Sites That Inspire – 2.

By: Chris Murphy

Having spent the better part of December otherwise indisposed, I had a lot of time on my hands to do nothing but surf around the web. Seeing as this is the start of a new year, I thought I would usher it in (belatedly) with a handful of the sites that survived a recent purging.

One of the trends that seems to be re-emerging lately in design (regardless of industry) is a more illustrative approach to some of the graphical aspects of a design. In the past, most illustrative elements tended to be small details such as arrows or buttons (minus of course those fully-illustrated sites that crop up), but now I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more illustrative elements in websites going forward. It’s a nice departure from the super-glossy websites of the last couple of years.

Biola Undergrad

I liked this site for its particular blend of graphical styles (hand-drawn illustration, vector and photography). The design successfully delivers on style while still respecting the need to remain usable.

Visit them here.

Redbrick Health

This is a fairly dramatic departure for a health insurance provider in that they’ve done away with the typical corporate look and feel in favour of a more consumer-oriented aesthetic. Browse though the various sections and you’ll see that the designer carried the theme consistently throughout the experience. one feature you might want to check out is the parallax scrolling effect you get when you resize the browser window (pay close attention to the clouds).

Visit them here.

Edit Studios

A UK based web company, Edit Studios’ website offers some interesting features that caught my attention. I particularly liked the rotating portfolio that breaks up the standard grid, as well as the playful hand-drawn details peppered sparingly though the design. While this isn’t the most ground breaking of sites, I do like it for the fact that I get almost everything I need to know about the company right from the get go.

Visit them here.

• Posted: January 17, 2009
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