If you’ve ever had to be the leader of a new project, you know just how difficult it can be to come up with the first foundational idea that leads the way for the rest of the project. Fortunately, there are often a plethora of ideas already out there, simply waiting to be discovered to help you fashion together a brand new concept of your very own. While this notion can apply to any number of projects across different fields of study, it becomes a highly common issue for those associated with the world of web design. When you’re staring at a blank slate and no grand ideas are emerging to give you that ‘Eureka!’ moment, here are some helpful places you can turn to as resources for greater inspiration.

One of the most helpful sources of inspiration can come from comprehensive design galleries found across the web, which should simply be considered to be massive search engines for designers. Such design galleries often showcase some of the best sites from past or current business designs, illustrating color schemes, typographies and the like to help inform your own specific design needs. What makes such galleries so useful is their ability to help you filter out exactly what you’re looking for regarding your own industry, client or company, helping you to pinpoint certain sites by tags or filtering options that allow you greater control over the search results. Websites such as Site Inspire, The Best Designs or Crayon.co can guide you in the right inspirational direction with their extensive galleries.

Meanwhile, it can also pay off to check into web design sites that focus primarily on those that have won awards in the past. Not only do these award sites give you one singular place to scour through hundreds or even thousands of designer pages that have been highlighted for their design genius, but you can often lift some of your favorite creative ideas from professional, experienced designers in the field and incorporate them into your own work in a newfound way. Sites such as Webby Awards, Awwwards and CSS Design Awards each offer you a wide assortment of inspirational pieces that can help propel your own authentic ideas into a winning site for your client or business.

Creating your own spectacular and original web design concept from scratch might sound ideal, but it’s hardly practical to assume you’ll always be led by such unwavering inspiration. Therefore, looking to any of these design resources for guidance can help you consider new ideas and templates, while helping you to transform an otherwise dull, lifeless foundation into your own authentic, beautiful work.