Awesome UI inspiration and resources from UICloud

July 25, 2012

When designing a website, mobile app, or other user interface, you might have some very set ideas as to what you want before you even get started (or your client might have established some strict guidelines). But maybe you’re not really sure if your ideas are the best possible solution. Or maybe you’re struggling to come up with ideas at all. That’s when you need to turn to some outside inspiration and resources. To do so, you could spend hours going through general web design galleries, looking for ideas. Or you could spend a lot of money buying packs of elements you may or may not end up using. Or, you could save a bunch of time and just visit UICloud. UICloud collects the best UI elements from around the world and compiles them in a single place, where you can not only get inspiration, but also download files to use in your own designs.

UICloud makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for too. You can search for elements via keyword. You can browse all of the elements. Or you can browser by category. Category browsing is probably the most useful. You can search by the platform or type of element, including PSDs, Windows, Apple, Android, CSS, HTML, and jQuery. Or you can search by the type of element, including buttons, calendars, sliders, progress bars, and more.

Still not finding the right inspiration? Why not try searching by color scheme instead? Elements featured on UICloud are released under various licenses, including plenty of Creative Commons-licensed files. That elevates UICloud beyond just another web design gallery or pattern library.

UICloud users can rate designs, making it easier for you to sort through them and pick out the best. You get the option to check out other designs by a particular author from each element page too. There are tons of ways to find what you want, and to sort through the offerings available. Have your own UI element you’d like to offer to the UICloud community? It’s easy to submit it via the form on their site. Just fill in your element’s title, your author name and website, licensing information, email address, and link to the files, and your element will be reviewed. You can also include a description and tags for your file, as well as additional licensing information (such as how you’d like to be credited).

Regardless of what kind of front-end design you’re working on, UICloud can help you out. Whether you go there just for some quick inspiration or to download specific elements, UICloud is a great resource with tons of high-quality files for designers. Downloads are available for all designs and for resources such as HTML+CSS, there are live demo previews The fact that UICloud was actually founded by designers (Double-J Design, to be exact) makes it all the more useful and well-thought-out! Here are ten of my favorite UI elements from UICloud: