Web Design Research

Good resource for all graphic designers

2009-12-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Eric Benson, a UI graphics professor, has been promoting the development of sustainable design standards and practices through his team's “Re-nourish” web site. "While Benson and the others still have a fair distance to go before they succeed in revolutionizing the field, their showing in a recent competition confirms that they are headed in the right direction. The group’s sustainable design research site recently placed among the top three in the Cooper Hewitt People’s Design Award competition...as well as being selected as the “Web pick” of the week by Communications Arts, one of the graphic design field’s top publications." (http://www.rdmag.com/News/Feeds/2009/12/general-sciences-graphic-designer-wants-to-make-his-field-greener/)

This site is clean, clear and user-friendly in all of it's interactive areas. It's not intended to knock us out visually (although I find it to have a real fresh feel), but rather gives you easy access to the kind of information that we really need to incorporate into our daily m.o.'s as current and future designers.

Know y'all will like this one!

2009-11-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Got lucky this week. First off in Print's 10/09 issue I see some design work I like, and sure enough, the responsible firm also has an outstanding web site. Sagameister is (at the very least) well known for there cd packaging for the music industry. Now that we've fiddled with flash some, you can really appreciate all the special effort that has gone into every page -- front front page mind-boggling motion to the 3-d animation of the buttons inside. And btw -- the work is great too. I've been at this a while but the link for "students" looks interesting and I'm gonna go back to read and enjoy myself...after Thanksgiving that is.

Really smooth (Flash?) action

2009-11-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

Not only is this site well organized and designed (check out their "thumbnails along the left edge w/n Our Work), I found the movement of the animation extra smooth and refined. They do nice work as well! I found reference to this site in Print's Regional Design Annual/2009.

Simple, straightforward, yet unique

2009-11-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

This young man is cited in Print's April/2009 "Rising Stars" issue (I've been trying to get a sense of what the new designers want to do with their own sites). He is a design illustrator rather than a designer in the commercial/graphic art sense. The way he lets his portfolio links run on as a paragraph at the top (with neon pink rollovers) is something I hadn't seen done before...as well as the fact that all of his links just go to a point further down on the page rather into another gallery. Yep, one html file, and you can essentially control your own slide show of his stuff by just hitting the "next" button. This appeals to me as the "shortest distance between two points", and also because it seems unique. The dramatic black background annoyed me at first but after looking through his work I decided it was really a good fit for his style. Good doesn't have to be complicated.

Wow. I'm thinking this must be the sharp edge.

2009-11-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

Razorfish is another agency that's featured in the latest CA Interactive Annual. Their business is developing websites for other clients, and as they suggest in their own site, they perform like they were "born digital." There's so much going on here, so elegantly and in an understated way (even the audio cues are subtle and sophisticated), I can hardly begin to describe it all. For example, there's live video from each of their offices (lower right corner is where you choose the location) that kind of lets you spy on their activities as you wander through their site. Just crazy. Go to this site and be wowed. They are way beyond the curve.

Liking the Un-Swiss feel

2009-10-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Came across this site after googling "best web site designs" (thanks, Steve). The descriptive words they gave it were:Aged, Bold, Bright, Colorful, Flash, Handwriting, Illustration,Painterly, Paper, Texture. Along with all of the fun flash up top (well-done flash, that is)), I got pretty quickly what this musician Jason was like. We have so many tools to convey just about anything we want to say!

Effective use of color and format

2009-10-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

I found Design Army referenced in the Print Regional Design Annual for this year (BTW, it's a very good collection). While the product photography seems a bit small, I really do like the minimal yet dynamic use of 2 colors (black and red). I also like the sense of "being inside" this site's space. I suppose the strong black background contributes to this. Wonder what a different color in the background would feel like?

A feast of good design

2009-10-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Joe Duffy (and partners) is an agency that puts out simply outstanding design. I recommend their site to you not only because the site is put together pristinely (really like the gentle fade between product shots...such a nice transitional feel), but really more so you can browse their work. Really good stuff...

Can you believe it?

2009-10-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody. I've just spent about an hour browsing a CA Design annual. Can you believe that I did not find my way to ONE sight that impressed me in an unusual way? There's a lot of the same "good" stuff out there, but as we continue through the semester, I find I'm looking for things more unique or more original.

Also, I was amazed at how many clients have hired someone to produce award-winning design for all kinds of print promo (that finds its way into the likes of Print or CA), but then don't follow through on their websites! There's lots of work out there people!

I will continue to look for an interesting website, and will get one posted asap. In spite of trying, it's just not happening for me today.

A simple, effective technique

2009-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

I was once again attracted to a photographer's site via their award-winning photos in the April/09 edition of Print. Jacob Silberberg's site is pretty unadorned (letting the photos take center-stage), but I was impressed with a technique that is so simple, yet I haven't seen it done before. Check out how he displays his successive photos not from top-to-bottom, but rather from left-to-right. Paul's been coaching us about the width of our sites in terms of the viewer's browsing environment. This site pretty much ignores that and lets the material run on (left to right) indefinitely... I like it!

Hmmm. Good or not good?

2009-09-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

I got curious about what the website of one of my former design professors might look like. He was very intimidating to me 30 years ago -- and promoted Swiss grid design almost exclusively. I checked out his site, and found that it looked just like the work he used to want to us to produce for print. I'm not at all convinced, however, that it works well in a web site. What do you think?

On the other hand, it's still representative of his style, and is that an important criterion when designing a site for a designer?

How can web sites tell a story?

2009-09-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

This site offers all kinds of content and navigation techniques. There's video, sound (narratives and music), photo stills, written text — you name it, it's probably there. It exposes the lives of those living with HIV in Jamaica, but unlike other sites with marketing objectives, it feels more like storytelling to me. It demonstrated another unique way a web site can function. Pretty powerful stuff.

CA Interactive Annual 15 May/June 09

The Best Yet

2009-09-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

So far, this is the site I've enjoyed browsing the most. It's navigation and animation are elegant (love the semi-transparent blocks and this graceful animation), PLUS, this photographer's pictures are just incomparable. For example, you will get sucked in by his unique political pictures! Can you imagine that? Also, I think I learned more about what the Katrina victims went through by his pictures than the dozens of newscasts we all saw. Pleeeese check this one out. It's pure pleasure to wander through. CA Photo Annual 10/09, pg 164

A site like no other I've seen

2009-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ran across this site in CA's Interactive Annual 2009 (pg 140). It's a photo-essay that journals the relationship of a photographer with his 98 year old dad. There's no primary navigation or links, and it uses something called AS3.0 Flash. You simply click from page to page (with thumbnails of all pp to left). The tone this site sets is amazing. I didn't intend to read through it all (but it's not too long), but couldn't stop after a while. A reviewer said "This is perhaps the most beautifully human thing I have ever seen online.

Also, stumbled onto this blog that offers some useful "dont's" in terms of web design.

Hello!

2009-08-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is my first post on my first blog. Bear with the clumsiness.

Researching well-designed web sites is exciting and intimidating. Here are the first four examples I've selected. Wonder what I'll be choosing down the line. If you only have time to visit one, check out the animation in either the Turner Duckworth or Proteus site.

Marlena Agency solicits all kinds of illustration and art. Front page is striking and easy to comprehend at the same time. A consistent use of background shapes and colors provides a decent field on which to display the illustrations. Double clicking on an artist's illustration would also display their remaining portfolio along the bottom for more choices. CA Illustration Annual/09, pg140

Turner Duckworth is a full-service ad agency. Animation is entertaining as it constantly displays their huge inventory of work against a clean, white background. Navigation is simple and clear, including interior page scroll menus. Print NOV/DEC 2007, pg. 89

(This truck with their advertising "rolled" across the screen. Below is the news page link. The ! mark winks!))

Proteus Design is another great agency site. It offers a tremendous amount of information and work samples via a simply organized and efficient use of the entire window width. The eye always knew where to look for the next step. They also used a lot of animation that cycled many up-close images, but might have been paced a little slower. Site is fun, yet balanced well with photos and appropriate text. Print NOV/DEC 2007, pg. 257

Lastly, I offer this professional photographer's website. His use of a neutral (restful) background color lets his nearly full-screen photos do all the talking. As they should. The navigation is simple and precise; ordering forms and links to his stock site are quickly and clearly accessed. I could look at this stuff all day. Jason Lindsey is a local professional photographer. He travels internationally and shoots location work for all manner of clients, large or small. I don't have a book with his name in it, but it looks award-winning to me!