Written by John Einar Sandvand
Communications Manager - product & tech
Published March 17, 2015

10 sites that inspire our designers

Their job is to create fantastic user experiences. But what sites inspire the designers? 

Schibsted Tech Polska works with several of the largest media houses in Scandinavia. Our designers are part of creating top-of-the-notch user experiences in a demanding market.

So we asked five of our designers to pick two sites each that really inspire them with its excellent design – and to also tell us what makes this design so good.

 

Here are the ten sites:


 

design_dominikaDominika Rudowicz

Graphic and Interaction Designer working with the Swedish media house Aftonbladet

I wish to share my personal top fresh choices that also use a mix of today´s design fundamentals, such as strong visual layout, natural interaction for the user and invisible user experience.

It is all about inspiring you on a grey day. Always look on the bright side of the web!

Orangina

design_orangina

Orangina made a responsive website which is fresh thanks to its use of vivid colors. The colors on the site correspond and interact with the juicy liquids from the company.

The site perfectly kicks you with a dose of energy.  Besides: Orangina happens to be one of my favorite sparkling drinks.

Melanie F.

design_melanie

This is not another catalogue of products. Rather it is a modern fashion showroom where you can find original products. Melanie put an effort to make it super up-to-date full of web tricks.

I like the cheerful feeling created by parallax scrolling with tiny geometric figures dancing on the screen to smoothing music sounds.


Bartosz Chucherkobartosz

UX/UI Designer in Schibsted Norway Tech´s Editorial Team

When I think about any kind of design, I always try to look past the ‘appearance’ layer. For me the overall experience, usefulness and usability are crucial to any design.

When it comes to web design in particular I usually look for qualities like clarity, attention to detail, balanced typography, proper use of negative space, apposite content, design relation to brand values and so on. And this is what I seek in digital design:  Simple, clean, structured and light interfaces.

Jacob´s Creeek Winery

design_jacobs

The redesigned website of this famous Australian winery seems to align with my preferences. It is well structured with just enough content, nice photographs, clean typography and attention to detail. Text mixed with multimedia also provides a unique storytelling experience for the reader, that offers something beyond simple overview of the product line.

All in all the website has a very balanced look that unveils a bit of luxury, something that I think is in line with the brand’s message.

Apple.com

design_apple

While this is not a very original example, Apple.com is a website that still serves as an inspiration to me. The overall functionality of the website hasn’t changed much for the past decade, which is quite unique. The website serves as a marketing and e-commerce platform. Both fulfill their jobs very well. The design has always been based on bold typography, sharp photographs and adequate use of white space which results in pleasing aesthetics.

What is also important is a service design approach, which in case of the website means it blends well within overall experience customers have with the brand. The site uses the same design language as all product lines.


Arkadiusz Janeczkoarek

UX designer, SEALs team in Gdansk

More info: arkadiuszjaneczko.pl

Design is a word that people often give intuitive meaning. For some it is more visual, interaction or even logo. For me great design is a balance between looking great and working well. It is about solving problems that really matter and paying attention to people´s pains, obstacles and goals they want to achieve.

Finally design is all the tiny decisions made by you in the course of product development.

Product hunt

design_producthunt copy

I love Product Hunt for its minimalistic and almost aesthetic design. Today we all suffer from information overload.

The Product Hunt design solved problems of findability by curating delightful product collections. It is updated daily.

Quora

design_quora copy

Quora is my favourite example of minimalistic interfaces. It appears to be one of the least designed sites on the internet. It’s text heavy, without any sense of colors. Yet in the same time it connects you to everything you want to know about with just a few clicks.

Product designers at Quora focus on creating the easiest place to write new content, organize people and their interests so you can collect and share the information most valuable to you.


Iwona Leszczynskaiwona

UX designer for the Norwegian media house VG

For me the word “design” is strongly connected with planning the navigation, user interaction, functional, integrity, usability, persuasiveness and overall experience. In my daily work planning the overall structure, functionality and usability testing is what excites me the most.

What makes the design good? It’s simplicity. To summarize all the ideas, technology, usability, flows, users expectations etc. and stay with what is unique in the business jungle. It is a great challenge.

Codepen

design_code

Inspiring usage of code to generate new ideas for attracting the users.

Amazon.com

design_amazon

It is one of the first websites that has planned customers journeys. For me it is a website with one of the strongest user shopping experience.  There are a bunch of brilliant ideas presented in a simple way.


Magdalena Fomienkomagda

UX designer for Stavanger Aftenblad in Norway

I am a graphic designer and front-end web developer.

As designer I am love with everything that is innovative, smart and user-friendly.

 

 

Mein Honig

design_mein

Because: One-page websites are very popular these days. This shows it can still be refreshing and beautifully crafted.  The graphics is genious.

Slow Your Life

design_slow

Because: This Polish site has a really innovative menu, beautiful pictures, clear layout, horizontal scrolling and a great UX experience.

Written by John Einar Sandvand
Communications Manager - product & tech
Published March 17, 2015