I’ve seen it all before.

Web design galleries are starting to all look the same. Web sites featured for their “design” simply look like the “designer” followed a tutorial. I am starting to see a decrease in original ideas and an increase in copied design.

Please don’t hate me for calling these folks out. There is nothing inherently bad about their sites. However, the layots & graphic elements are becoming all too common from one site to the next. These are all well put together examples, and to someone who doesn’t read 30 design blogs everyday, they look pretty darn good. But are they worthy of being showcased for their individuality? Probably not.

“3 bar” layout

Here are 5 sites with the “3 bar” layout – a top nav with a logo, a middle bar with headline content and main content below that. Usually the top nav is in a dark grey, the middle is a bright blue or green and the bottom is a light color.

http://www.solidshops.com/ – This layout has become ubiquitous with web apps. I could have filled 5 blog posts with web apps that use this style and layout. It looks clean and professional, but gets an F for layout originality.

http://niagakit.com/ – Same as above.

?http://www.proudcloud.net/

http://www.yaronschoen.com/ – At least the illustrations and breaking of the grid make up for the standard layout used.

http://www.nabru.co.uk/ – Again, it looks clean and professional and the elements add a more organic feel, but the layout is still too out-of-the-box for me.

Here is where to go to learn how to do this effect:

PSD Tuts+ – How to design a family of websites

And, here is how to do it right:

http://madebygiant.com/ – Giant Creative has taken this layot and made it their own simply by making their navigation “talk”. The bright colors contrast with the neutral background. The superb typography makes the design shine.

http://www.stanleysolutions.in/ – This site is broken into those same 3 visual sections, but the diagonal lines on the center text box as well as the lack of line dividing the nav and the feature area make this site own its design.

The pinking shear effect.

I like textured edges as much as the next guy. Heck, I probably like sewing and handmade edges more than the next guy. But it has become an over-used design trend. Evidence below:

https://epicevent.com.au/ – To me this site is overdone and Photoshop heavy. The overall effect is nice, but there is just one too many effects here.

http://www.stthomasartgallery.org/ – You cannot take pinking shears to wood. The zig-zag line makes little to no sense here. No background behind the nav and darker text would have made more sense.

Culinary Culture

http://www.culinaryculture.com/- This one has me on cute overload. This is another case where someone needed to turn off 30% of the Photoshop effects. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t terribly awesome either.

Here is where to go to learn how to do this effect:

Grafpedia – Design a unique WordPress theme

Grafpedia – Gritty website design

And here is how to do it right:

http://analog.coop/ – The effect is used sparingly. And tastefully. It adds to the design without being an over-powering element.

In conclusion, the web design world is slowly being over taken by what is “trendy”. And, yes, it can still be good design even if it is “trendy”. What you want is a site that acknowledges the trends in the industry and then takes them and makes them their own, instead of letting the trends take control.

That being said, all of the websites here are designed well (I don’t like ugly websites, and don’t want to call out people for having terrible skills, just doing what is “trendy” or “typical”), some are just more original than others. These sites were all put together by designers with tremendous skill. Some are just a little too attached to the bandwagon.

About mary fran

Mary Fran has been obsessed with the web for over 12 years. She owns Purple Crayon Web Studio. She even has a personal portfolio called OriginalMoxie. She is a seasoned web developer and this year she finally decided to write this blog.