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Arek Nawo
03 Mar 2020
4 min read

8 Best Inspiration Sources for Web Developers and Designers

The job of a web developer slightly differs from those of more general programmers. Instead of algorithms and complex problem-solving, web developers have to focus more on the actual website/web app-user interaction. They have to make sure the User Interface (UI) is appealing enough and that it provides great User Experience (UX) and accessibility.

So, design matters for web developers, designers and all the people involved in the front-end development. That’s why I wanted to put together this short list of go-to inspiration sources for all those people, who want to create increasingly better designs and keep themselves up to date with the latest trends. Hope you find it useful!

Dribbble & Behance

Dribbble website
Dribbble website

If you’ve ever looked for any design inspiration, you must have stumbled upon Dribbble or Behance. These are 2 of the most prominent “social platforms” for designers of all kinds. You’ll find there everything ranging from typography and illustrations to whole UI designs and animations. If there’s any new design trend happening, you can be sure it’s originating from or will soon appear on one of these platforms.

Pinterest & Instagram

Pinterest website
Pinterest website

While both Pinterest and Instagram don’t limit their content to design and graphic, there’s still a lot of interesting stuff you can find out there.

Although Pinterest shares some shots with e.g. Dribbble, if you look a bit closer, you can find some original designs (especially on Instagram). And even if that’s not the case, it’s still comfortable to have an All-in-One inspirational aggregator of some sort, isn’t it?

CodePen & CodeSandbox

CodePen website
CodePen website

As a nod to all my web developer friends, I’d like to bring up all the online coding playgrounds. You know, these awesome places where users share their creations, together with the full source code?

Two of the most popular platforms here are CodeSandbox and especially CodePen, which is positioned as a “social development environment” for web developers.

If you find any interesting designs on e.g. Dribbble, that you’d like to implement yourself, but don’t know where to start, there’s a high chance that you’ll find example implementations (or something close enough) on one of these platforms.

By the way, if you’re looking for a nice online playground and don’t know which to choose, check out my previous blog post on CodePen vs CodeSandbox!

UpLabs

UpLabs website
UpLabs website

UpLabs is yet another inspirational resource, similar to Dribbble and Behance. It stands apart with the functionality to license the provided resources which, in comparison to e.g. Pinterest, are mostly original and unique.

UpLabs is also well-known for its challenges, where contenders have to design a specified application, which is then put to vote by the community. The winner gets the prize of exposure to 600K+ industry professionals and companies around the world. It goes without saying that such challenges are also good as a form of inspiration!

Awwwards

Awwwards website
Awwwards website

Awwwards is, like the name implies, a platform committed to awarding great UI designs. It gives designers a chance for exposure and even winning a design award.

But from the inspirational side, it allows people to see all the submitted designs (some even rated by an international jury), that are fully-working websites that you can experience yourself. Apart from that, Awwwards serves also as a small aggregator of resources (articles, videos, designs, etc.) from other websites, as well as a place to get in contact with industry professionals and agencies.

What else?

I know it might not be the longest list ever, but at least all the listed resources are somewhat valuable (at least in my opinion). There’s a ton of inspiration available on the Web - you just need to know where to look. With that said, let me know in the comment section below, what other inspiration sources you know and would like to share? I’m eager to see all of them!

If you like the post consider sharing it and following me on Twitter, Facebook, or through my weekly newsletter. If you’re interested, I also recommend checking out my YouTube channel. Again, thanks for reading this piece and have a nice day!

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