The philosophy behind the design of this website was to do away with the traditional website layout of “logo at the top on every page and menu down the left-hand side on every page”.
The design of any website should reflect the demands of the content on that website and, of course, if the content requires a menu down the left-hand side on every page then that is the layout that should be employed. However, if the content does not need that particular layout, then something else needs to be considered.
This website has relatively few sections, three in fact, and they are quite distinct, so the visitors to this website are most likely looking for only one of the three areas: web design, type design or matchbox design. Therefore, permanently having navigation on any one of the sections to the other two makes little sense. Having the navigation in one place, on the “home” page allows visitors to visit the different sections should they choose to (as is the purpose of navigation in the first place) while simultaneously solving the single biggest problem with navigation: it’s distracting and inconvenient. Removing it from every page gives a much cleaner appearance and, as with ReallyNiceRecipes (below), allows the content of the page to take centre stage.
Really Nice Recipes, a world-beating recipe website where each recipe contains large, step-by-step photographs illustrating each stage in the recipe. The design is intended to reduce as much visible clutter as possible so that the task of actually following a recipe can be done without any unnecessary distraction. For example, the navigational and other menus are hidden until you need to access them (they appear when your mouse gets close to the discreet ‘Menu’ or ‘Options’ label). The thought process behind this was: “You didn’t come here looking for a recipe website, you came here looking for a recipe. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just find that recipe, rather than finding a recipe website and all the extraneous and obtrusive clutter that goes along with it, then you could just get on with cooking your dinner”. In this way, the recipe takes not only centre stage, but all of the stage. Similarly, the usual website practice of including the company logo on every page has been abandoned as it proved to be unnecessary: a logo is traditionally used to create brand loyalty, but you aren’t going to return to our website because we have a logo, you’re going to return because of the quality of our product, the recipes.
The Really Nice Cakes website and online portfolio. The main idea behind the design of this website was to create a luxurious looking website that would stand out from the crowd of other cake makers. We were keen to avoid the clichéd look of swirly script and pastel shades in favour of a bolder and more modern approach.
The website for Toni Shelbourne of Tellington TTouch Training. The website is effectively an online brochure, providing details about what she does, the service she offers and client testimonials.
The website of Susan Brown, a MNFSH registered healer. The main purpose of this project was to provide a point of contact, essentially, a web-based business card. The site provides not only contact details but also a brief description of Susan and the services she offers, allowing any potential customers to find out a bit more about her. The design was based around her existing business identity.
The official site for the 611 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The site primarily serves as a means of making public existing information or any new information that comes to light about the 611 squadron and is continually updated. The website is also used to promote 'Beware, Beware!', the authoritative book about the squadron from where the website takes its design inspiration.
