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Our Top Sites for Design Inspiration

Our Top Sites for Design Inspiration: Issue 48

Every week at Fueled, our London-based creative director, Rob Palmer, shares a handful of inspirational websites with our teams in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. This weekly email acts as a virtual water cooler, encouraging us to congregate across time zones and discuss what brands and blogs are doing to push new trends in web design.

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A stunning image of an auditorium of sorts presents itself with French content explaining what the website entails.  Don’t fret, for all of you non-French speaking viewers there is a translation option so you can experience the layout in your native tongue.  A neat and concise menu bar displays company background necessities, including contact information, employees, and a list of clients. For those viewers who enjoy visuals, the website allows you to click left and right through pictures of specific projects. Towards the bottom of the website the company cleverly outlines numbers informing viewers of their achievements.

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JD & Co.

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At first glance there is a lot going on this website. The use of the menu tab is imperative for viewers to not become overwhelmed by the onslaught of content throughout the website. The color scheme switches between black, white, and pink depending on which tab is open.  One of the most interesting aspects of the website is the contacts page, which follows a pink to black to white layout. Each of the three locations are pinpointed on a map and also give you the current temperature and corresponding text matching the weather in each location.

JD & Co.

Cienne NY

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Clothing. There are many methods of marketing it. Cienne NY uses a female model, antique backgrounds, and up close animation of fabric in waving motion. Clicking on the “Origins,” “About,” or “Shop” options at the center of the screen will slide out the current page and replace it with another prominent image. Warm colors make clicking through a breeze through your sleeve fabric. This is fashion in evolution.

Cienne NY

History of Icons

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Upon entry to the site you are greeted with illuminated floating devices ranging from white tablets to pink desktops. The website, which looks less like a website and more like a color-coded chronological game of tetris will take you from popular icons you’d find in the “80s” to the illustrious icons we have become accustomed to today. The constant flipping and sliding throughout keeps users active and avidly scrolling for more.  However, if scrolling isn’t your cup of tea then you can click through the vertical circular control panel located on the left. The website does a marvelous job of creating a perfect balance of content and images ensuring that viewers will not become overwhelmed as they extend their digital knowledge.

History of Icons

Adwyse & Co.

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They don’t simply make websites. They create digital experiences. Those experiences start as soon as you come to the home screen where you are presented with a seemingly endless backdrop with the company’s name, just in case you forget whom you’re dealing with. While the layout may seem minimalistic at first glance the majority of content is hidden, but a simple click under each brief title allows viewers to delve into more substantial information. The tabs lets the minimalistic layout flow throughout the website.

Adwyse & Co.

Citak Rugs Inc

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Spots of pink, blue, and yellow reminiscent of color-blindness tests are what distinguish this website from others the most. What’s truly amazing about the page is that the colored particles are constantly rotating while maintaining the shape of its company logo. If you drag your mouse over any region, the affected region will be distorted by a small white circle, suggesting a void. You would never have guessed that the website belonged to a rug dealer if there were no text or links. Its mesmerizing animation alone should have you returning for multiple visits.
Citak Rugs

Hyph

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A visually color flowing layout makes this website extremely easy on the eye.  Minimal amounts of content and maximum use of images ensures viewers will not be overwhelmed upon entrance to the website.  With no menu tab found on the website, the main way to navigate is through scrolling.  Small images with corresponding content below it explain what the company is all about.
Hyph

Affinity Photo

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It’s one thing to live up to your domain name with a rallying mission statement and compelling text. It’s another thing to do it scroll by scroll as users explore the page. The unique signature of this website can’t be found or located. It can only be discovered and realized. As you scroll down the landing page, you’ll encounter certain segments where you keep scrolling but the page doesn’t move down. Instead, a line will climb down the screen and alter the encompassing image, highlighting it with points and making it vibrant with color. This also works the other way if you scroll up. To this end and others, Affinity Photo’s website lives up to its name and then some.
Affinity Photo

Gillemore Magical Gin

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After a brief age verification sequence, the first thing you come across in this website is a rounded glass drink and a badass bottle at its side. The stone cold slate of granite in the background only serves to enhance its cool. If you didn’t like collages in the past, you’re going to love ‘em now. The website embroiders colorful photos of the gin being mixed and served together all in neat multiple rectangles. Magical Gin’s pitch black bottle sports its own touch of authenticity. It comes in the form of one of those lab test tubes with wider bases and its own “Abracadabra” tag that compliments the “magical” in its recipe. Take a look at this website and you might find yourself being able to drink and retain your cool at the same time.
Gillemore Magical Gin

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