Custom Website Design

If you’ve spent any time at all looking around at WordPress themes that are available either for free or as a premium theme, you certainly know that there’s a very wide variety of quality available. Of course, that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with free themes. Anyone can create and distribute a theme for WordPress, which is one of the strengths of using WordPress as your CMS or blogging platform. However, that also means you’ll have to be careful when selecting a theme.

With the rise in popularity of premium themes and the increasing demand for them, the line between free theme and premium theme can be difficult to distinguish. I’ve read from a number of theme developers that have been unsure of how to distribute their theme, for free or for sale.

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For all types of designers inspiration and creativity are vital to success. If you read many blogs in the web design community I’m sure you’re familiar with posts of inspirational designs and, of course, CSS galleries . We’re so used to seeing the 100+ CSS galleries that exist to the point that many designers tend to rely on them too heavily.

While it’s productive and helpful to see excellent examples of work from other web designers, basing to much of your inspiration on other sites can lead to a lack of variety and innovation in design. Fortunately, there are countless other ways to improve upon the creativity of your designs. Let’s take a look at 7 of them.

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Two of the more popular posts from the archives are the inspirational galleries of minimalistic designs part 1 and part 2. Over the past few months I’ve continued to come across excellent designs that show that a beautiful design doesn’t have to be busy. Here is another collection of 25 inspirational designs.

Concentric Studio

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I’m happy to unveil the new look here for Vandelay Design! The new design is quite different from the old one, and I hope that it will provide a better home for the content of this blog. If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or in your email I encourage you to visit and see what you think (and of course if you’re already on the site please click around a little bit to check things out).

There were a few main goals with the redesign, which I’ll touch on in a minute, but ultimately I hope that it makes the blog a more comfortable and welcoming place for readers. Please leave your feedback, positive or negative, if you have a moment. Also, I’ve tested things myself, but if you see anything that’s not working please let me know.

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Understanding the mentality of your visitors is critical. Their opinion of your website is more important than having a pretty design . Why do they arrive at your website? How do they arrive? What are they looking for? What will make-or-break their visit? What will make them come back?

If you understand why someone is visiting, then you can do a better job of giving them what they are looking for and you can make their visit more fulfilling. To really understand why someone is visiting, you really need to have an idea of who they are and what situations surround them. Knowing your target audience is crucial and it should impact just about everything that you do.

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For web designers and graphic designers, gradients provide almost unlimited options for creating the perfect look. This list is a collection of excellent tutorials and resources for effectively using gradients. Some of the tutorials and resources are specific to Photoshop and Illustrator, and others are general. Regardless of whether you use gradients every day or if you’ve never used a gradient, there should be something here for you.

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For graphic designers who are interested in selling some of their work in other ways than just client work, stock photography sites can provide that opportunity. In this post we’ll take a look at some of the leading stock photo sites that also sell illustrations from graphic artists. There are even a few sites on the list that specializes in graphic art rather than stock photography.

iStockphoto

iStockphoto is probably the largest and most popular place to buy images and photos online. As a seller you can create an account and apply to be a contributor. Once you’re approved you’ll be able to upload your work and earn a base commission of 20% on anything sold, and exclusive providers earn up to 40%. iStockphoto offers buyers the option to pay for files individually or to become a subscriber, so there is a little bit more to the commission structure of the sellers than just a simple percentage. For more details, see their page with details on the program.

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One of the current trends in web design over the past year or two has been an increase in sales of premium web templates and themes. As WordPress has exponentially grown as a popular CMS and blogging platform, premium themes have opened up new opportunities for both customers and developers. Earlier this year Smashing Magazine asked if premium WordPress themes are here to stay, and I believe the answer is “yes.”

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Most of us probably put a great deal of thought and effort into the design of a blog, but once it’s launched there is a tendency to type a post and hit publish without giving much thought to the visual elements of the post. I know I fall into that trap quite often, and I don’t think I’m alone.

The heart and soul of the blog post is the content itself, however, the design, layout, and formatting certainly impacts the attention that visitors give to the content. For the current re-design that’s in the works for this blog, this is a factor that I would really like to improve.

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In the right situation, a dark website background can create a stunning look. As a follow up to the original collection from several months ago, here are another 25 dark websites for your design inspiration.

Infinite Imagination

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