Jordi Romkema

As you might have noticed already I am a fan of bright colors used in web design. Today I stumbled upon Rox, a website for a music & art festival in the UK. Although the primary colors are shades of grey and black (again, a big fan) the design comes to life thanks to the use of bright green, blue and green.

The hand drawn art is what makes the Rox site standout though. I love the elements design by hand, a trend I see more and more each day. I don’t mind the trend as long as it’s used moderately and not for primary controls or navigation.

If anyone else knows some good examples of websites using hand drawn elements, drop them in the comments below.

Expo Cooperative is a collective of designers that create and solve problems together. They share their results, research and output with the design community. I came across their site today and there are several elements on their website that really impressed me. The first thing that immediately struck me was the use of vibrant colors, I simpy love the color combinations used througout the website. The main content is a combination of grey, white and black but the background is really colorful to make the main content stand out more. Second thing is the use of large typography. Besides being easy to read it's also a great design element.

Another fun fact is that the site looks like it's being held by one of their designers as you can see from the hand on top of the main page and the hand on the bottom of the main page. When you go to their about section the site is flipped, including the menu and hte logo, and you see the designer holding the site among other really creative artwork. Cool!

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Spring has officially begun a week ago and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development launched a new website to promote Tennessee in the springtime. They usually do this every season but never got the chance to write about it. Their main website Tennessee Vacation is absolutely stunning and now they released the spring version promoting events and happenings in the upcoming months. The whole look and feel is literally a breath of fresh air which suits the time of the year perfectly! The attention to detail is simply amazing. Makes me want to go to Tennessee!

The latest, the spring version

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I just came across this new website created by Pikaboo, a creative studio from Brussels in Belgium. Their site is really simple but extremely well executed with smooth animations. At first I thought it was a Flash-based website because of the smooth transitions but I was wrong: It's all javascript! I'm impressed...

Today I stumbled upon the portfolio of Melissa Hie. When I first saw the entry page I wasn't really that impressed but when I clicked the "Ready, Go!" button I was hooked to this site! When you click the Go button the screen slides away and the next screen comes up. Looking under the hood, it's a pretty simple but impressive combination of CSS and Javascript that enables these slide animations from screen to screen. It's a technique that made me say to myself "Why haven't I thought of that?", which happens multiple times a day

The design is excellent, just wish there was more content. But it's a portfolio and it will obviously grow in time since Melissa Hie is a very skillful developer/designer. I added some screenshots below but it is best when you experience it yourself

Out of all the Democratic candidates Barack Obama has the best site hands down. I'm not really into US politics but since he's in the news so much lately, here in The Netherlands, I decided to check out his website. It was certainly more than I expected, the colors are brilliant, easy for the eye, cold yet it makes me feel warm and at home. The website itself is clear and easy to use. If I was able to vote I would vote for him just based on the strength of his site.

Update: Apparently I'm not the only one...

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I’m truly impressed by the work of Designer and Art Director Jesse Kaczmarek from New York City. It’s absolutely stunning, so diverse but still consistent. Here are some of the gems in his remarkable and excellent portfolio...

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