I've been thinking about website design, and what kind of header I would want to have for my website. In the process of doing so, I've worked to identify what I think looks good on other websites, and how I could work to create a similar design.

Here are some examples of sites whose header design I enjoy (generally they are in order from least complicated to most complicated):

• Callum McKenzie - A sparse (yet striking) text-only header.

• Andy Wingo - Another sparse, text-only header.

• Alvaro Lopez Ortega - The header and navigation elements are linked together well.

• Chris Lord - A header with a small photo of himself superimposed.

• Aaron Bockover - The most beautiful header, in my opinion, and one whose design I would like to have elements of. Uncomplicated and beautiful.

• Matt Mullenweg - Although well done, the header is enormous and visually complicated. It forces the content completely out of sight at lower resolutions.

I decided to try and create a waveform like what appears on Aaron Bockover's site using Inkscape. I actually gained some new knowledge of Inkscape from just that effort. This is what I came up with:

So those are some of my thoughts about a visual redesign of my site.

Update - Here's something I whipped up, although it's certainly not suitable as a header (yet?):

I still have several shortcomings: I have no taste in color, and I have even less ability to choose acceptable fonts.