In the first round, I showed you a list of some of the websites out there that inspire me visually. Some of them were promotional, some were informative, and some just plain made no sense at all. But what they all had in common was that the visuals and user experience got me thinking, and at the end of the day, that’s the best kind of inspiration one can ask for.
So to continue, here are 13 more websites to inspire us, and hopefully to trigger some little idea lightbulb in our heads!
Flash websites typically get an unfair advantage here simply because they’re capable of advanced visual animations that regular HTML can only dream about. That doesn’t mean the Isle of Tune is anything less that spectacular, though. The site allows you to design a road circuit with various objects, and then put a car on that road that triggers sounds as it passes by those objects. You can arrange the objects to create melodies, and in fact the site has some amazing samples. I’m not going to talk about my disastrous attempt at recreating Que Sera Sera.
Noteworthy Points:
- Simply amazing programming. Not only are the features quite extensive, but the site never slows down even on the most complex layouts.
- Light easy interface and easy learning curve makes this a fun site to visit, and to share with your friends.
- The pointillism art direction style is fresh and catchy.
Most winter or ski resort websites will show you nice pictures of pure white snow slopes, happy people, and warm fireplaces. Not this one. Tignes is a ski resort in France, and they take their tagline of “The Sportiest Ski Resort” seriously. This is actually a microsite for a contest promoting the resort, and it’s done in an adrenaline-laced action-packed way. I highly suggest you browse around the site, since this paragraph isn’t enough to highlight all the awesomeness packed into that one site.
Noteworthy Points:
- Love the gladiator style theme, it’s almost superheroic (no roaring crowds? Meh.)
- Loading screen as contest prizes, excellent marketing strategy to utilize loading times.
- Loading was a little long.
- .but the interior is worth it! I like the fast video effect, it does wonders for the adrenaline.
- The games inside are pretty fun!
Somehow I feel that Anthony Steward Head should be narrating this site. Nikon is a well-known photography brand, but more importantly, they’re considered the expert on lens. What better way to cement that than with a site that allows you to “view” the past?
Noteworthy Points:
- I love the concept, and the implementation (it checks based on today’s date! Beautiful attention to detail)
- The searching animations are just gorgeous. It really makes you feel like you’re time travelling.
- The sombre tone seems almost like you’re travelling through space, instead of time, but it has a nice storytelling vibe to it.
Every year PNC comes up with a Christmas Price Index, which is essentially the cost of all the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, including a comparison with last year. This site attempts to relay this year’s (or rather, last year’s) information in a highly visual way, and almost succeeds. While the individual gift animations are brilliant, long loading times and poor navigation guidance hamper the experience.
Noteworthy Points:
- Very long loading time.
- Nice idea for a preloader, but even the preloader took some time to load. Not good.
- Did anyone notice the moose? Awesome attention to detail there.
From the title, you’d be forgiven if you thought this was the promotional website for a sequel. Nope, thankfully, Jack stays dead here. Instead, this website is about the real-life expedition to raise the Titanic, the actual ship. And what a beauty the site is. The blue tones are an eyegasm if there ever was such a thing, and the smooth, asymmetrical scrolling really give a sense of depth to the site.
Noteworthy Points:
- Water surface animations and asymmetrical scrolling items are a nice touch.
- Brilliant usage of colour. In comparison, the typography is okay, nothing that great.
- The usage of vertical scrolling to find out more (as you delve deeper into both the site and the sea, get it?) is a pretty awesome implementation of design thinking.
- Please, no Jack and Rose jokes.
When you’re one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, you know you need a website that’s up to snuff. DDB Canada knew this, too, and designed a website that seems almost alive as it scrolls. Add some brilliant bits of copywriting, and some large images (with a few subtle animations in the background), and you have a site worthy of an agency with attitude.
Noteworthy Points:
- I like the usage of the preloader to promote themselves, but I think they could have done with a few more messages to scroll through.
- Using your work as the main attraction of your website isn’t exactly new, but this layout still manages to keep it fresh.
- Cute line thingies on the navigation. Childish, I know, but I still find them cute.
And what’s an ad agency without a little competition? Fellow Canadian advertising agency Grip Limited isn’t about to let DDB get all the glory, and serves up a fantastic-looking orange-and-black themed site. While the colour scheme, animation, and copywriting should be given praise for what they bring to the site, the undisputed champion here is the typography.
Noteworthy Points:
- Amazing layout. It actually somewhat reminds me of the upcoming Windows 8’s tile design, and it’s fantastically implemented. Kinetic scrolling, collapsible columns, drag-to-scroll, mousewheel scrolling, and even a pull-down menu for when you get overwhelmed.
- A single unified colour scheme brings everything together in a bold, contrasting way, but it also can be overwhelming for certain columns.
- Important, pertinent information (projects, clients, contact info, etc.) is shuffled in and mixed with fun facts about the company (pets, favourite vacation spots, even stripper names). It helps to add a human touch to the business, and exudes a more personal and welcoming aura to the client.
The Coney Island Experience
Any Andrew Lloyd Webber fans among us? If you like the Phantom of the Opera, you might enjoy this one. ALW’s sequel to the Phantom, “Love Never Dies” is set on Coney Island, and to promote it, this Coney Island Experience website was designed. The site features various interactive games around the beautiful yet slightly creepy funfair. Perfect for the Phantom’s new home, methinks.
Noteworthy Points:
- Excellent usage of typography, it really stands out and helps to bring the design together.
- Preloader is attached to the mouse. A nice touch.
- Excessive loading times (a necessary evil for such visually intensive Flash sites). Each scene is breathtaking, but the amount of time required for each scene negates the impact.
UPDATE: Apparently the site has been taken down, presumably because the promotional period is over. A shame, really. Even more shameful is that instead of redirecting to the main site to prevent bouncing, they just let the page show a 404 Error. This does not make one happy.
And now for something truly different. Dutch music production house AMD Musikproduktion created a website that sells on its chief product: sound. The entire site is navigated using audio, providing for an eye-opening experience. Truly one of the most memorable sites I’ve seen in a while.
Noteworthy Points:
- Completely audio-based copy. As the tagline reads, “lose the copy!”. It makes the site stand out, but not always in a good way. The first time I loaded the site, the phone ringing on my speakers was not a pleasant surprise.
- Hilarious situational conversations (sitcons?
) used to introduce the site and the work. The one with his mother is especially priceless. - A single color scheme and some nice dynamic animations help to make sure that the visual doesn’t lag behind the audio for impact.
Designed as a promotional site for the “Hidden Heroes” exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum, the Hidden Heroes site shows us everyday items that we take for granted, but are very much dependant on. Let’s face it, our lives would be very different if there were no such things as zippers.
Noteworthy Points:
- Crisp, clean, design. Nice usage of typography and whitespace to avoid clutter, and to aid focus. I initially thought the site was Japanese, as this type of styling is quite typical of their sites.
- Initial navigation is a bit unclear, but very unique. You actually select the items in the list that you’re interested in, and it only loads those items, greatly increasing the efficiency of the site’s load.
- Sound effects add another nice layer to the experience. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but far too few sites utilize sound effects to add to their user’s experience. Tragic.
Dutch Horticulture (De Nederlandse Tuinbouw)
From what I understand, this site is designed to increase awareness and interest in the younger Dutch demographic regarding horticulture. I’m pretty sure that makes it the most awesome and elaborate non-commercial website I’ve seen in some time. The site shows a full-fledged 3-d island that houses the entire horticulture industry, from production to marketing to research and development. Can’t understand a single thing in the site, but that doesn’t stop my jaw from dropping every time I see this site.
Noteworthy Points:
- Amazing 3D graphics (although it does tend to look a bit low-res at times)
- Voice-powered information and sound effects add to the user experience.
- Loading times are a bit heavy, but not surprising considering the amount of data involved.
Ah, old Hollywood. I don’t know about you, but I personally believe that the golden years of Hollywood are behind us. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, as TCM’s “Moguls & Movie Stars” website allows you to see the history of Hollywood with photos, videos, an interactive studio map, and a timeline that reels through over 80 years of film history. The site’s beautiful sepia tones and classic styling help to enhance the overall experience.
Noteworthy Points:
- Beautiful sepia colour scheme and typography, as well as camera flicker lines help to set the mood.
- Beneath the aged look, however, lies a smooth and fast navigation. Well laid out, too.
- Doesn’t just promote the series, but also packs trivia and information. Helps to increase user interest.
AXE has never failed to entertain when it comes to their promotional material, and this site is no exception. Instead of simply coming out with a product page for their new men’s body soap, they created an entire character called “The Last Sansuke” (read about the Sansuke here). With interactive movies, stories, and information, AXE transforms a simple product advertising into a mockumentary that’s definitely worth looking at.
Noteworthy Points:
- Hilarious preloader
- Nice overall use of Flash graphics to speed up a site that would otherwise be heavy with video.
- Awesome drop-style clock at the bottom.
I’d love to hear what you have to say regarding these 13 sites. As usual, if you know of a site that you think deserves to be on this list, let me know about it! Until then, ciao!
