New season, New skills! All Courses at $9.99

Oct 9, 2013

Brilliant Uses of Texture in Website Design And Some Resources
Brilliant Uses of Texture in Website Design And Some Resources

Yes, it’s true that flat design is taking over the world one long shadow icon at a time, but there’s still hope for all you texture lovers. The use of flat shapes and color is all the rave and while it is simple, clean and now in iOS7, it’s safe to say for all it gains, it can also lack emotion. With all that’s been stripped away, it’s good to bring some texture back if the user experience would benefit from it.

The use of texture in a website can contribute to the experience of a site by adding warmth, personality and feeling. You can achieve a really memorable result knowing how to design with texture in your layouts. Texture can be accomplished through typography, background patterns, hand- drawn illustrations, photographs and UI/UX elements. Sometimes using only a small textured detail or element is all you need.

When used tastefully, texture can create a beautiful, expressive online experiences. When over-done, it can result to a hot, outdated mess.

Here are 14 sites that got it right:

Resources

For those of you that aren’t interested in creating your own textures, I’ve scoured the internet for texture packs and resources, just for you. Thankfully there are still furious texture-making people out there (you know who you are), staying up real late, scanning in leaves, donkey tails, stalking trash remnants and painstakingly layering who knows what in Photoshop to make textures we can use. Here are some great resources and freebies to use on your next project:

Awards
Inspiration
Academy
Directory
w.