Web Design Analysis

Technorati is a Weblog watch service.

From a design perspective, this is quite cluttered and unattractive. They have live links that are either bright red or blue. The nav bar is green. There are links along the left side that I think go to blogs out there on the web.

It is interesting that this service will allow you to pay a subscription so you can identify "blogs to watch" to see if they post anything of note. It seems like many of the blogs I read today refer to other blogs rather than items in the non-blog world. It seems more like a snake eating its tail than anything else. Eventually, their world is going to get so small, they won't have anything at all to talk about.

You can sign up for a membership for free and having a Technorati membership allows you to create Watchlists on your favorite blogs, URLs, claim the weblogs you author, and get daily emails documenting changes to the sites you're watching.

I'm not crazy about the design of this site, but it is consistent with 90% of the blog sites out there in its crowded, non-linear design.

eFuse is a great resource for people who need to build a website. It offers tips on everything from planning, to graphic design, to building, marketing. I didn't see a category called "testing", but it seems like that would be a helpful thing to include. There aren't many web design sites out there that DO offer tips on testing your site before launch.

I like the color scheme on the site (soft greens) and the navigation is pretty obvious (step 1, step 2, step 3, etc.).

This site is a complement site to a product called Net Objects Fusion, but the concepts that they present are worthy without buying the product.

If you click on the "Fuseletter" link, you get a page that allows you to subscribe to their "Schmoozeletter" (I think it was originally called Schmoozeletter until they sold out to Fusion and had to change the name on the front door). At the bottom of that page, you will find some interesting random thoughts from the writer of the site. These articles are not tech related, but rather a peek into his random mind about topics as varied as politics to new underwear. It makes a good break for people who are all geeked out.

The eFuse site is useful and has many relevant articles and resources. The color scheme is non-intrusive and the navigation is easy to use. I recommend this site to people who have to build a website and don't know where to begin.

Bechamel is a French design site. They have Flash movies of everything imaginable. They have music, they have comic strip movies, they have Flash animations. The site is in French so I guess it says something for their navigation that I was able to find my way around and become enchanted with everything that is there.

Check this out. It is a cool way to add interactivity to a site. It is definitely not boring.

Moccu Web Design and Entertainment Company is a perfect example of 50s Hello Kitty Style right down to the floating 3D cartoonish characters. The navigation is easy, the site design is clean and interesting and engaging. It has a friendly, approachable personality.

The "Lab" was a interesting. I'm sure their choice of design in this section was no mistake since it is the place where you can create stuff. All it was missing from this reproductive lesson was a few 3D birds and bees flying around.

Overall this is a really interesting site. I like the graphics and the colors and even the personality of the site. Few sites can communicate a personality effectively.

Another for the D&I File

If I had to describe Moss Online in one word it would be clean. This site has lots of white space and subdued text color to allow the brightly colored items from their catalog to stand out on their own merit.

The Financial Times describes the Moss store (in SoHo) as "the design equivalent of Disneyland." I don't know how to read that. To me, Disneyland is too bright, too idealized, too everything. But some might say it is the pinnacle of success in their field. Check out the site and see what you think.

I like the navigation which is subdued but easy to use. I like the items they have on display... at least I like to look at the things that they consider "high design" enough to place under glass (whether monitor screen or shop display).

Gutter Life is uh..... interesting.

I can't tell you the purpose of the site. I can't tell you much about it except it is an interesting gallery of different grungy, organic, punk rock styles. The "navigation" is waaaaay up at the top of the screen (look for the little gray boxes). These boxes will take you through a wide variety of colors, textures and styles.

If you are looking for some graphics inspiration, this is a good place to check out.

Personally, the site made me want to scream.

Phantom Research Foundation is another interesting site. The colors are great. The navigation is different from what I've seen before, but definitely works.

This is a group of musicians, artists and designers who collaborate on projects. When you click on one of the ultra-tiny text links, it scoots over to the left and makes room for the next level of information. You have to click on this next level of information and it also scoots over to make room for the "actual" copy for that link. It is all ultra-tiny text which is irritating for me--I need glasses already, this tiny text is going to have me in electron-microscope powered lenses way too soon.

They have samples of music, lists of clients, the photos are interesting, everything is smooth and loads quickly and well.

Although it is not something I've ever seen before, and probably won't use in my own design, it is well done.

Computer Love is another site that rocks. This one features artists and designers of print and web from all over the world. The navigation takes a little getting used to.

It is set up with lots of white space. You can see who is located where and who is logged on by checking out the map in the left panel. Below this, you can see all the artists who are members on the site. If you "select all," it gives you an uber list of all the artists. Clicking on their link will bring up their bio information on the far right hand panel. Clicking the link on that panel will actually open their website in a separate window.

I didn't like the fact that the "News" section split the screen in two so there was a jump between the artists list on the far left and the actual bio card on the far right.

In spite of that fact, this is an outstanding place to get some D&I ideas. Definitely one for the folder.

Whoa! Mini Cooper USA is awesome! First of all, I love the animation at the beginning. Reminds me of Mad Magazine.

And, as a fan of Gran Turismo 3, I also like the fact that I can run a road race in a Mini-Cooper that I design. Trackballs work well for this road race, BTW.

I like the colors which are subdued for the background and navigation. This allows the autos to stand out with their bright colors and nifty profile.

This site rocks! Definitely one for the D&I folder.

On the other hand (or rather the first hand since you read in reverse chronological order), 21dish.com has some really interesting, if time-wasting, examples of interactive motion graphics.

The navigation is pretty obvious. It doesn't take forever to load. I liked the Stop Bugging Me entry. This was also easy to use and didn't take a long time to load. I liked the example called Where Am I.

Study#10 in the Studies section was also pretty darn cool.

This site might be a good place for people to browse if they are trying to think of new and interesting ways to add interactivity to a site for their Capstone. For me, it was a nice diversion and left me scratching my head about how she did it.

It doesn't make me want to scream, I am not inspired to use these techniques in my own work, but it was interesting.

The Third Place is an experimental forum for top interactive designers such as Daniel Brown, Yugo Nakamura, and Niko Stumpo. You can see the site in one of two modes: 3D (Shockwave) or Flash.

The 3D site has a menu that works like a video game, which makes sense given that this site was created for Sony PlayStation 2. The Flash site allows users to move through a landscape of shapes, colors, and various projects using the arrow keys.

While this is a very very cool site, I found myself wanting to scream. It has all kinds of mysterious navigation. It takes forever for stuff to load in the 3D version. I got motion sick just looking at the first link!

There was no way to know whether my click actually "registered" or not, so I found myself sitting around waiting for something to happen.

The blues in the link names blended into the blue mountainscape in the background making it impossible to read.

These are supposed to be the leaders in their field and they can't even design something that a relatively-savvy user can use! They even provide a rather unhelpful "help" file for users. Darned if I can figure it out.

One for the scream file.

Damah Film Festival is a non-profit group formed to encourage new film makers, to celebrate spirituality, and to explore new ways of looking at the world.

The home page is very bright with orange, blue and yellow as its primary colors. It has a Flash-based banner that is eye catching and represents the purpose of the site well. The slogan is "Spiritual Experiences in Film".

The audience for this site is people who are either aspiring contestants for their film festival or people who are interested in seeing the films they have on their site. You
don't have to be too tech savvy to use this site. The navigation is transparent.

I would have liked a little more of the "about" information on the front page. They do have an About tab in the banner at the top of the page so I can go there to find out more, but just a greeting would have been nice.

It is easy to find out whatever you need to be a participant, a juror, a sponsor, or just an audience member by using the navigation banner at the top of each page.

This is one of my favorite web sites. It is one of the Design and Inspiration sites for me and I hope to submit my own work to this festival at some point in the near future.

For anyone looking for ideas for a Capstone, this site is great to give you ideas for topics, camera techniques, everything.

Nurick+Associates is the business site for a web solutions company in Houston, TX.

The home page is a nightmare. There isn't a lot of copy on this page. Everything is a title/hyperlink. There is no symmetry to the graphic mouseovers in the center part of the page. The graphics are faded out until you mouse over them. Some of the graphics are too close together making it difficult to distinguish whether they are one single picture or two separate ones.

Conan the Grammarian would have a field day editing the copy on this site. For instance, on the Strategy page:

"Together we will work through your organizations goals and forge a plan that will help achieve them, using the Internet and the technologies that we can marshall on your behalf.

This is our focus. Achieving your goals. We look forward to working with you. "

AAAAARRRRRGH!!! Sentence fragments, poorly constructed sentences, missing apostrophes... Just give me the damn red pen already!


The Web Applications page is busy looking. There is very little white space and stuff looks crammed onto the page. Again, I would love to get the virtual red pen and go over this copy.

The Web Applications page also has bolded keywords in the text. This is the only place where they use them and it is tempting to try to click them as a link.

Navigation-wise, they are consistent. The links along the left-hand side don't change.

I also know the person who owns this company. Amazing programmer, obviously not a web designer. This is one of the sites that makes me want to scream.

Multimedia Girl is the personal site for Amy Haiar, a graphic designer in East Lansing, MI. I have actually had the pleasure of working on a multimedia design team with this person and know that she is an amazing designer.

I like her site first for the color scheme--blue is my favorite color. I like the fact that she uses different shades of blue for most of the site. Monochrome color schemes are interesting to me.

I like the navigation also. It is easy to figure out. I particularly like her "About Me" section with the facts wheel. I think this is an interesting way to add interactivity to a site.

She makes it easy to see samples of her work in her Portfolio section. She has logical divisions and consistent graphics to present her work (the grid with thumbnails).

Two things I'd change: first, some of the text is a little blurry (the link to the PDF version of the resume) and the descriptive text for her portfolio doesn't behave the same way her "facts about me" section does. I looked at the About Me page first so when I got to the Portfolio, I expected to see the descriptive text appear on the right side of the screen. Instead it is along the left side and looks more like navigation text than informational text.

I do like the fact that she lists what software she used to create each design.

Very Big Blog has always been one of my favorite sites on the web. VBB is a personal blog for Jen Funk Segrest, a graphic designer. She talks about everything from politics to graphic design and whatever floats her boat on any given day.

When I first started going to this blog, I loved the graphical style. It was a 50s looking woman and a bright orange color scheme and the slogan "Some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraining straps." I just loved it.

Her site is easy to navigate. She has different categories of information such as: Archives, 10 most recent comments, talk to jen, big broads choice link, etc.

She also has links to her other sites, portfolio, and resume in a discreet location on the left-hand side.

I like the color scheme especially because orange is not one of my favorite colors--I never know what to do with it. But she does orange very well and it inspires me to take a risk with one of the lesser used colors on my palette.

One critique, however, is when I click on one of her embedded links (specifically the one for the entry titled "Enough Already," it takes me to the new page without opening a new window. I want to have a new window so I can go back to the blog site without having to click the back button. I much prefer multiple windows open to hitting "back" seven hundred times.

This is very much a personal blog. Her opinions are strong and varied. This is not someplace I'd go to get "the facts" about anything newsworthy. It is, however, a great place to go to get the bitchy, girls-night-out, view.

If I were designing a blog from scratch, I'd use this design as a starting point. This is one for the Design and Inspiration folder.

Bendable Element is the personal portfolio for Carl Bender, a 24 year old graphic designer from Pennsylvania. The purpose of the site is to showcase his work and communicate a little about his graphical style and personal interests.
He has a distinctive graphical style. I love the way he uses different hues of the same color to add accentuation to his graphics.

The site has a lo-fi grunge feel to it. The lines are clean and the site has a streamlined look.

I am not a fan of sound on websites, and his site has "dog-whistle high" pitched beeps when you mouse over menu items. It is high enough in frequency to make me wonder if I have tinnitis, then I realize in fact, it is the way I can tell I've moused over something.

Some of the fonts are very small and, because of his color choices, blend in too well with the background for my taste. I think his navigation is excellent, however.

I am particularly impressed with his "work" tab and the screen shots of his portfolio. Not only is it easy to view the shots, but he is versatile and knows how to design appropriately
for each client's need.

This site is bookmarked in my "Design and Inspiration" folder for ideas about color, navigation, and a clean, streamlined look.

This is the first post for my web design blog.