Websites We Love in 2022
Websites are peculiar things to say “I love you” to, but here at Brew we just can’t help ourselves.
Why? Well, love is total passion and subtle emotion; beautiful and freaky, short-lived and lasts a lifetime; practical, functional, and utter chaos, all at the same time. So, we’re sharing a selection of websites we love for all sorts of reasons, from ones you might use daily to ones you’ve never heard of.
We’re celebrating love for websites throughout the month of February, so if this blog gets just one person to say “I love you” to their monitor, we’ve done our job.
The down-right practical:
Want cheap train fares? Split Ticketing might mean a spare bag to hold all your tickets, but you can save an absolute packet in the process.
Need to know how many workdays between two dates? Not the sexiest website in the world, granted, but Time and Date is your boy.
Meeting a work-mate but want to compromise on location by meeting in the middle? What’s Halfway could save you some fisty cuffs (and some fuel).
Font of knowledge
If you want to make sure that a font colour is readable on your website to an AA or AAA standard, it’s as simple as opening WebAIM’s Contrast Checker.
In our designer, Scott’s words, Font Pair is “a brilliant bank of visual font explorations and pairings.” You can take his word for it, promise.
A design (tool) for life
Now onto design tools. Let’s start with this conversion tool, Convert.io, the go-to tool for anyone who needs to convert image, video, or audio from one file type into another. This can and surely will come in very, very handy.
Keeping it minimal, Scott also shared the importance of Minimal for visual website and design inspiration. We’ll even let you in on a little secret… This website directly influenced our Brew agency branding. Can you see it?
Adobe’s Colour Wheel is another handy tool we love, allowing you to build colour palettes based on files uploaded. It’s perfect for mood boards or design inspiration as you go into collaboration on developing or re-designing a client’s website.
Improve your social life
All hail to Canva – almost too obvious to include, which is testament to its incredibleness (which is a word, by the way). Give anyone the power to design, from templates to social media assets and everything between.
…and this one we’ve been dishing out left, right and centre lately; head to Emojipedia for all your emoji needs. Or, if you’re using Windows, you can press Windows + full stop for instant access to emojis. Either way, you’re set.
SEO-h really?!
The Keywords Everywhere Chrome Extension is handy for the copywriter or SEO expert who needs to see the search volumes, competition, costs, and variables around a particular keyword or phrase. It’s so approachable that anyone can use it, freeing your SEO experts up for bigger projects. Game. Changer!
If Canva is social media’s obvious inclusion, NeilPatel.com is the SEO equivalent. There’s a “website analyser” which gives you initial SEO recommendations, backed up by a website that’s crammed with SEO guidance, tips, tricks, and tools (and probably more than a few ranking keywords, too!).
Pretty Little Things
As useful as everything mentioned above could be, you probably just came here for the beautiful and interesting websites, right? No judgment. We get it.
The SquadEasy app is all about creating collaboration in your team through physical activity and giving back to those in need. As a bonus, it also has an interactive dog called Boogie on its website banners. Isn’t he a good boy?
The Cornwall UK website feels less like a website and more like an interactive cinematic story, but it goes far beyond sticking an introduction video into the homepage banner. With each new reveal as you scroll through the website, we’re already thinking about packing a bag for a mini break…
One digital agency, Green Room Design, has thrown the “traditional” website out of the window in favour of a wildly colourful and interactive experience. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, you can’t deny it leaves an impression!
You’d expect the Design Podcast to have a nice website, and they truly didn’t disappoint. Scrolling through their website won’t take long, but its use of minimal information and colours with plenty of negative space for everything to breathe, it feels like the digital version of a zen garden.
…and finally… this one has Ryan, our content manager, tempted to redesign our entire copywriting department. A freelance copywriter called Joe Coleman created his website with a scale of “Less Hard Sell” to “More Hard Sell” for potential clients, showing off customised copy all the way from “So, yeah, I’m a freelance copywriter. What of it?” to the most ad-infested, CTA-packed sales message you can think of. Clever, fun, impactful—hat trick!
Did you say I love you?
Even if you weren’t quite ready to say those three special words, a few tools and websites here may have pulled at your heart strings.
If you want a website that can do the same to others, let’s have a chat.
Seen something you want to try? We’ll get the kettle on…