Finding Inspiration When Building a Website: Why It’s the First Step We Take

When we start building a new website at Arcane Web Design, we don’t jump straight into mockups or code. The first thing we do is look for inspiration

And we do it together with the client. It's a deep personal belief of mine that web design is best when done as a team.

This isn’t just about picking colors or fonts. It’s about understanding what the client really wants, what users in their industry expect, and what kind of content will connect with their audience.

Researching Competitors and Industry Leaders

Every industry has its own unwritten rules when it comes to web design. A law firm’s website will look and feel very different from a clothing boutique’s or a credit union’s. So before we begin any design work, we schedule a video call with the client and go through real websites in their industry together.

Some are local competitors. Others might be bigger players or even websites from a completely different space that just have a cool layout or feature we want to borrow inspiration from.

Why We Do This Together

We could do this step on our own, but we’ve found that collaborating with the client here is huge for clarity. During the call, we ask questions like:

• What do you like about this homepage?
• Does this navigation feel intuitive?
• Would your customers expect something like this?
• How do you feel about the tone of this content?

Sometimes clients don’t know how to describe the style they’re going for—but they know it when they see it. This process helps us get on the same page fast.

We're both much happier when we get it right the first time!

Aligning Style With Strategy

I don't want to copy any of these websites exactly though.

Of course! That's super not what we're doing. That's ethically shady as heck. We aren't stealing here. We're getting inspired. We talk through things like:

• Layout and page structure
• Font and color choices
• Imagery and mood
• Types of calls to action
• How information is prioritized

And we also note what not to do. Sometimes a site might look nice but load slowly, or have confusing navigation. That’s just as valuable to know.

Planning Content Early

One underrated benefit of this process? It helps spark ideas for content. Seeing what competitors highlight—like customer testimonials, FAQs, or services broken into categories—can help clients realize what they want to include on their own site.

A list of places of research resources

• Good ol' Google. Just search your industry, and then start opening a bunch of the links in new tabs. If you aren't finding good local results, try appending a different random city to your search query.
• Places like OnePageLove focus on single-page websites. They have clean, modern examples to pull inspiration from.
• You know your competitors better than anyone. It's always good to analyze their website so you can one up it.
• The Design Website – a design blog discussing design disciplines.
• Dribbble and Behance don't always link to websites, but the screenshots can still be good references.

You don’t need to love everything you see—but even noticing what doesn’t work for you helps clarify what you do want.

Why Bother?

Because it works.

Taking 30–60 minutes to sit down, look at real examples, and talk through them saves everyone from guessing later. It’s how we make sure the client’s vision, their industry’s expectations, and our design expertise are all pulling in the same direction.