Splashes Of Colour
Posted under: My day to day reading of blogs always throws up a few suprises and they sometimes lead me on a kind of ‘wild web chase’ finding sites I have not seen before. Lately I have come across some real gems in terms of design, colour, typography and the downright crazy!
Camping Il Frutteto
In our first example (a downright crazy one) we see this huge in your face, sunny, landscape background with a bright red apple in the centre of it all. The apple contains the menu and by clicking on a menu item, the page whizzes right. Click the home link from a page, and it whizzes back left. At first you will think “oh that’s flash built”, but it is actually Javascript which makes the pages whizz around like that.
The big downside is that with Javascript turned off, clicking the menu items takes you no-where! I just wonder if the client asked for this bonkers functionality or if the design agency came up with idea. Whoever it was didn’t give a hoot about unobtrusive JS or progressive enhancement.
Still I love the colours used in this design, you can’t go far wrong with some lovely rich blues, greens and browns.
Lee Munroe
This is a stunning design from Lee Munroe a freelance web developer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. I love the way the theme changes to reflect the time of day, kind of like the themed google home page but a lot lot nicer. Lee has used some beautiful colours to create some stunning vectors for the backgrounds to give a ‘happy’ kind of feel as you navigate the site. Also, look out for the tiny insect running riot in the footer! – A nice touch!
Jamie Knight
Now when Jamie Knight speaks you listen! A fantastic website chockablock with microformat goodness. Jamie has given a lot of thought to detail when he created jkg3.com and the design reflects Jamie’s personality. I can’t mention Jamie without mentioning Lionwho never leaves his side. You can see a cute reference to Jamie’s best pal in the background graphic which is seamless and gorgeous!
Veerle Pieters
This is one of my favourite sites to visit on a day to day basis. I normally shy away from dark background colours, but Veerle Pieters does this fantastically well. The background allows the content to become more in focus. She uses a four column grid type layout with the side content giving the impression of it just hiding or overlapping under the main content section to give a shadowy effect. The vector art she has used in her brand logo is simply stunning.
Hiya,
Two quality blog posts in one week, blimey, i should get my web writing act together!
I really like the first site, though i feel the use of unobtrusive JS would not be difficult to make. Maybe it is something they are planning in the future.
Lee Munroe seems to have some talent for the subtle…. I was pleasently suprised as the plane flew across in the background. This is the sort of thing which was once only the preserve of the flash (as in the IDE) guys.
Veerle, well what can i say which you have not summed up here? She has the talent to pull of such a bold design. I also like how the content both expands and breaks the box and the grid, but without feeling uncomfortable. Also, If you reduce the size down to 800px the main content is still visible and works!
I feel honored to be featured among such like as the others, thanks, and keep up the good posting!
^licks^
Jamie & Lion
Hi John, nice post, it’s great to be recognised along with other top designers and great websites. I often find myself at Veerle’s blog trying to top up my Photoshop and Illustrator skills.
Thanks for the mention
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@ Lee – Thanks and no problem, it’s a pleasure. Thanks for writing about me on your site – Cheers!
@ Jamie – Your site definately deserves a mention and after all the recent publicity it has got (.net smashing magazine etc..) it’s the least I can do
Yeah I recently subscribed to Lee’s blog on the strength of the design of his site, great stuff. And now here’s another I have to subscribe to!
I’ve always loved Veerle. The colours and typography are sublime.
That camping site is wicked. Very well executed.
Cheers
J.
@ John B – Thanks for subscribing. Yes I totally agree about Lee’s site, the design is fun and the content is informing too. Nice website BTW!
hi John, first thanks for featuring us.
so, we have considered the low chance for a user to have disabled js and we opt for this way.
we know current limits of our javascript solution (we usually keep in mind unobtrusive js and progressive enhancement) but in this case there was several reasons for not fix them such as project budget and more development time
however thanks for your observations.
Alessandro
Every time i come here I am not dissapointed, nice post