Inspiration

I stare at a computer a lot, and when I need to design the look for a new site I’m quickly stumped for ideas because I want to build a site that is different than the other sites out there. The real question is where do you look for inspiration? Do you want the site to reflect the physical world or do you want it to be a new vision? This is always a struggle for me. I personally like sites that mirror in some way the physical world. One of the things that really gets on my nerves is when a site is presented as nothing more than a brochure ready for printing.

This is not always possible of course. Some things don’t have a physical counterpart in the real world. An adoption and foster care agency doesn’t have a physical component to it’s business. There are children of course, but that’s the focus of the agency and it doesn’t meet the market to build a website that is very child centered when children wouldn’t be using it. So there must be a balance of purpose, compatibility, imagery, usability and function.

The best balance between these things is mirroring the physical world with the use of computers to aid that functionality. People enjoy this way of functioning. Flight simulators allow people to learn to fly airplanes without having to worry about the dangers involved. Websites should be similar. People have a feeling for the physical, I think it helps them to related and makes it natural for them to interact with a computer. Certain things on the computer have been learned as a natural response, however, they aren’t always a good way. Even the concepts of Tabs in web site navigation and web browsers are taken directly from the physical world.