Jun 08, 2023

webdesign



March 2007
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PG 1 | PG 2 | ALL |

Grindhouse

GrindhouseQuentin Tarantino is at it again with his present day homage to the gritty and plot-challenged exploitation horror and action films of the 70's. In this double-feature film (releasing April 6th) we are re-introduced to a genre of film where sex, violence and gore trumped any sense of artistic merit (way before Leprechaun 3 came out). "Grindhouse" exploitation films run the gambit from the Russ Meyers classics to various zombie and kung-fu matinees. So in that vein, this movie site uses an over-the-top visual language of dirt, grit and gore, and ties it all – loosely – together with a cut-out, collage construction reminicent of the pulp mags of the day. If you have a thirst for movies with pointless sex, violence and gore (no, not Species II), then look no further than your local Grindhouse.... More

Also posted under movie and film sites.

Grindhouse

Dan Zoubek Photography

Dan Zoubek PhotographyLeave it to a Berlin-based photographer to get his online photo portfolio done right... Well, at least 99% percent right! There's only a couple things we would change to make this site perfect. But first, we liked the way the interface gave you a complete visual overview of each area—using a sepia-toned slice of each campaign. Second, we loved the way the flipping through the pages required no "back/previous" button schema. And third, we even liked the photography! So what's the 1% problem? Well, who really cares... close enough!... More

Also posted under fashion, clothes & photos.

Dan Zoubek Photography


Kia Rondoism

Kia RondoismEven if the Rondo is not a true "green" car, this design for the Kia Rondo site is very eco-friendly and happy—it is actually a mid-sized hybrid SUV with the fuel efficiency of a sedan... but it does not use any alternative fuels. And the bright copy and fictional marketing words like "giddyupidness" and "cabinocity" remind us a little bit of the Tour De France branding on TV in 2006: "The Cyclism". None of this is necessarily a bad thing! It's "enlightening" that car companies are beginning to base some of their marketing around eco-friendly appearing designs... it's just not truly eco-friendly until it's not creating pollution at all. But we loved the soft rainbow colors, and the happy marketing copy. We also liked the idea of small puzzle-based mini-games, enforcing the concept of a car for "smart" people. It maybe a bit too cheery for us, personally, but for... More

Also posted under industrial design & autos.

Kia Rondoism

nau

nauDoes the world need another sports clothing company? Absolutely—when that company such as nau sets forth with a new business paradigm... a company that puts design and functionality first in both their business philosophy and the development of their products. With the goal in mind to create something other than a business with "profit" as their bottom line, nau is unique. It is a company looking to profit from the ways they can share and sustain beauty, and positively change the conditions of conventional commerce. When companies take action like this, we all profit! Simply an amazing grid-based design, fabulous functionality, photography, and excellent interface design.... More

Also posted under fashion, clothes & photos, green design.

nau


Spent2000

Spent2000Putting the ADD in browser based entertainment, Tim Nolan from Spent 2000 spits out some new pop culture mash-ups and video-based animations on his experimental site (which any way you cut it qualifies as "vintage web"). He tells us: "I can't explain why I make all this crap, I guess I just love cutting and pasting. So, I was just thinking I should let people know I updated my spot with some new pollution." So, here you have it... somewhere between UTube, Koyannisquatsi, a DJ booth and video editing software lives the new TEUTHOU – pronounced (Two-Thou). Just think: 2000, but more Web 2.0 sounding.... More

Also posted under extra experimental.

Spent2000

Clara Collins

Clara CollinsAn interesting take on the fashion catwalk, Clara Collins (France) uses Flash and creative photography to present several digital "flip-books" of their womens line of clothing. Each flip book has two sides, and can be reversed and animated by using a minimal control panel. While we found the (excellent) photographs are a bit on the small side for viewing the actual clothes, the entire collection in each "book" tells a nice story with stop-motion photography that does, by itself, enhance the brand attributes of the label. Very well executed, and high marks for originality in combining traditional photography with Flash to create something more than your standard online interaction.... More

Also posted under fashion, clothes & photos.

Clara Collins


The Black Seeds

The Black SeedsBeen a while since we've posted ANY music band sites... They just all seem so similar and blah... and to be honest, this one doesn't totally rock us either. We're just big fans of collage design right now, and anything that has animals and plants instead of guns and skulls is definitely "in". We also liked the gold type on black colors... and when you mix a space-scene background with cut-out palm trees and an Ipaka... it's a little silly, but, at least you have something different.... More

Also posted under music sites.

The Black Seeds

Screenvader

ScreenvaderScreenvader invades with hypnotic minimal home-made music and late night visual treats—collaged shiloettes mashed up with Flash art-generators: blueprints, bugs, and citi-scapes. Plus, the 3D user interface is pretty cool... so turn on a tune, sit back, find your way through the experiments, and then pass it on.... More

Also posted under extra experimental.

Screenvader


Planet Earth

Discovery Channel | Planet EarthDon't forget to catch this show this Sunday. Planet Earth, a five years in the making mini-series event will be an epic visual feast for the mind and eyes. In this day and age where we may easily forget that we even share this planet with other animals, this show will hopefully be a consciousness-expanding event. While the site itself has some poor points, is overly bulky (need at least 1GZ and broadband) and is rather disjointed, it really will come down to the show broadcasting on March 25th. This site gives you a tiny taste of this marvelous new nature show... and sadly, perhaps one of nature's last hurrahs.... More

Also posted under green design, movie and film sites.

Discovery Channel | Planet Earth

Charles & Marie

Charles & MarieSide-stepping the morass of global homogeny, C&M are your purveyors of unique and über-cool design products – discovered and delivered to you through this charming little online marketplace. Products featured on C&M are carefully selected, exclusive and limited – while destinations and hot-spots are accompanied with up-to-date and well-organized infomation. While parts of the site may seem a touch unfinished, the "Navigator Blogs" are quite current, and is where all the action lives.... More

Also posted under editorial design.

Charles & Marie


One Time Only - Nike Lab

One Time Only - Nike LabLaunched back in August 2006, we kind of missed this cool sneaker teaser for Nike Hybrids... It features a beautifully rendered animated collage of colors and shapes telling the story of the chaotic aftermath of a fictional galactic impact. What it promotes is the mashing-up of multiple styles of Nike sneakers into hybrid designs. We're not sneaker crazy enough to know if these items are still available, but we are aware enough to know that sneaker freakers totally lost it when they saw this video (player comes with an integrated mini-site). Last year? Yes... But still very cutting edge. Overall design by Odopod with Flash engineering, UI by Qawsa.... More

Also posted under fashion, clothes & photos.

One Time Only - Nike Lab

The Tap Project

The Tap ProjectAs mega software drink companies make millions off bottling spring water for the "health conscious" masses, on March 22nd, participating restaurants in New York City will draw attention to the less fortunate, and invites patrons to donate just $1 for the tap water they usually enjoy for free (for those who may not know, NYC has some of the cleanest tap water in the country, and the world). All monies raised will help UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world. And non-New Yorkers can donate too through this site. So drink up on World Water Day.... More

Also posted under promotional design.

The Tap Project


Electrolux

Electrolux.comAh, we can feel the effervescent cleaning power at work on our brains already... With this sky-blue background and gravity-defying water droplets, this single page gateway site for Electrolux – a Swedish appliance company – oozes with a fresh, sensual appeal. Unfortunately, the killer drawback to this page is that every single link takes you to another pop-up Electrolux site... Which wouldn't be so bad if the designs were more similar. It's a great gateway splash page, but ultimately this page is 99% functionally irrelevant. It's a testament to the difficulty (and failure) of unifying a multitude of branded global sites under one design. We can only hope, perhaps, that the design of this one page wonder will eventually be "filtered-down" to all the sub-country sites. In the meantime, enjoy the bubbles, but just don't click on anything!... More

Also posted under corporate design, industrial design & autos.

Electrolux.com

Mint Collection

Mint CollectionIn this crispy, modern grid-based design, Noise 13 Design has created the showcase site for Martin Building's newest project – Mint Collection. This set of four historic buildings in San Francisco has been meticulously designed and developed into 95 luxury residential, live/work and commercial spaces... and to reflect that, the site has a clean, minimal and luxurious "air" to match. Quite a nice presentation for an upcoming neighborhood in Union Square.... More

Also posted under art & architecture sites.

Mint Collection


Rusta Media

Rusta MediaIn order to sell airtime on SABC channels leading up to the Cricket World Cup Show, media planners are shown the shocking media options they'll get stuck with if they don't book with the SABC. In this brilliant illustrated collage design of a non-existent Caribbean media company's website, media buyers explore the dodgiest media solutions ever, reinforcing the need to book with the national broadcaster before they run out of options. Touting everything from branded coconuts, bongs, to spray-painted goats and fishing boat billboards (locations cannot be confirmed)—the results of this hilarious campaign exceeded sales target by over 250% – with 40% more hits than targeted on launch day and an average of over 1400 hits per month (from a maximum pool of only 750 media planners). Outstanding, functional, funny and also a beautifully illustrated collage design. And don't forget to check the Terms & Conditions.... More

Also posted under promotional design.

Rusta Media

Universe

Universe - by Jonathan HarrisUniverse is an unique new interactive method to explore the news and stories of our planet. Universe was inspired by questions like: if we could draw new constellations in our night sky today, what would those be? What are our great stories? What are our great journeys? Who are our heroes and heroines? Universe presents an interactive night sky, composed of thousands of twinkling stars, which then connect to form constellations. Each of these constellations has a specific counterpart in the physical world—a story, a person, a quote, an image, a company, a nation, a mythic theme. Any constellation can be clicked, making it the center of the universe, and causing all other stars to enter its orbit. Universe is infinitely large, and each person's path through it will be different. For an explanation of how it works, read "Stages". For a longer discussion of the ideas behind the piece,... More

Also posted under editorial design, extra experimental.

Universe - by Jonathan Harris


Alternativ

Alternativ - furniture designA new Flash website in an austere style for Belgian furniture and partioning designer Alternativ. We liked how the site has a high attention to detail that is lacking in similar sites in this genre. And apparently, not only is the design very clean, minimal and beautiful, it is also functional and fully indexable by search engines. Ultimately, even though we felt the Flash transitions were on the slow side, the overall presentation makes the product photography appear artful – and distinctive.... More

Also posted under industrial design & autos.

Alternativ - furniture design

Liveroom

Liveroom.TVHaving already survived its first year, Liveroom.TV is the new site of the first-of-its-kind free online music venue. Liveroom brings gigs and shows from the best new indie bands & artists right to your little computer screen (and in widescreen too!). They record all the bands at the Liveroom studio in North London, and then mix, edit and broadcast the (mostly) unsigned bands over the net. Cool music, in a cool online package—with nice little collages... power to the music!... More

Also posted under music sites.

Liveroom.TV


Valspar

ValsparGet inspired in this one-of-kind site, where we finally see an appropriate use of the ability to use XML with CSS to rotate random color palettes... and for whom better than this large global paints and coatings firm? Mainly driven by large scenic photography, each page brings a different coordinated color scheme... But some photos allow you to interact and alter the colors in the photo itself by picking from pre-made palettes—which you can then add to a shopping list. Impressive, beautiful and relaxing exploration in a very clean design shell.... More

Also posted under extra experimental, promotional design, standards based web design.

Valspar

alta bikes

alta bikesA great sales tool for alta fixed-gear bikes, with a very nice yarn. Hilarious photo illustrations in a very short, sweet, and funny presentation... and besides the bikes are just sharp. The 'Thread behind the bike is that it's a joint project beween graphic designers (Bleed), furniture designers (Norway Says), product designers (Frost Produkt) and advertisers (Shnel&Melnychuck). Perfect.... More

Also posted under industrial design & autos, promotional design, sports design.

alta bikes


MoMA | Comic Abstraction

MoMA | Comic AbstractionThis site contains works from MoMA's Comic Abstraction exhibition (curated by Roxana Marcoci) and includes artist interviews, audio, and supplementary texts in a nifty, contained little Flash piece. The exhibit itself brings together the works of thirteen contemporary artists whose works examines the ways artists in the last decade have used lowbrow popular culture as springboards for abstraction and to address today's perplexing questions.... More

Also posted under art & architecture sites.

MoMA | Comic Abstraction

PG 1 | PG 2 | ALL |
< February 2007 | April 2007 >
March 2007

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