Hey Guys, I have an odd one here, I have got a good grasp on programming now but I am no artist, I try to thing of design ideas, like colors matching or playing with pictures or making colages but I draw blanks. What do you guys use for inspiration and also, it seems everyone wants flash but I hear from people in here that flash is overrated, What are you opinions.

Flash is great when it's used tastefully and serves a purpose. We try to point our clients away from Flash unless there is no other way to do what they want to accomplish. We also have an entire 500-ish page book on color, and what colors to use for different moods, etc. I wish I could remember the name. When I have it sitting in front of me, I'll add to this post. But it really is helpful in picking colors for websites, graphics, etc.

Hi, Inspiration is a tricky thing to teach someone, but hopefully you'll pick it up as you go along. As for colours, it's a good idea to look at a colour wheel to see which colours go well together and winch don't. Here's a good one which I use sometimes http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html If you pick a colour, you can safly use the 2 colours either side. And you can also use the colour opposite as a contrast. As for web design ideas, I would say keep it simple. Sometimes people have a habbit of adding too many graphics, so it almost looks like there is an arguement on the scree. Why? Just keep it simple, and make navigation easy (you should be able to get to any page within 3 clicks) and you'll be well away. Hope it all goes well mate! Dan Dan Murfitt http://www.Murfitt.Net

As a man, it's not easy to admit, but men don't have a clue when it comes to colors. Ask a woman for advice on colors. Like Dan said, keep the navigation simple and don't overdo the graphics. Flash does have it's uses, but most things can be accomplished without it. Inspiration depends on the main purpose of the website. It's hard to be inspired if you don't have at least some idea of what you want to achieve. What's your target audience? What do you want to offer your target audience? Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.

Nature, art, architecture? No one starts from scratch. Some time ago I saw a modern art exhibit featuring early 20th century abstract paintings. I guarantee you could have made these yourself. They were basically white canvass with red, black, and yellow squares arranged in different patterns or randomly. I stood in front of these for some time, trying to "get" the whole abstract art concept. Then it dawned on me - these were like primitives in a bitmap display. The artist had worked backwards, taking the "real world" scene and decomposing it into component parts. I then began to complete the pictures in my mind in terms of programming code. When you build something from the ground up, even with inferior materials (such as only squares, a low color palette, in two dimensions), you appreciate it. What's more, you learn some of the tricks that make things visually attactive. Whether or not you're into programming Photoshop filters, you're not as far from artistic as you think.