Lesson 2:
Website Studies from a Designer’s Perspective
Lesson Overview
In this lesson, we will be looking at different types of websites and inspecting them from a designer’s perspective. We’ll study their structure and discuss the strategies behind their design.
This lesson includes 4 videos with a reflection question at the end:
- Introduction to Types of Websites
- Business & E-Commerce Websites
- Personal & Portfolio Websites
- Portfolio Website Deep Dive from Flux Academy
Tip for watching this series: If you hover your mouse over a video, you can click the gear icon on the bottom right to change the speed of the video.
1. Introduction to Types of Websites
Note: Apologies for the short glitches in this recording. They have been resolved in the following videos.
Websites featured:
- KHON2 (news website)
- Surfjack Hotel (hotel website)
- Blessed (fashion website)
- Keiki Life (blog website)
- Sephora (business website)
- Boys & Girls Club of America (nonprofit website)
- Dribbble – Philip Lester (illustrations example)
- Dribbble – Devignedge (nonprofit imagery example)
2. Business & E-Commerce Websites
Websites featured:
- H&M (e-commerce website)
- Amazon (e-commerce website)
- Yireh (e-commerce website)
- Noho Home (e-commerce website)
- Perspire Sauna Studio (business website)
- Noʻeau Designers (e-commerce website)
3. Personal & Portfolio Websites
Websites featured:
- Webflow (personal websites definition)
- Emily Claire (personal blog)
- Colleen & Andrew (wedding website example)
- Bridge Demo – Taylor (resumé website example)
- Barbie & Panda (personal travel blog)
- Zyro – Brooke (resumé website example)
- Alex Fisher (portfolio website)
4. Flux Academy Portfolio Website Review
This is a freelance portfolio review by Flux Academy that I’m sharing with you because it provides a lot of great insight into how to design strategically, intentionally, and effectively. Flux Academy was one of my greatest educational sources when I started practicing web design (and is a channel I highly recommend you watch). What I learned from this video and all of their content ultimately became the framework for how I approach every website design project.
Websites featured:
- Danbee Shin (freelance web design & coaching portfolio)
Reflection Question:
It’s a different experience looking at a website as a user and looking at a website as a designer…
What is a lesson or topic you learned about that surprised you?
(Perhaps you had a misconception about web design or there was something about websites that you never noticed before.)
For Further Study (optional):
This section shares additional resources to continue exploring these topics, including ones that I personally found helpful when I started designing.
- 5 Types of Websites and How to Create & Design Them (Article)
- 5 Website Types & How to Design Them (Video)
- Before & After: Small Business Website Redesigns (Video)
- Web design inspiration to browse through (Website)
- 17 Personal Website Examples (Article)