Come into the closet. Let's Dance.

Source: Art Directors Annual 88
COME INTO THE CLOSET. LET'S DANCE.
Design Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors

Ikea's room designs are displayed in a playful and interactive manner on this site. The interactivity may border on creepy as it's controlled by your microphone input and video camera upon consent. I'm too private a person to even test these features, however I find enjoyment in the site nonetheless. You can swap through different rooms, are exposed to different characters, and can control the storage that you see by clicking on objects that you want to put away. Conceptually, it's very cool and If I had the money to re-decorate an entire room with their line, I'd be very tempted by this site.

Blueprint studios

Source: Web Design: Music Sites by Ed. Julius Wiedemann
BLUEPRINT STUDIOS
Design Firm: magneticNorth

The animation and interactivity within this sight is stunning. It uses vivacious colors and intricate line work. I find the hover effect to be very cool and simple, yet I haven't seen it used before. When viewing this site on a large monitor, it is apparent that the designer did not make considerations, accordingly. When you click anywhere on the home page, a separate window pops open and a little box in the middle appears containing the rest of the site, with a large amount of white space creating a border on all sides. The design would be much stronger if it were fluid and expanded to the width and height of the window. Nonetheless, it's an awesome site and makes use of many things which I have no idea how to do!

Morisawa Fontpark 2.0

Source: Art Director's Annual 88

Morisawa Fontpark 2.0

Design Agency: tha ltd.

Most of this site is written in a language that I cannot read, but that does not affect the fun that can be had! When you load the page, it immediately begins to play a construction of type imagery that someone has made. You can also create your own- so cool! Go try :)

Luigi Bormioli

Source: Art Director's Annual 88

Luigi Bormioli

Design Agency: BBDK, Inc - site currently suspended?

This website is so so cool. The navigation contains a scroll bar of silhouettes of the products, which by clicking on, you will see a fine photo of the glassware. The silhouettes are a really great device to show off the distinctive shapes of the collections.

Bird

Source: D&AD 10, Everything is Made by Taschen

Andrew Zuckerman: Bird

Design Group: Pilot New York

This website is very visually engaging. I think it's really cool that you can select the bird you want to see in the navigation menu. Then, you are provided with a pristine photograph of the bird, cut out against a white background. It's elegant, interesting, and innovative.  I don't even like birds!

UNIQLO Calendar

Source: D&AD 10, Everything is Made by Taschen

UNIQLO Calendar

Designer- Takashi Kamada

Digital Agency- Projector

This website is pretty cool - I think they are using tilt-shift lenses to show moving images of places & people in Japan in different seasons. You can choose the season that you'd like to see, which then corresponds with the type of clothing that you'll be shown. The clothing display is also very interactive. It reminds me of how Cher from Clueless scrolls through her clothes. Check it out!

Ping Zhu

Source: HOW October 2011
Ping Zhu
Design firm: Otto Creative

This is a strong example of an illustration portfolio website. The thumbnails are uniquely displayed in circles and follow a grid. I really like the navigation icons and the little petal-like shapes separating the banner from the page. It's effective having that stay constant throughout the site. Ping references Otto as the creator of the site. I interpret this to mean Otto Creative since it came up as a search result.

Frolick

http://www.frolick.com.sg/v2/
Communication Arts 2008 Design Annual
Design Firm- Asylum Creative PTE LTD

As we've been discussing in class, one can use a symmetrical, asymmetrical, or random layout. I've been trying to think of examples that use a random layout and I think it's definitely less common. Therefore, I was surprised when I came across this website which uses a random layout in a tasteful manner. It's eye-catching, fun, and unique. I also think that they've added an interesting element by blocking out some of the text with a horizontal color bar, but I am curious about what the word is that is being hidden. What do you think?- maybe fucking?

Sausage

hotdogsncoldbeer.com

Print Source - Communication Arts 2010 Design Annual

Design Firm - The Decoder Ring Design Concern

This restaurant's website is pretty cool. I enjoy the bold typography, color choices, and two-column layout on the inside pages. The navigation is really user-friendly and I also like what they've chosen to do when the browser is expanded (the background color extends and the words "hot dogs" and "cold beer"run vertically and boldly on either side).  Their clientele includes many different types of people and the designers did a good job making a site that appeals to a wide range of people. I for one, appreciate when businesses include their prices online - if they don't, I usually assume that they are embarrassed by their high prices and that they're unaffordable. That being said, I like that the prices are listed next to all the items sold. The design firm seems to use typography really well as a dominant element in their compositions.

FUSE ID

Design Firm: Opus Creative

Client: FUSEid (industrail design)

Source: Print's Interactive Annual 2002

This site seems somewhat simple from afar, but it is in fact quite interactive, while remaining intuitive. The design is a nice compliment to industrial design work. I like to colors used– the gray is calming and subdued and the green provides a nice, electrifying accent. I haven't some across the system they've employed for navigation- it's pretty user-friendly and interesting. Opus Creative has done some nice work–you should check out their portfolio :)

stanlee r. getti designs– new or old?

design firm: Gershoni

client: old site | Stanlee R. Getti Designs current site

source: Print's digital design annual 2002

So, the first two screen shots you see below refer to the site design that I actually found in Print's magazine. The edition came out in 2002 and it is clear that the photographer has updated his website design since then. Turns out that the same firm designed both sites. I think the first one is pretty cool in many aspects, but I'm also a big fan of the new one. The color navigation is so so cool in the original design (and it seems like such a complicated thing to do for the photographer!).  The new site has a sweet splash page that really makes me want to enter. It's bold and upfront, communicating a sense of confidence and honesty. The tree that is on the rest of the subsequent pages is very friendly and fun, and is animated in a similar fashion.  Which design do you like better? 

 

donnie darko

 I really enjoyed the experience of visiting this website. You can tell that the creators put a lot of thought and planning into it and though it's mildly confusing, it's thought provoking and very representative of the film. If I were searching for information about the film before having seen it, I might get a little frustrated at the navigation, but since I'm searching for interactivity, I was intrigued by how it was used. The site was designed under the assumption that people like to be taken for a journey, even if it be pointless. Hi-Res! rejects the standard approach to web design.

visit the website
print source: Print's Digital Design Annual 2002
design firm: Hi-Res!
client: Richard Kelly's film Donnie Darko
creative direction and design: Alexandra Jugovic, Florian Schmitt

marc atlan design

This site is elegant, easy to navigate, and stands out from the crowd. Navigation menus are usually positioned at the top of a page or in a column on the left-hand side. This site directs focus to its content above all else by placing navigation in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. This is not a bad decision because the purpose of the site is to show off the creative work, not for users to navigate through a bunch of information. Hello Monday takes a simple but unique approach to emphasize the artist's work. The introductory slide show is really neat because of the large scale at which the products/designs are shown as well as the animated transitions between projects. It's almost like you're at the store picking up all these products off of the shelf. You should be sure to check out the design agency's (Hello Monday) website as well– it's really fun and clever–not to mention, they've produced a ton of great stuff.

 

 

source: communication arts webpick of the day 10.11.10
site address: http://www.marcatlan.com/#/branding
project design and development: Hello Monday

jean malek – montreal photographer

Interactivity, ingenuity, and professional are three qualities I attribute to this site design. The navigation menu is unlike any I've seen before, which made me want to explore. I was also enticed by the interactivity introduced when viewing photos of a specific project. The user controls the part of the image they see with their mouse, which allows for up close inspection of the photograph. One is not limited to viewing the photo in this manner, either; by clicking on details, you can see the full image and a description of the project. I also like the transparency effect applied to photos occupying the background of a page.  The design decisions executed are appealing and create a perfect showcase for a photographer. This site was made entirely with flash.

source: communication arts interactive annual 17 (2011)
site address: http://akufen.ca/clients/jean_malek/archive/
project design and development: Akufen (Montréal, Canada)

art director: Philippe Cossette

creative director : Guillaume Braun
Flash programmers : Gregoire Gerardin/Hugo St-Onge
music :Emmanuel Tremblay

production manager: Christian Lebel

client: Jean Malek