If you feel that you’re creative juices are starting to flow a little slower when you start to design your third website in a month (or something like that), taking a good look around some gallery sites is always a good idea.
It’s not so much outright designs which you should look for, but answers to problems which arise when you go about building a site.
For my next trick, I’ll be making a site which is more black than white. It’s something I’ve never done, so I’m going to be looking hard at what others out there do to make it work, and see what I can pick up.
No ideas are original (but that is no excuse for downright stealing), and so we have sites like the brilliant css thesis, a magnificently executed design gallery. No particular pages, no complex rating systems, just thumbnails which take you right though to the site and a little “appreciation” button below the thumbnail, to proclaim your happiness about said thumbnail.
CSS Thesis has some cool designs and the site itself is navigatable. One of the most important ingredients in a website is clarity - ie: ease of use and ease of navigation. If I can’t find what I want in 30 seconds I will leave a site. Period.