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I wish my life was boring.

Layout Block

I’ve been meaning to change my layout for ages, but I just can’t seem to come up with any good or even mediocre ideas!

Usually, a shiny colour scheme I’m dying to play with starts beating me around the head, but now? Nothing.

I’m thinking I should read some good Photoshop tutorials, look for some more design resources, and try out something new. Trouble is, these days, I’m not even sure where to find good, informative, or inspiring Photoshop tutorials. Sure, you can Google for them, but, as with most things, 95% of what Google pulls up is total crap.

This layout block has me so ensnared that I have two perfectly good posts written1, but instead of editing/adding/rethinking bits or even just posting as-is, I’ve been stressing over layout ideas. It’s verging on the point of ridiculous.

How do you get past layout block? What are your favorite design resources?

  1. One I wrote a week ago in which I rant about how I recently had an epiphany that I have to be a teacher, but I’ll probably get shot! ↩

Posted by Donna on 21 February 2008 at 01:45
Filed Under: Site
Tagged: ,

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. Lexie says:
    21 February 2008 at 02:21

    Sometimes I think of a concept and work on that concept. But your best bet would be to look through CSS galleries. =D

    But, really, I’ve seen this layout a thousand times and I still think it’s awesome. :D I can never pull off dark layouts as well as you have done so on this layout.

    Reply
  2. Aisling says:
    21 February 2008 at 15:15

    But… but… I love this layout! *clings to it desperately* In any case, I usually just open Photoshop, look at CSS galleries, and play on ColourLovers ALL AT THE SAME TIME. If I see something I like on a gallery, I play with it in Photoshop. Then I play with colours.

    Reply
  3. Donna says:
    21 February 2008 at 18:24

    Wow, I would have thought this layout was getting old! :) Perhaps when I do change the layout I’ll set up a style-switcher so this can stay as an option.

    I think one of my troubles is I can visualise something fantastic in my head, but when it comes down to it, I can’t seem to recreate it. Sometimes it’s because I have no drawing ability whatsoever and what I’m thinking of needs to be hand-drawn.

    I’m definitely going to start looking at a ton of CSS galleries. I need to organise and update my del.icio.us account with new resource links so I’m not always scrambling to find something.

    ColourLovers? Completely my new favourite website. I think I feel an addiction coming on!

    Reply
  4. Kaylee says:
    21 February 2008 at 20:14

    I try looking for colour schemes, following tutorials, browsing design galleries, but in the end the inspiration seems to come from within. (How corny does that sound?)

    Good luck, although I do love your current layout! Umbrellas and green/blue? Awesome.

    Reply
  5. Donna says:
    21 February 2008 at 23:12

    Umbrellas and green/blue? Awesome.

    Thanks! Blue and green are probably one of my favorite color combinations. :D

    By the way, Aisling, I’m holding you personally responsible for the fact that I just spent the last five hours of my life on ColourLovers and ended up with something like 500 tabs open in Firefox. ;)

    Let me tell you, it doesn’t matter how much RAM you have–500 open tabs will probably make Firefox reach through your screen and strangle you.

    I finally just had to block the site with Invisibility Cloak…and then I promptly unblocked it just so I could find ONE more awesome orange colour. That turned into another hour.

    Reply
  6. Eina says:
    22 February 2008 at 00:26

    Ahahaha! ColourLovers is incredibly addicting! Especially now that they have patterns as well! I quite like this recent layout of yours, though :D

    Speaking of ColourLovers, that’s where I got my inspiration for my current layout. What I do to get over blocks is to download lotsa brushes (then delete them later because you realize you’ve gone overboard with the downloading :P) and just play with them.

    Also… I doodle on paper on how I like my site to look like.

    Reply
  7. Kristina says:
    23 February 2008 at 08:49

    Usually I look through my vogue or elle colllections magazines for inspiration for colours, patterns, that sort of thing. Good luck!

    Reply
  8. Jessica says:
    24 February 2008 at 02:01

    Yes go to colourlovers! And I also look through all my photos I have saved on my computer. I find if I start looking anywhere online, I tend to want to use what I see but obviously can’t due to copyright reasons. That’s why I start with what I’ve got! Or I look at sxc.hu.

    Reply
  9. Samm says:
    24 February 2008 at 15:10

    Usually I just have to “wait it out” until an awesome layout/graphics design comes into my head. I find that when I force myself to come up with something, nothing creative comes! I was reading your last post about myspace and if there are any other social networks, well I absolutely love uber! It’s a bunch of creative awesome people! :)

    Reply
  10. Kiera says:
    24 February 2008 at 19:35

    I hate designing for myself. My mind just goes blank. It took me 6 months to get my portfolio site together before I came up with an idea at the last minute.

    The CSS gallery CSS Remix has a lot of awesome sites that spark up inspiration.

    Reply
  11. Donna says:
    25 February 2008 at 00:27

    Clearly I need to be visiting more CSS galleries! I’m also going to look into that Vogue/Elle thing because that seems like a really good idea! I hadn’t thought of that before. :)

    Reply

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