somehow it apparently escaped my limited attention span that we were supposed to be doing research on five websites to prepare for our final projects. though i did actually do quite a bit of research initially i never wrote about it so here’s the skinny on five websites i picked over:
www.bluebeatdesign.com >> found this by searching for freelance designers. i was trying to find young designers with online portfolios whose audience was either potential corporate employers or anyone looking for a freelance designer. while this website relies on a lot of flash and the text is so small and light that even i STILL haven’t bothered to see what it says there are a couple aspects of this site that are worthy of note. i particularly like their solution to the problem of presenting additional menu options and picture thumbnails. it’s a nice relief from the typical square presentation and something i’ll probably think about how to effectively swipe someday.
http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=171/171.css >> this page i found while perusing the css zen garden catalog. i actually really dislike this website except for two things- the unusually narrow layout and the relationship between the man and the small tree. i think this is a good example of a more original way of presenting information – probably impractical for the majority of commercial websites but interesting none the less.
http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=146/146.css >> another piece of low hanging fruit from the zen garden. i also dislike a lot of this page but what caught my attention was the striking collage at the top of the page- the use of extreme perspective. i normally think of websites as completely flat- two dimensional spaces and the idea of simulating 3 dimensionality (beyond drop shadowing) is interesting.
www.creativeexchangeagency.com >> here is a great example of what i think is clean done really well and appropriate use of flash (as if i really know anything about flash). this is also a great place to go get your butt kicked by other people’s superior portfolio material but someone ought to tell peter saville (who the company represents) that his tricked out website won’t view on intel based macs.
http://www.mattbrooke.com/home.html >> another fine example of clean done really well and itsy bitsy type that cannot be enlared with apple +. matt brooke is an art director/designer represented by the creative exchange angecy. i would like to steal all his clients and most of his work but as far as web design goes i think site provides a good example of how to present work well.
