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What Constitutes Being Unique?
It's all well and good suggesting that you should be unique and different from the competition, but what does that really mean? There are so many websites and great designers out there, what individual elements constitute being unique? Well, in simple terms being unique just means doing something differently. You don't have to create a design with the navigation in the footer and the copyright information up where the logo would normally be just for the sake of standing out. It's about not just following what everyone else is doing and coming up with your very own way of displaying the information and the message which you are trying to get across to the user. How many sites have you seen with a full width header (with a gradient), followed by a full width navigation bar, then a content section and a sidebar, then a full width footer? Hundreds? Thousands? If your focus is going to be being unique, then this is probably a design recipe which you should steer clear of. It's too easy to create yet another site like that. Don't get me wrong, they are popular because they are effective and easy to create... but they don't stand out. Being unique is largely about doing small things differently to everyone else rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Of course you also have to accept that the time period for which it remains unique will be limited. If you do a great job, then unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) it's going to be copied by many, many people. That being said, innovation is almost always remembered.Using Details To Stand Out
Details are a fantastic way to set yourself apart from everyone else and the best part is that the word "details" encompasses a fairly wide array of possibilities. Adding detail to something just gives it that little edge, or that little bit of "pop" as a client might call it. You're adding something small that isn't essential to the design but that really impacts it in a positive way.Jason Santa Maria
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Jesse Bennett Chamberlain
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Having a Signature Style
A signature style is perhaps what we all long for. In the same way that people are able to identify a Picasso when viewing it for the first time, we all have a little ego inside us that would love to have a style so strong and recognizable that others would immediately be able to pick it out without being prompted.Elliot Jay Stocks
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Mike Kus
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Illustration To Blow Away The Competition
Illustration is one of the most stunning but also perhaps one of the most difficult ways of standing out from the crowd. Very few designers are also great illustrators. Illustration is (for the most part) very artistic whereas design is (for the most part) very analytical. To find these two qualities mixed in a single person is somewhat rare though definitely not unheard of. For many of us though, seeing stunning illustrations in website designs is a point of the utmost jealousy. Not being an illustrator doesn't mean that you can't use illustrations in your designs though, as well as the many stock websites dealing in illustrations there is also always the option to partner with a great illustrator in a collaborative effort from both parties.Nick La
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Veerle Pieters
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Putting Time & Effort Into Extras
What else is there? Well aside from just details, there are also extras. You know, little things that you just don't expect to be meticulously designed because they're so small. Surprising users (or even customers, in the physical world) is a fantastic way to set yourself apart from everyone else because you're giving them something they weren't expecting. Their expectations are based on what everyone else is doing, so if you exceed those expectations... you win.Clearleft
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Liam McKay
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In Closing
Being unique isn't about trying to turn the world on its head, it isn't about massive typography, it isn't about rounded corners. Truly standing out from everyone else is about adding a personal touch to your designs, one which only you can create. Truly standing out is about going above and beyond the call of duty and not stopping until you hit that eureka moment. What do you think? Are there any other particular factors that make designs really unique? What techniques have you used in order to stand out from the crowd?John O’Nolan
Founder at Ghost.org. Writes about Open source, startup life, non-profits & publishing platforms. Travels the world with a bag of kites.
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