For any design project, I've found it super important to gather a TON of examples of what other websites & apps do (rather than just looking at the typical 3-5 examples).
By seeing what dozens & sometimes hundreds of other websites & apps are doing, it's easier to understand:
(1) what's common (what users are expecting & will find intuitive)
(2) what's unique (potentially innovative design approaches)
(3) all the design approaches that you can test (the analogy is you don't want to test a snail against a turtle...you want to find the cheetah haha)