We covered some of the fundamental principles that separate great websites from mediocre ones in our previous post about the Dos and Don’ts of Good Website Design. But knowing the rules is only half the battle – the other half is finding inspiration to fuel creativity and push web designs forward.
This is why one of the first things we ask web design clients is to share sites they love, whether it’s because of their overall aesthetic or something about the user experience. It helps us understand their design sensibility while offering a tangible way to discuss more abstract design concepts.
We follow the same approach internally, constantly seeking innovative ideas we can adapt to our projects – from dynamic content displays to bold color palettes and graphic styles that expand our creative horizons. Over the years, we’ve identified a handful of sites we return to repeatedly for quality inspiration.
Before diving into our curated list, let’s revisit some core principles to keep in mind as you browse and gather ideas:
- Easy to navigate: Users should intuitively understand how to move through the site.
- High quality images: Crisp, professional visuals that enhance rather than distract.
- Legible typography: Text that’s easy to read across all devices and user conditions.
- Balance of content/white space: Strategic use of negative space to create visual breathing room.
- Responsive across devices: A seamless experience whether viewed on desktop, tablet, or mobile.
- Accessible design: Proper color contrast, alt text, and other considerations for all users.
- SEO-friendly: Structure that helps search engines and AI tools understand and rank your content.
With these fundamentals in mind, here are our six favorite resources for web design inspiration, along with a few of our favorite recent examples from each:
1. Awwwards
Awwwards showcases websites that push the boundaries of what’s possible on the web, featuring innovative interactions, stunning visuals, and creative user experiences. Each featured site is judged by a panel of industry experts on design, usability, creativity, and content. Many of the sites as a whole are more experimental than what a typical business needs, but there’s still no shortage of creative elements to be inspired by.
Examples:
Dropbox Brand: Using motion to tell a brand story
InCheq: Use of color and shapes
2. CSS Design Awards
CSS Design Awards recognizes sites that demonstrate outstanding CSS styling work, innovative layouts, and creative problem-solving. What sets this resource apart is its focus on the technical craft behind beautiful designs – it offers inspiration not just for how things look, but also for how they’re built.
Examples:
Ecole Trilingue Vision: Playful shapes and colors mingling with typography
Canopy Planet: Floating text and “card” outline over photography
3. Dribbble
Dribbble’s web design section showcases individual design concepts, interface elements, and creative explorations from a global community of designers. While some shots are more conceptual than practical, the platform is excellent for finding inspiration for specific interface elements, color combinations, iconography, and micro-interactions. The popularity sorting helps surface designs that resonate with the design community, and the detailed shots often spark ideas for solving specific design challenges.
Examples:
Jordan Hughes: Interesting arrow placement for card carousel
Ali Corak: Article feature using a carousel that overflows the edge of the page
4. Httpster
For a more curated and refined approach to web design inspiration, Httpster delivers quality over quantity. This gallery features a carefully selected collection of beautiful websites, organized by style, type, and subject matter. The clean, minimalist presentation lets the featured designs speak for themselves without overwhelming navigation or cluttered layouts. Httpster is particularly valuable for finding examples of excellent typography, thoughtful color palettes, and smart layout solutions that work across different industries and use cases.
Examples:
USPS Generational Study: Collage graphics mixing B&W with pops of color
Overpass: Icons using simple shapes and color overlaps
5. Landbook
Landbook focuses on page designs, rather than full websites, with a particular emphasis on exceptional landing page designs. Their landing page examples include everything from product launches and app downloads to service offerings and event promotions. They also feature designs for portfolio pages, blogs, case studies, about pages, and e-commerce. This format offers a great space for finding page type-specific or content-specific inspiration.
Examples:
Wunder: An editorial feel with pops of neon
Cohere: Extending color and shape from a logo into the page design
6. The Webby Awards
The Webby Awards represent the “Oscars of the Internet,” recognizing excellence in website design and digital experiences across numerous categories. The awards cover everything from artistic achievement and technical innovation to user experience and social impact. Since the awards are divided into categories by both industries and features, and include both winners as well as honorees for each year, there’s a lot here to be inspired by.
Examples:
New Course Enterprises: Creative use of logo elements for masking, outline shapes, and icons
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Interesting use of enclosing shapes for slideshows and imagery as you move down the page
Remember, the goal isn’t to copy, but to identify what works and adapt those principles to the unique needs and brand identity of a given project. Combining great web design inspiration with a solid foundation of fundamentals can help create websites that aren’t just beautiful, but are built to help businesses achieve their goals and provide genuine value to users.
If you need help on your next web design project reach out, we are happy to help. And feel free to browse some of our projects for additional web design inspiration.
