Inspiration Archives - Jayhan Loves Design & Japan

Web design trend: bento box

19 Mar 23

While browsing through good web designs recently on Twitter or via web design galleries, I noticed a trend of using content blocks in variable size and design to form an interesting bento box style design. It’s usually designed in a grid, for example 3×3, 4×4 or other configurations, and then making it visually interesting by being creative with the block sizes while conforming with the underlying grid configuration.

In this post, I will be talking about how the trend got started, then show some creative examples of applying the bento box content UI in web design. Lets get into it.

8 excellent use of gradient in web designs and learn how to create it

06 Feb 23

. Inspiration, Web Design

Recently while browsing through some good web design, I’ve been seeing a noticeable trend of using gradient in the design application. Gradient is essentially a gradation of two colours or more to create the effect of one colour fading into another. It can be used as a way to convey light source, to unflatten the design or to bring out the sense of space; it also can be used to bring more colours to brighten up the design.

During the skeuomorphic dominant design era, designers may use it more on the UI elements like buttons. In the modern web design, we can attribute the use of smooth gradient to Stripe, and Linear for the usage of gradient in dark web design. In this article I’ll show you some more examples of using gradient in web design.

14 inspirational web design galleries for 2023

18 Jan 23

. Inspiration, Web Design

It’s new year and let’s start it right with a refreshing mind and take a look at what are the great designs out there, done by creative designers with modern tools. As a designer myself, I always hunger for good designs that can ignite that spark for my design work. In this article, I will be sharing 12 web design galleries that I found recently and would like to share with you.

In the examples, you’ll find a mixture of galleries that showcase nice landing pages, the technology, the motion and the styles used, but also galleries of for UX focus that demonstrate user flows and jobs to be done. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

4 sites for your flyer design inspiration fix

18 Dec 14

. Art & Design, Inspiration

Flyer at abstract.jp

Today I stumbled upon a gallery that is dedicated to flyer designs: Today’s Flyer (今日のフライヤー). It has a Pinterest-like layout where you can see many good flyer designs in masonry grid layout format. The site features not only flyers from Japan but also around the world too. The flyers are tagged so you can quickly find flyer designs of the specific style.

According to the creator, @tet, he thinks that flyer designs should be treated as a work of art that reflects the society’s style of living and also the cultures, but surprisingly it was often taken for granted and normally will be just thrown to trash can. So he created this site in order to appreciate the flyer designs and to leave them as memory.

Examples of flyers featured on Abstract.jp

Besides his sites, there are many other websites and portals that you can look for cool and inspiring flyer designs, like below:

Email newsletter inspiration and resources that you should read

22 Apr 14

. Inspiration, Resources

With so many ways of connecting with your customers and readers, email newsletter is still one of the best, and the most relevant one. For example, a newsletter sign up for weekly news update from blog, or a newsletter containing your company’s latest promotions and offer to attract customers back.

In this article, you will find essential links to best newsletter designs, and also resources and guide to build a responsive, effective newsletter that just works. Without further ado, continue reading to find out those links!

7 sites for typography and webfont inspirations

15 Oct 13

. Inspiration, Typography

7 sites for your typography and webfont inspirations

In our daily life, we read newspapers and magazines, we walk on the streets, we purchase stuff and we surf the net. Almost all the things that we do involving type. Type is something we can’t live without and good typography can create everlasting good impression and increasing in brand identity.

In this post, I will show you 7 websites where you get your typography inspiration fix. From these sites, you can get not just about good looking type, but also examples of good font combination, nice web fonts and also colors used to further enhance the type and the message. Continue reading to check them out!

6 illustration collections of a subject matter

23 Aug 13

. Art & Design, Inspiration

6 illustration collections of a subject matter

When I studied in Graphic Design course back in the college days, lecturers always encourage me and my classmates to go collect something and sketch them in the sketchbook and observe the details and differences between them. It was a fun experience and I really like collecting stuff.

Many artists and designers love to do exactly the same thing, taking a subject matter and illustrate them into a series of different illustrations. Here, I’m going to show you 6 projects of illustration collections of a subject matter. Read on to find out!

Web design trends in 2013

14 Aug 13

. Inspiration, Web Design

Web design trends in 2013

Every year we see the web design world shifts. New design idea coming up and quickly adopted by the trendy designers over the world. Besides that, we also see some approach that were experimental back then, getting matured this year. In this post, I’m going share with you some design patterns that are trending this year.

I categorized this years trend into 7 main categories from the famous flat design to video as background. Continue reading to find out all of them.

Some websites and blogs I started to follow recently

13 Aug 13

. Inspiration

Some websites and blogs I started to follow recently

I believe as a modern designer, be it graphic, web or hybrid, need to get inspired by great designs from time to time, in order to keep themselves resourceful and fuelled with fresh ideas. There are a lot of good sites out there to serve these purposes but today, I’m going to introduce a couple more websites that you can get not only inspiration, but thoughts and personal development as well.

Well, as a designer with several years of experience, I do feel that when you are into the design industry for couple of years, and sometimes you just want to take a step back and look at the design at a different perspective. One good way to spark this is to actually read what other people think of certain thing.

Japan Art and Design blog that you should read

26 Jun 13

. Art & Design, Inspiration, Japan

Japan Art and Design blog that you should read

Japan is a place where art and design is deeply fused with everyday life. From the traditional art to the modern art, illustration, graphic design and many other medium, you can find creativity breathing at a lively pace in Japan. I strongly felt that when I was in Tokyo 4 years ago and attended two art events that were flooded with people.

Japanese art and design has its unique identity, but with the imagination from different artists, the great diversity can be spotted too. Well, it’s kind of hard to find information on this topic but today, I will introduce 5 dedicated website where you can find and read about Japanese art and design. Please continue reading to find out more.