Seattle Designers Directory

Design Bombs

Not only does Design Bombs showcase beautiful website designs, its own design is quite impressive. Throughout the site there is detail in a number of different places. In the screenshot below you will see excellent use of drop shadows, slightly different shades of gray, and borders that give a beveled appearance.

Shopify

Shopify makes use of linear gradients in the gray areas of the design and a radial gradient in the green area. There is also a subtle reflection below the five screenshots. These details are not overwhelming, but they make the design much more polished.

Odosketch

Odosketch uses a slightly textured background that gives some added character to the design. The ribbons are also design with attention to detail, which gives them an attractive 3D look.

Tender Support

Tender Support is a beautiful site that uses spacing and alignment very effectively. There is no excess in the design, and each element is precisely placed with a perfect amount of whitespace.

West Coast Poppin

West Coast Poppin uses subtle gradients and borders very well on the navigation menu. Just above the menu you’ll also see a light splatter effect that isn’t overpowering. The sides of the navigation menu also have a 3D element that is designed with great detail to give it a spectatular look. Additionally, the textured background is another design detail, as opposed to using a flat, solid color.

Envato

Envato’s recent re-design uses transparency, subtle gradients, dropshadows and borders to give it a super sleek look. If you want to examine design details for your own learning purposes, take a close look at any of the Envato sites.

PSDTUTS

PSDTUTS is also from Envato, and it also uses gradients and one-pixel borders to create a beautiful, detailed design.

Service Plus Inns & Suites

Service Plus Inns & Suites makes use of texture to give its design some added appeal. The dropshadows from the pictures also help to complete the look without drawing a lot of attention.

Texture Lovers

Using multiple different textures in one design can be a real challenge to do well, but Texture Lovers pulls it off. Great care was used to make the textures work together.

Causecast

Causecast makes use of gradients, lighting effects and transparency to create an attractive design.

GoBible

GoBible uses a nice gradient in the background, which is subtle but effective. Dropshadows are used on the buttons, photos, and on a 3D element that controls the slider. There is also some reflection used on images lower on the page.

Carreras Con Futuro

The most prominent element of the design of Carreras Con Futuro is the background, which features a hand-drawn style and splatter effects. However, there is also a light texture applied to the background at the top of the page. The texture is probably not noticed as much as the hand-drawn elements and the splatter effects, but it helps to complete the look.

Sower of Seeds

Sower of Seeds uses drop shadows to give a 3D look to the navigation menu. There’s also a slight texture to the header area that works very well. The light gray diagonal stripes are used throughout the design to set it off from the solid white background that is used in some areas.

Tutorial9

Tutorial9 uses slight gradients, drop shadows and borders to really complete its look. Every area of the blog theme seems to have been given plenty of attention and consideration.

Web Design Ledger

Web Design Ledger has a beautiful design with effective typography and an attractive color scheme, but the background image includes some cool details. The wood background includes some items that appear to have been doodled or scratched into the wood.

Function

Function uses a subtle grunge effect on the background of the content area, and also on the borders that are used to separate columns. Rather than using solid one-pixel borders, they use borders that have a hand-drawn feel.

Atebits

Atebits has a rather simple layout, but it looks very appealing because of the textures, drop shadows, and borders. It’s an example of how effective attention to detail can make something with a basic layout look very professional and attractive.

nYq Design Group

nYq Design uses a lot of texture. The dark brick background is very prominent, but the use of texture on the navigation menu and the featured work area work well with the overall design. The links in the navigation menu also use a hand-drawn font, which is a subtle but effective change from Arial of Georgia.

Pulse

Pulse uses a gradient and transparency to create a impressive look. The headline or tagline also uses a slight drop shadow that looks great on top of that background. Both links on the homepage to the pricing and signup use a blue color that helps it to stand out.

Ugmonk

Ugmonk recently re-designed their site. The left and right sides of the header use a border and drop shadow to give it a bit of a 3D look.  The background pattern is another design detail that gives it different look as opposed to a solid background color.

Nine Fashion

Nine Fashion uses gradients and borders very sublty in the header to help create the stylish look of the site.

Hello Themes

Hello Themes has a very colorful design and uses a combination of different shades and gradients. Borders help to give the navigation menu a beveled look. Buttons on the site also use gradients, borders and drop shadows to demonstrate the attention to detail.

The Sak

The Sak uses textures and a background image/pattern along with hand-drawn fonts that complete the look. The header particularly has a lot of detail with different texture and fonts. A drop shadow is used for the torn paper look.

Jarad Johnson

A lot of portfolio sites have dark backgrounds, but Jarad Johnson’s is unique. Subtle light effects are used with the pattern to create a stunning dark background.

From the Couch

From the Couch demonstrates attention to detail in the 3D elements of the design. The 3D ribbons and borders in the sidebar navigation are done very precisely. The rounded corners, borders and color scheme also help to complete a very polished look.

Mark Forrester

Mark Forrester’s borders and 3D elements show a great deal of attention to detail in the content area, although the header illustration is obviously the most prominent aspect of the design.

The Swish Life

The layout of the Swish Life is beautifully spaced out and aligned. The content is well-organized, accessible and not crammed in to small areas. This is an excellent example of how even a content-heavy site can make use of whitespace.

Ecosimply

Ecosimply’s blog design uses borders and drop shadows effectively. The tabbed navigation uses a gradient and a slight change on hover.

What Katie Does

What Katie Does uses a rather subtle repeating texture on the background of the site. The texture is not overpowering but it has a big impact on the look of the site.

The Photo Argus

The Photo Argus makes nice use of transparency to the big background photo. A simple, but attractive, color scheme is used by the site.