I probably spend way too much time browsing the Internet (don’t we all), but I have a good excuse! I am always on the prowl for great web site designs. I’m looking for inspiration and ideas that I can borrow and adapt in my own web design work. Of course, looking at good web sites is a fantastic source of inspiration, but looking at bad designs can be just as educational.
Often clients ask me to look at their existing web site to offer suggestions to make them look better, easer to use, or more effective. I look for some obvious things like overuse of Flash animation (see this post) broken links, difficult to use navigation, poor use of white space to name a few. Often cleaning up a few obvious problems can really improve a mediocre web site.
That’s where really bad web sites can help. Looking at lots of bad designs can help tune your critical eye, so that you start to be on the lookout for common errors. I recently discovered a great site, Web Pages That Suck. Not only do the authors of the site point you at a lot of “web sites in need of work”, they also explain why they thing the pages suck, so that you can learn from and avoid similar mistakes.
Check it out, and start browsing the web with a critical eye.
Does your web site need a face lift? Give us a call for a free, no obligation critique of your current site. We can work with your existing web design team, or we can do the work for you.