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Site overviews paired with images of home pages. Curated by Say Yeah! Want to contribute, too? Holler at Lee to be added to the group or share your own Design board with him.
Tigerspike. London, NYC, Sydney. Oooh, I love the economist. But like all iPad magazine apps, the typography is shit. Anyway, these chaps have a fairly straightforward corporate looking site, but have peppered this with some unnecessary messaging: "Tigerspike is the world's leading personal media company" which they need to define from there on the What We Do Page. Not much work to see here, but beside each main service area they have a mini case study. Smart, that.
3 likes
Lee Dale from tigerspike.com
Under Consideration. Further considered. I suppose this is, in fact, their homepage. The previous screen is really their portfolio page. Here we see some light messaging "A graphic design enterprise..." with a link to more About Us. Lots more on the homepage: quick links to their goods, pulling in content from their blogs, and lots more news. These guys have more content than anyone.
Lee Dale from Uploaded by user
Under Consideration. Austin. Purveyors of the fantastic 'Brand New' blog. This is some kind of rudimentary site. Basically, a list of work with some filters and info on the right. Okay.
1 comment
Nexus. London. More on the video side: lots of videos and lots of structure. Case studies present intro text, video, and thumbnails with additional graphics/videos. I dig the "View Your Favourites" list with the option to email them – mini portfolio builder and sharer. Neat. News page is also cute, with a left hand news item browser, main news window, and related on the right. And the "Directors" section shows what projects each team member worked on. Not a lot more here. Just tons of work.
1 like 1 comment
Scott Arnold Nav feels a little weird - click something (like latest news), click the link to view the trailer from a story, and it opens a new widow, oddly. I think fluidity of nav is crucial in this kind of thing so it's always easy to land back on something you can orient from (in terms of contact etc), instead of new windows...
Mighty. Toronto. Hey, there's another agency besides ourselves running on Tumblr. What fun! Mighty's pushed the blog below the fold by putting a giant header image on their Tumblr theme. The trouble with Tumblr's limitations means this is on every single page of the site. Ouch. This one's all blog folks. No menu, just random content to stream through.
1 comment
Scott Arnold Add to that the rollover pop up on the banner image is a big, so just resting your cursor near the bottom can actually create obstruction on the content below.
ResIM. Toronto & London, ON. Another great responsive design site (see jetcooper.com): scaling text and images, etc. Clearly defined homepage categories: Our Best So Far hero video (Web videos are not exciting! Especially when set to the Foo Fighters); Our Work (logos/testimonial with some clickable screenshots); The Team (by role); What We Do (test; ia; design; dev; mobile; social media); News; Contact (oooh, a contact form. :-P ). And, hey, that's it. Who needs subpages!? Oh, the blog. The Twitter comment integration is interesting.
1 comment
Lee Dale from resolutionim.com
Scott Arnold I like the integration between logo/identifier and content (remaining 5 boxes flip to reveal screenshots), though this doesn't really scale from the 6 placeholders they have - but if it's their most recent 6 projects - it's a good way to keep clean content fresh.
Interaction Design Association. International. Let's look at another association, this one more tech friendly than AIGA. Jumping off points on their homepage include New vs Experienced, with quick links for each. They're pulling in any reference to IXDA from Twitter. Homepage hijacking be damned! Messaging: "We believe that the human condition is increasingly challenged by poor experiences. IxDA intends to improve the human condition by advancing the discipline of Interaction Design." Fancy! This is also fun: "Our practices are evolving with the world; join the conversation."
American Institute of Graphic Arts. All over America (and some Canadians, too, man). AIGA kicks but, educating, sharing, communicating, collaborating, etceterating. Grid happy. Some interesting content here: "I am a: designer; business owner; client; etc." Those just lead to a custom overlay with super fancy info for each, rather than trying to reformat the entire site or push people off the homepage. Cool. Right, this ain't no agency, so I'm moving on.
Clearleft. UK. This is some high brow shit from Andy Budd, schooling people on the Power of User Experience. Interesting approach. Nice bragging as you move down the page: "Sure, our acclaimed books, public speaking and trailblazing conferences help, but..." And then, "Here are six reasons why we were named Agency of the Year": 1. user-centred; 2. streamlined; 3. proven track record; 4. partner/listen; 5. work with pros, not juniors and account managers; 6. no bullshit. Bios have questionnaires and links out. Who We Are says even more about their approach. And What We Do gets into specifics of Design Research, Interaction Design, and Interface Design. The did you know we also bit in the footer is a nice touch to highlight incubated projects and more. Nice calls to action: "Sound like we could help out?" and "What next?" Portfolio is just a grid of stamps which link to the client site. Interesting choice. These cats rock!
3 comments
Lee Dale from clearleft.com
Scott Arnold I like their site (and work) - though "We spend time solving design problems, not documenting them. Our streamlined approach helps your budget go a long way" worries me as a statement since it implies documenting the design decisions is not valuable (which I think it often is to ensure consistency). Minor - but weird that they call it out... like people have been worried about the cost of tracking decisions...?
Lee Dale Perhaps the same as this: http://gettingreal.37signal...
Scott Arnold I agree with that - but the Clearleft statement sounds less "specific" on that front, but yes - let's hope that's what they're going for.
Xtreme Labs. Toronto, Palo Alto. Descriptor heroes: We Know Mobile; We Know Tablets; We Know Smart TVs (yeah, they all suck!) Also, stated below: We lead the world in creating the best mobile, tablet and smart TV experiences. (Oxford comma, people!) And still there's more with What We Do below that. Then blog, then Twitter, and partners. Not much work on the homepage (hero teasers), but the Our Work logo grid solves this. Sorted by sector, these link into brief case studies with photo, description and platform highlighted. What We Do digs into all the good stuff: prototypes, UX, integration, analytics, expertise, maintenance, and more. They blog regularly. Solid stuff, lads.
Lee Dale from xtremelabs.com
Polar Mobile. Toronto, San Fran & Dubai. Marketers and decision makers, I expect, will be impressed with their track record; everything above the fold is numbers, funding, and product. Clear messaging below all this stuff: Platform; Cross Device; Client Highlights. I don't get their silly menu popovers, but none of that compares to how awesome their mobile site is! The site is a design nightmare, but the content stands out: features; advantages spelled out; testimonials; platforms and devices. Yay, sales and marketing! You won this battle!
Lee Dale from polarmobile.com
Bruce Mau Design. Toronto/NYC. Grid me! Work and play samples. Multidisciplinary, the site content is light, but the work speaks for itself. There's also a hard to read chart in About that talks about their scope of services: Vision, Digital, Environment, Content, and Communications. Now owned by one of the big boys, MDC (also based in Toronto), and who also count locals Trapeze in their sphere of holdings. Anyway, BMD's case studies usually have lots of images but not necessarily much text, and they appear to have some relationship with Behance because Behance's 'Appreciate This' button is on each case study.
Grip Limited - Toronto. Weird striped vertical navigation. Broad scope, mainly marketing (ads etc) - but the design and interaction of the site is so weird it seems worth noting. Whimsical overtones throughout the site (between client work, they list vacation destinations and coffee consumed). Blog, tweets all present - almost too much to take in. Fun, but might be hard for a client to get a real picture of what they do.
Bolt Peters. SF. No immediately clear messaging, with the latest random tweet taking precedence. But, hey: "We help make the experience of web apps, devices, video games, and cars awesome." Cool. Homepage is largely a story banner, mostly focused on articles, images, and other Bolt Peters content rather than projects. (As a result of their research focus?). Mini-case studies highlight these research projects, but it looks like they aren't allowed to share findings. That's tough 'cause I know they're good at what they do.
Lee Dale from boltpeters.com
Playground. Toronto. Homepage states they're creative, with an additional descriptor: We build companies & design experiences in the digital space. If that's enough for you, custom full screen project intros follow if you scroll down, then a grid of additional work, all leading to more big screen case studies. Lots of breathing room, full service, but not a lot of process and service discussion. (Everyone loves Nike's site: nikebetterworld.c...)
2 comments
David Senior Thanks Lee! We saw some of those key deficiencies in copy as well. We are working to fix that on the next site. Loving this board. How are you clipping screenshots?
Lee Dale Unfortunately, ⌘-Shift-4 on the Mac, and then upload. Edit to add the website address.
Fuseproject. SF & NYC. Approach, Business Model, and Practices. Multidisciplinary pushing into industrial and environmental design. Detailed case studies a few steps in. Too many clicks. Blog based homepage. Black backgrounds are for haxors. Descriptor below the hero image is clear, otherwise the messaging seems wishy washy. " fuseproject develops cohesive brand + product experiences. With a focus on establishing new markets and disrupting old ones, our work takes a long-term strategic approach to developing and enhancing our clients' business." They certainly get to work on great projects.
Lee Dale from fuseproject.com
Blast Radius. Everywhere. My favourite Web folks from back in the day (like, before the bubble burst). Started in Vancouver in '96. Case study crazy (lots of detail and cross-pollinated content). Campaign based stuff. Homepage focuses on Work, Articles/News and Locations. Straightforward About, Work and Services sections.
Lee Dale from blastradius.com
Jet Cooper. Toronto. Messaging, people, and client logos take centre stage on the homepage. "We're a user experience agency in Toronto, Canada. We design smart, capable and beautiful applications for web, mobile and tablet." Portfolio by request or by digging through blog posts. Lots of content and topic highlights, all with images. No website menu other than digging through the blog. Wordpress powered.
Lee Dale from jetcooper.com
Sofa. Amsterdam. Now-defunct design studio (acquired by Facebook to do their design and moved from Amsterdam to the US) with a focus on interaction design. Their motto was "friendly, useful products." Clean use of blog-style portfolio presentation - feels a little catalogue-like, which adds some weight to the postings. Landing page has just four tabs (Design open in screenshot), but easy to navigate - except when you get well down the list, no easy way to pop back to the top/tabs. Site is now an archive of their past work.
Un.Titled. Leicester, England. Descriptor: Multimedia, multi-discipline studio. Homepage scrolls through recent work samples (all placed in context). Slightly confusing navigation (Info seems only accessible from a tab in the blog) through site, but a clean slider-nav on the portfolio (with text filters to focus content) makes for easy viewing of work.
Arlo. Chicago. BAFFLING landing page. Descriptior: General guideline is "Maximum heart; minimal fluff." Web Design and print (with a lot of packaging). Their portfolio is a grid of images, but each links to a set of design images and brief case study info. Home page changes each time you fresh to various B&W patterns. Weird landing experience, when the portfolio and client list speak well of the agency.
Scott Arnold from arlo-tm.com
Weightshift. San Francisco, Chicago. Descriptor: Work to a set of guiding principles, chief among them; "We create beautiful and usable things that we hope are meaningful, enduring and influential." Principles are not uncommon guiding terms - but nice to see them laid out (for clients). Portfolio area has a nice mix with 5 recent projects, then a "Greatest Hits" section highlights older work. Supporting blog (sample: a fine menu experience) of design thinking lives on site.
1 repin
31Three. Toronto Area. Main Message - "For The Design-Challenged Developer." Offers to make design as clean as the code (partner design to pair with developers). Slightly outdated comments on Homescreen, but a clean UI. Mobile Web Design links back blog-style portfolio. Easy to see most recent work.
3 comments
Scott Arnold from 31three.com
Michelle Langman Slightly outdated? 2007 is only slightly outdated?
Lee Dale Yes, we know you were just starting high school then, but for most of us, it was a heartbeat ago.
Michelle Langman Five years seems like a heartbeat to you? Yep, you must be old. In any case, in the world of Internet (you know that new fangled thing all those youngsters are into these days) five years to update website content may as well be a century. (which I'm sure is only a blink of an eye for you).
Rethink. Vancouver & Toronto. No messaging. Flexible grid homepage with some corporate highlights (news, awards and case studies), and cultural stuff (tweets, holiday stuff, and 'rethinker of the month'). No real apparent organization of this content. Yay to a another portfolio grid. Brief case studies and work samples from there, but comments! (Cute idea). Philosophy and process found under "Us". Philosophy asks your opinion. So, lots of interaction throughout the site – these guys are smart and playful. Kudos.)
2 comments
Scott Arnold I really like their site... it feels as much like something worth a cursory visit as it does a company site to find an agency to hire.
Lee Dale Their work is exceptional, but the homepage feels like a recruiter's with all the awards and employee love.
Ideo. US, UK, Germany, China. Descriptor: We are a global design agency. We create impact through design. Messaging: We help organizations (insert various value props: innovate, grow, etc). Homepage rotates through case studies with this messaging customized per, and a variety of pet projects sit below. It pays to be funded well enough to play. Steelcase, you can buy us too, if you'd like! Portfolio grid with hella detailed case studies. About highlights "What We Do" and "Our Approach: Design Thinking".
frog design. EVERYWHERE! And no messaging! Homepage, primary case study with articles, news, events & appearances, and more below. Portfolio highlights three case studies with typical grid below.
Lee Dale from frogdesign.com
Adaptive Path. SF, Austin, Amsterdam. Descriptor: An experience design consultancy. Homepage features just one case study (rotating) backed with process images which push all other content bits well off screen (events, articles, contact) – seems like wasted real estate to me. Is this returning results for them? Work section is quite verbose getting into value and services before diving into case studies, which are relatively in depth (Challenge, Insight, Impact). Nice.
Lee Dale from adaptivepath.com
Method. NYC, London, SF. Clear messaging: Method is an international design firm focused on product and service innovation. Consistent grid format used throughout. Rather than having a detailed service list, the "Thinking" section shares insight via flash-only video, online articles, and PDFs. Nice idea. Tech note: Wordpress powered.
1 like
Lee Dale from method.com
Devlin. Toronto. Clear messaging: Put Users First. Focus on process/culture over recent work. Portfolio is a grid of logos followed by brief case studies. Detailed, main menu level breakdown of their offering: Discuss, Define, Design, Develop, Deliver, Deploy, with mucho sub links. Design is clunky.
1 like 1 repin
Mobizone. Toronto. Buzzword business-speak that means absolutely nothing. Several pages and paragraphs in and it's still unclear what they do. Terrible typography. No portfolio.
1 like
Lee Dale from mobizoneinc.com
Say Yeah! Toronto. Us. Clear messaging relegated to book size type in the left column and blog format (and non-Say Yeah content) is a little misleading. Portfolio grid leads to empty Tumblr tags. Tumblr rocks, but our work here is incomplete!
2 likes
Lee Dale from yousayyeah.com
Teehan Lax. Toronto. Strong descriptor: "We define and design customer experiences in the digital channel." Teasing with sketches/mockups on the homepage with blog and social pulled in. Portfolio is a grid of client images which lead to detailed case studies, with screenshots. I haven't found any videos. Our Services has detailed process and approach info. Nicely done! They rock.
1 like
Lee Dale from teehanlax.com
Normative. Toronto. Homepage is pretty with logos. Straightforward messaging: design for devices & the Web. The portfolio is a series of dated blog articles. And the methodology/capabilities are buried under "About".
1 like
Lee Dale from normative.com
Fetching pins…
Scott Arnold Something about the pairings of type-faces feels almost like an error has caused the wrong fonts to render when drawing the page... like replacements. Weird.