Sites of Inspiration
Disclaimer: I've grown up a bit and learned a lot since this blog was started. In the beginning I took tips from the likes of John Chow and Shoemoney and tried to write titles and content for Digg and Reddit. In the end it didn't do me much good and most of it just seems silly looking back. If you're interested anyway, here's what I wrote back then, but take it with a grain of salt.
After an hour in the Smashing Magazine archives, I’ve narrowed my inspiration down to roughly 65 sites. Yikes. In general, I’m feeling a little more locked down for what I’m looking for, definate use of textures and depth, slight grunge style, and a not-so-blog layout. I’m thinking three columns for the home page, possibly elastic, articles on the left, menus, etc. in the middle, and tumblog on the right. Not sure if this theme is going to carry off this page though.
But anyway, without further ado, here’s what I’ve found:
Header
- Kara Burke Illustrations – Love the texture and color, the grunge down the right is cool too.
- Brandon Muth – Simple Web 2.0 style, love the typography but contrast is a little harsh at the bottom. Specifically like the subtitle.
- EvanEckard.com – The menu is cool, and I like the logo.
- cameron i/o – I love the horizontal rule and the brightspot is very slick. Logo simplicity works well too.
- Toggle Design – Like the watermark circles in the upper right.
- TNTPixel – The stapled subtitle is cool, and the texture and depth give it an amazing paper-like feeling.
- adi Pintilie – Love the tabs, the angle is cool.
Layout
- Schneeballschl8 – Love the three column thing with dueling content.
- afasici papuasia – Love the vertical logo and high-contrast between the primary and secondary content.
- I am Jeriko – I love the sunbursts and texture,the locked background is pretty slick. Blogroll in the footer is cool too.
- blog.critical – Clean and grunge.
Footer
- Wilson Miner Live – I love the Ephemera section and concept.
- SamRayner.com – The grunge-type footer is cool, again with the music/reading recommendations.
- Verbalized – Playful and colorful, not quite sure if this will fit, but I like it.
Secondary Content
- SamRayner.com – The watermarks in the right nav are a nice touch.
- Squawk – Subtitles are cool, the bullets on the link-list are very sharp.
Overall
- Design*Sponge – Love the texture.
- Blog What? Design – Texture and depth, a little bit of reflection on the headers, and the post-ending glyph is a neat touch. Contrast and typography are beautiful.
- eleven3 – I just love it.
- grantmx – The feel I’m looking for, clean and grunge at the same time.
- Blogsolid – I’m torn on this one.
- sr28 – Grunge. Web 2.0. Texture. Depth. Perfect.
- 31Three – Love the color and texture.