jordanmooreblog web design awards #1

Screw the "n websites to shake a stick at" style lists, I'm holding an awards ceremony for websites that I like a lot better than others. Then some reasons why.

Squared Eye

 

• Great choice of font, especially the italic Lucida Sans - pushing boundaries because it's a rarely used font on the web and who knew it would look that good in italics
• The product (their work in this case) takes center stage - as it should for someone offering a product
• It's just different, okay? None of the "Hello! We are a company from Bleh, we make pretty/good/neat websites" they also don't feel the need to tell you what their last tweet was.

Black Estate

• One of the most readable sites I have ever seen, these guys show everybody how to use BIG type well.
• The product takes center stage
• The site "feels" like part of the brand

Leihu

• A LOT of thought has went into the layout and the quirkiness of James Mathias' homepage, rollover on his photo in the right, he smiles - awesome
• His work IS the design - the octopus on the left, good illustration, he's an illustrator, ah his product is presented on the homepage, pattern?
• Attention to typography is good, look at the ampersands in the right column (which have been harshly shaven off my screenshot due to width restrictions here) 

That does it for now, I'll maybe do a #2 soon (tee-hee) but I'll wait until I find a few more gems, preferably ones you haven't seen a million times before. It seems like I'm ranting a bit today, I'm sorry, I'll be in a better mood tomorrow. I'm safer when I keep my posts to one or two sentences.