Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Random Design Fun: Project Runway inspriation....
You Can't Miss: Project Runway websites
I know everyone is working on their website this week, and I have found a great source for inspiration from the Project Runway crew!
If anyone else is having trouble creating a visually interesting and dynamic splash page, go check out the designers' websites. I found most through this PR blog. All the links are on the side of the page, and you can see how Daniel V. plays with typography or how Kara has a really cool flash intro that leads into her site. Those two were my favorite, but check them all out.
Looking at other websites made me realize my splash page was WAY too busy, which is a great lead-in for my response this week...
Response on simplicity
I am writing a general response this week about simplicity. This ties in to earlier in the semester when Heather and I talked about how we had the bad habit of pulling a 'Santino' on our designs by constantly adding more and more embellishments or colors or whatever to our pages until it was just TOO MUCH. I now believe simplicity is the answer 90 percent of the time-- it's what readers respond to the best, and what they understand the most.
Especially with regards to our websites, I believe simplicity is important. When you are browsing the Internet, you are bombarded with busy sites like Yahoo or MSN, both of which try to put as many images, links, sidebars, etc. on the page...but in reality all you want is the simple answer...which is why Google is the browser everyone uses now ... look at it's main page, all that is there is the name and the search bar....it's so clean!
Our websites will showcase our design portfolios, but what will get employers attention more than our design samples is how our website looks. We can't say we are a great designer, and then direct them to something that looks like crappy design. Because so much stuff is usually on the web, I think viewers will respond better to that simple, clean look because it is so different than everything else on there!
So I've said it... SIMPLIFY! If only I could follow it..
I know everyone is working on their website this week, and I have found a great source for inspiration from the Project Runway crew!
If anyone else is having trouble creating a visually interesting and dynamic splash page, go check out the designers' websites. I found most through this PR blog. All the links are on the side of the page, and you can see how Daniel V. plays with typography or how Kara has a really cool flash intro that leads into her site. Those two were my favorite, but check them all out.
Looking at other websites made me realize my splash page was WAY too busy, which is a great lead-in for my response this week...
Response on simplicity
I am writing a general response this week about simplicity. This ties in to earlier in the semester when Heather and I talked about how we had the bad habit of pulling a 'Santino' on our designs by constantly adding more and more embellishments or colors or whatever to our pages until it was just TOO MUCH. I now believe simplicity is the answer 90 percent of the time-- it's what readers respond to the best, and what they understand the most.
Especially with regards to our websites, I believe simplicity is important. When you are browsing the Internet, you are bombarded with busy sites like Yahoo or MSN, both of which try to put as many images, links, sidebars, etc. on the page...but in reality all you want is the simple answer...which is why Google is the browser everyone uses now ... look at it's main page, all that is there is the name and the search bar....it's so clean!
Our websites will showcase our design portfolios, but what will get employers attention more than our design samples is how our website looks. We can't say we are a great designer, and then direct them to something that looks like crappy design. Because so much stuff is usually on the web, I think viewers will respond better to that simple, clean look because it is so different than everything else on there!
So I've said it... SIMPLIFY! If only I could follow it..
// posted by teresasanserif @ 9:32 AM 
