Lean into the tried and tested

Blank pages are a trap. Staring at it, pondering how an email field should work, wastes time. Multi-million-dollar companies with deep benches have already wrestled with this. Their solutions aren’t perfect, but they’re tested—piggyback off them to leapfrog to something solid faster.

Steer clear of the wrong inspiration. Design award sites flaunt originality, not what sticks for users. Dribbble’s a gallery of polish, not practicality. Turn instead to the real world: competitor sites. Sign up, poke around, snap screenshots. Aggregators like PageFlows or Mobbin pile up patterns for quick scans. Notice the standards—password strength bars, centered forms, and clear buttons. They’re common because they work.

Jot it down: UI staples, visual habits, layout norms. Logos up top, forms that flex on mobile—those aren’t random. If the task veers niche, say gathering medical data for prescriptions, and direct peers are scarce, widen the net. Mortgage apps and tax platforms wrestle sensitive info too. How do they signal trust, clarify stakes, and steer through complexity? Borrow that backbone.

Lean on what already exists (for good reason), tweak it, and make it yours.