I was at barnes and noble today looking for a book on good design. I think every design agency has this… examples of really good design, that designers can use to get inspiration for their ideas. However, all the books I found were like 60 dollars, and I think this would be a better idea: let’s compile a list of sites we find online that have good design.
As to your objections - I clearly see them coming. The sites on Kirupa’s site of the week, and WOW web designs, favoritewebsiteawards, they didn’t even begin to compare to some of the sites showcased on the books I was looking at. These awards depend on the website creator submitting his design, and there are a lot of awesome designers out there who don’t care about awards. Also, we might be designing sites for a business, non profit, or church, and we can’t really look at these award winning sites for inspiration on them.
I’m going to make a list of my own. If you’d like to add to it, it’d be incredibly helpful.
It helps me see what colours go together and some nice compositions etc.