shortage of galleries to choose from. Some of my favorite galleries are those that exist to showcase work of a specific kind (We Love WP is a good example, it is a showcase of WordPress-powered sites).

Niche galleries are especially useful for designers because they allow you to get the specific type of inspiration that you are looking for without being overwhelmed by too much that doesn’t interest you. You can go to a niche gallery and quickly find helpful and relevant inspiration that applies to your own situation. With that in mind, I have chosen five topics for galleries that I thought would be of use to many designers.

If you have any interest in some of these types of design, please check out what has been posted already and subscribe to the feed or follow on Twitter. Each gallery has been launched with more than 30 showcased items and they will be updated consistently (The amount of new additions will depend partly on how many quality submissions are received, so please feel free to submit your work for consideration. Ideally, there will be about 10 additions each week per gallery).

Minimal Exhibit

Some of the most popular posts that have ever been published on the Vandelay Design blog are the collections of websites with a minimalist design style. Minimal Exhibit is a niche gallery that showcases only sites with excellent use of minimalism in the design.

40 of the Best Websites of Non-Profit Organizations

Budget limitations are common with non-profit and charitable organizations. As a result, organizations often compromise on the need for an effective and attractive website. However, the websites shown here represent some of the most well designed websites of non-profits.

The Memphis Zoo

Major Networks of Websites: Trends and Showcase

Networks of websites owned by the same company are obviously very common. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the trends of major networks as well as to provide a showcase of the various sites that make up the network, so in this post we’ll do just that. We’ll look at 7 major networks and make some observations about common practices and trends.

Trends in Network Sites:

1. Common Identity

Part of the reason a network of sites may be stronger than the individual sites would be collectively is that visitors are able to associate the sites as being connected. If a visitor is new to a particular site in the network, the site may still have a familiar feel because he or she has already been to other sites in the network.

Branding and identity are important for any website or business, but a network of sites is able to capitalize on this more so than an individual site. The identity may be established by displaying the logo of the network, by stating that it is part of the network, or just by having a familiar look and feel that indicates it is part of the network.

Showcase of Testimonials in Web Design

Testimonials from customers and clients are used on a lot of websites to demonstrate credibility and build trust. In response to a reader request, I put together this post to showcase testimonials in action on a variety of websites. Here you’ll see more than 25 sites using testimonials, many with different approaches. Hopefully these will give you some ideas for use in your own design work.

SEO Group

25 of the Best Websites for Educational Institutions

The need for schools, universities and other educational institutions to have a quality website is constantly increasing as online technologies become a bigger part of the educational process, and as students and prospective students turn to the internet for information.

In this post we’ll feature 25 well-designed educational websites.

Stone Laboratory

25 Websites with Lighting Effects – Part 2

Lighting effects can be fun to experiment with in Photoshop, and a number of websites use this approach for creating a dramatic look. Several months ago I posted a collection of 25 websites with lighting effects, and today we’ll follow up with another 25 sites.

GCN

Showcase of Twitter Integration on Blogs

You’ve probably noticed that Twitter links and updates are now very commonly found on blogs. There are a few different ways that Twitter can be used and integrated into a blog, and this post will showcase 30 blogs that are promoting a Twitter account. Some show the most recent Tweets and others are simply icons and links to the Twitter page. There is a good bit of variety from these featured sites, so hopefully you’ll find some that you like.

Argee

Showcase of Big Backgrounds in Web Design

Websites using large background images are consistently increasing in popularity. This post is a showcase of more than 30 websites using large background images. As you will see from the websites that are featured here, there are any number of different approaches and possibilities that can be used to create an impact with a background image.

Lanbruk’s Gunyah