5 Ways to Find Blog Design Inspiration Offline

Your blog’s design and layout is something that takes time, careful planning, and careful attention to detail. But have you ever paused to think about where you’re getting inspiration for your design? If you’re only copying other blogs, are you really doing anything unique? Instead, maybe you should turn your attention towards the offline world.

Five Places to Look for Inspiration

It may seem strange to look offline for design inspiration, but remember that you’re trying to stoke your creativity – not mimic what everyone else is doing. When we study other web design projects, we find it difficult to look deep into them and see what’s really happening. Instead, our natural inclination is to copy what they’re doing. However, when you study other artistic mediums, you’re able to look at them for what they are.

With that being said, here are a few specific offline places you should look for web design inspiration.

1. Product Packaging

Believe it or not, you can gain a lot by studying product packaging. You don’t even have to leave your desk to perform this little exercise. Look at the various items in your office and study the various things they do. Notice how they deal with folds, use different textures, and combine colors to emphasize particular elements.

Not getting good vibes from the product packaging you have on hand? Feel free to browse the web for some unique selections – such as these. How can you implement similar techniques in web design?

2. Store Windows

“With the emergence of online retail, shop windows are under increased pressure to appeal to potential customers. This pressure has generated tremendous amounts of creativity in the field of shop window design,” Wix points out.

The design lessons you learn from store windows will prove especially valuable when it comes to designing ecommerce homepages. While the medium is different, the goal is the same: get people to view and purchase products.

3. Magazines and Catalogs

When was the last time you paid attention to magazine and catalog design? It’s actually a lot like web design. There’s a cover – the homepage – and an internal hierarchy of complimentary pages. There are also a wide variety of sizes, materials, colors, and layouts. Flip through those catalogs you have stacked up next to your desk and see what’s hiding within. Tear out pages you like and tack them up on your bulletin board. Before long, you may start to develop a new sense of style.

4. Art Galleries

There are art gallery aficionados and then there are those people who only visit an art gallery when they’re inadvertently confronted with one while on vacation. If you fall into the latter category, then you actually have more to gain from visiting a gallery.

When you walk into an art gallery, you’re confronted with a wide variety of displays – often consisting of sculptures, paintings, and drawings. Each has a unique flare and can send your wheels spinning.

5. Architecture

Finally, there’s much to be gleaned from studying different types of architecture. From the different materials used and the unique floor plans to the changing elevations and placement of windows and doors, every home is unique in its own right. As such, there’s much for you to learn.

Don’t Limit Yourself

Whether you’re suffering through a prolonged period of designer’s block or simply want to change things up, make sure you’re looking beyond web design for inspiration.

Specifically, turn your attention towards offline elements like product packaging, store windows, magazines and catalogs, art galleries, and architecture. You may be surprised by what you discover.

Original post: 5 Ways to Find Blog Design Inspiration Offline

from Daily Blog Tips http://www.dailyblogtips.com/5-ways-to-find-blog-design-inspiration-offline/
via IFTTT