Turner Duckworth

Turner Duckworth
Firm: Turner Duckworth
source: Communication Arts Design Annual 49, November 2008, p81

This firm specializes in branding and packaging, putting stock in the smallest of details. Their web site is very clean — a bright white background and small, thin, minimal text which is light gray for information or red for navigation. On each page is an exclamation point logo in bold black with the dot being an eye that winks at you when you rollover it or click on a navigation button. The exclamation point logo was ingenuously kept at just the right size, receiving attention due to it's blackness — not it's size. And it's interesting how the thin "eyelid" stroke on the dot tones down the solidness of the logo by adding a touch of daintiness.
The firm presents their portfolio by placing small, isolated thumbnails of each client's branded package or logo in a simple grid structure. As you rollover each client's thumbnail, a text box pops up to identify the client. Many of the clients' full-size images had "discover the details" buttons. These resulted in magnified images that showed off the small details in their designs — such as a copyright symbol tucked inside of a dog's paw print instead of a basic circle. If you have time to explore, look for these details. They're quite impressive and make you think, "Ahhhh..."

Young & Rubicam

www.yandr.com

Communication Arts Design Annual 49, Nov 2008, p144
Firm: Y&R Advertising, Irvine, CA

This international advertising company does some incredibly innovative work and their website show it off in a very clean minimalistic way. (Steve - you'll like this one.)
The site uses a clean white background with only simple understated text links in vertical columns. Each page has a unique eye-catching image or film and a dividing line the viewer controls that acts as a sliding door to reveal more text or more image.
This site very effectively packs in an abundant variety of their portfolio. Some of the films take a while to load, but be patient — they're worth it. Be sure to check out the Spring Valley promotion under INNOVATION. If you have the time to explore this site, you will be well-entertained and very impressed.

Laurie Rosenwald

www.rosenworld.com

Designer: Laurie Rosenwald
Source: Communications Art Interactive Annual 14, Sept/Oct 2008, p14

After reading Laurie Rosenwald's article about making mistakes on purpose in order to create, I decided to check out her website and was not disappointed. It seems to be so random and off the wall that it just charms the socks off of you. I found myself exploring and exploring until I looked in every nook and cranny. Looking at her site feels like a walk through her subconscious. It's an art playground. The creative thinking oozes out. If you get a chance to check it out, click on the bee image to watch her animated shorts. After listening to her narrate, I've added her to my-people-I'd-like-to-meet list!

Paper Critters

papercritters.com

Designer: Ruperto Fabito, Jr.
Source: Communication Arts Interactive Annual 14, Sept/Oct 2008 p126

This fun interactive site allows the user to create 3-D paper box people that can be used digitally or actually printed to paper and made into toys. The site is artsy, intuitive, and somewhat addictive. I liked the hip colors and the well laid-out "floor plan" of the design. The logo reminds me of Pac-Man and lends to the adolescent appeal of the site. Be sure to check out the attached video. It's a 1-minute mini movie featuring a day in the life of paper critters. Coming from a family of aspiring filmmakers, I found it rather entertaining and a clever promotion.

Catherine LePage

www.catherinelepage.com

Designer: Catherine LePage
Source: Communication Arts, Sept/Oct 2008 p168

I saw this designer's work in a magazine and was intrigued because her work is all very signature — meaning everything she's produced has her own consistent style and feel. All of her work has a hand-drawn, doodle-cartoonish look.
Her website is in keeping with her style. It feels like a scrapbook with handwritten navigation buttons and a graph paper background. Each page clearly identifies where you are in the site with a big coral dot that moves from page to page along the navigation bar. The site packs in a lot of samples in a very organized way. Small thumbnails show just enough of the image to make the viewer want to click and find that piece of the puzzle in the big picture. It's like playing "Where's Waldo?" The site subtlely doubles content on one web page by sliding in a smaller secondary navigation bar for a page 2. It's so well done, you think you've seen it on every page.
Anyone seeing this site will know this designer's forte is illustration. This designer's site fits her like a glove.

http://valmiloje.com/
Designer: Valentin Miloje
Source: The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design, p175

The first thing that strikes me about this site is the logo. I love how it reflects the designer's tools of the trade. I can't figure out what the lines at the top of the M represent, though. Ideas?
The splash page follows a to-do checklist of design principles with the emphasis clearly being on the designer and not on a show-me-all-the-gadgets web site. Although the splash page appears to have a "button" to enter the site, the viewer can actually click on any part of the logo or name to enter. The home page is set up in a simple grid system with a broad spectrum of projects represented. One of the interesting things I noticed was a button labeled "creative process" which leads to — SURPRISE — a sketchbook page!

Next Stop: Creativity

www.creativitystop.net

Designer: Brunella Giannangeli
Source: The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design, 2009, p180

This site pulls out all the bells and whistles - no pun intended. It opens with the sound of a train horn and ends with the title rolling to a stop on a blank screen. From there, the train theme continues. The navigation is set up as a railroad map with some of the stops being clickable. The background of the website looks like digital scrapbooking with the purpose of showing the designer's skills in Illustrator. The site actually gets quite old very quickly but it does remain consistent in it's train theme. The designer's reason for the transportation motif was to express the idea of motion — the idea that her work is progressive and modern (and unique).
I found the site interesting for two reasons: first, the fact that it was mentioned as an example for a portfolio piece, and second, because it appears to be the total opposite of what our artist, Joan Stolz, desires for her site.