i'm blogging instead of using our q&a lab period

www.jlern.com

looking through comm arts interactive and stumbled upon this site.

simple, clean, engaging flash and awesome typography - very easy to look at. it's information design but very unique and interactive - all kinds of cool angles and rotating vector images - definitely makes the viewer want to click  around. 

navigation is fun and different, all the pages of the site exist at once so you know what you are looking at. haven't really seen anything else like it, really. mad props :]

Really cool polish guy

okay i stumbled across a third one i needed to include -by the name of Peter Jaworowski. 

www.hejz.com (for some reason, he calls himself the hejz) ..must mean something in polish.

anyways, the guy knows everything there is to know about flash - the site is basically a do it yourself structure. there's actually a "how can i navigate" section explaining that you can modify the way the works are layed out. when looking at a portfolio piece there's even a way to change the work, change the whole set, and turn on and off a slideshow - very forward :)

i usually wouldn't care much for the color scheme but here i think it works because his portfolio is AMAZING, and the fact that the background isn't screaming allows the viewer to give the proper focus to the work. he's got everything from advertising to print to editorial to interactive. DEFinately a site to bookmark!

Mathew Rezac

www.soonafter.com

this personal website was a neat little find (thanks anton :] )

at first it kind of seems all over the place, though he does make a point to say it is a work in progress. the flash/navigation is ...different .  initially i thought it was just bands of color, and i couldn't figure out if the boxes were 'clickable' or not - some are, some aren't - then i thought it was chronologically backwards, so it's a little confusing. also on the home page the boxes are misleading - they seem like they should do something or lead somewhere but they don't. 

on the other hand, it's nice that he doesn't try to get too flashy with animation, so his work becomes the main focus.  it's also nice that you can see a description of the project, or not, and view a detail if you so choose. the horizontal scroll is  cool looking for a change, it shows off his design. 

while the site isn't exactly elegant, it doesn't need to be - it's simple and clean enough for the work to speak for itself. success!

now the real reason for this blog...

because i haaaaad to. (just kidding, scout) well.. sort of. 

anyways, the assignment being to find a personal web site and think about why it's good. first victim - nice old man graphic design professor Jon Craine. [www.joncraine.com]

from what i can see, Jon Craine is "committed to delivering design solutions that solve problems and address the clients' business needs". ( wait - did he right that himself? )  furthermore, "his versatility and experience enables him to bring authenticity and proficiency to assignments of every size".  i hope one would offer to address clients' business needs, i mean that's the reason they hire a designer in the first place isn't it ? i realize this is a site meant for self-promotion and all - but talking in third person is a little much 

but enough criticism! the flash animation is funky - i guess i would call it innovative. his background and portfolio is in the form of a book and the pages turn. kind of hard to figure out at first since there are no buttons or arrows or directions - i just by default moved my mouse and the pages started flipping uncontrollably. but hey, we can't all be flash experts. (that's a joke..)

 impressive portfolio - i think his stuff is too good for the way it is displayed. overall the site isn't very compelling, which i guess is  understandable - the man's in architecture not interactive design - i just wish for his sake he would find a more captivating way to display his work. i mean, the guy's done stuff for kodak and has posters in the MoMa - his webpage should at LEAST take up a bit more space on screen. but, i will say it is very elegant in it's simplicity - which is effective in speaking to the type of clients he seems to service

i'm new to this

and to be quite honest, never considered myself the "blogger" type. no offense of course to all the bloggers out there, just the time commitment issue , but really when isn't that an issue (god, people these days). but hey, i guess if you're passionate enough about something..