Reboot: The Designs I Like
posted on November 9th, 2005 by Anthony
Ok there are hundreds of sites on the reboot, and it’s hard to distil them down. The rating system is a bit flawed and there are some obvious dubious designs at the top of the rankings. I’m not going to name any names, but I’m sure you can all make up your own minds!
So, In no particular order, here are some of my favourite designs from the event:
Dazb
www.dazb.co.uk – Maybe it’s because I love Mr Scruff and his style of classy stick art, but I think this design is effing awesome. It might look like a three year olds doodlings, but there are touches of quality all over the place.
From the sketchy horizontal rules, to the funky fields in comments forms this site is far, far better than being down at second to last in the rankings.
I think people are missing the point!
Matthew Cahill
www.matthewcahill.com – This is one that I literally only stumbled on today, which is interesting because I’ve been trawling through the Reboots far too often…
Anyway I like the layout on this site, and the colour palette is spot on. Red and cream go very nicely together (even if I do say so myself…).
Apparently the site isn’t completely finished either, so it will be very interesting to see how things turn out in the end.
Andionet
www.andio.net – I’m not usually a huge fan of simple down minimialist sites like this, but Andreas manages to add those little flicks of flair to tip it onto the right side of nothingness.
The way the navigation bar subtley hints at being a bridge between the header and content is a very nice effect, and the orange accents are a nice counter balance to the iPod white of the main body.
Though I am dis appointed not have won the non-existant Best Use of a Boat Award in his Reboot run down!
Avolonstar
www.avalonstar.com – Bryan already had one of the slickest sites around, so to tackle a reboot on something so good was always going to be a challenge.
Overall I think it’s one of the best sites in the Reboot (that’s why it’s here d’uh!), but if I was pushed I would have to say I kinda preferred the last version. Don’t get me wrong the site is excellent in every way… I’m obviously just scared of change!
The spring rolls look tasty too!
Matt Brett
www.mattbrett.com – Again I’m generally not a huge fan of dark sites (I’m not actually sure what I am a fan of…), but this one is sooper!
It’s one of the best all round designs I’ve seen. The design runs to every part of the site, and it’s obvious a lot of time has gone into making things right.
It’s also another great example of the kind of stuff that you can squeeze out of WordPress with a bit of imagination.
I have to point out that he has designed it with 1024×768 as the min screen res. I’m not totally sure about this just yet, but it seems to be a growing trend. The extra real estate does allow a lot more freedom of thought though.
Plus he’s an avid gamer and PC liker – always a good thing!
The Watch Maker Project
www.thewatchmakerproject.com – Matthew Pennell’s site is just plain easy on the eye. It’s incredibly elegant and soothing – and more importantly it’s one of those rare sites that is so liquid you don’t even notice!
Everything on the site has room to breath, and it all looks like it’s meant to – at pretty much any size (within reason!). It’s definitely given me some things to think about in the future.
And at the end of the day that’s what this reboot malarkey thing is all about!
There have been 8 Comments on “Reboot: The Designs I Like”
Andi
November 9th, 2005 at 9:42 pm
Hi, thanks for your recognition. Nice summaries here… Please visit my site to collect your award ;-)
Matthew Pennell
November 9th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Thanks for your comments – although are you sure you just don’t have a thing for people named Matthew?
Your site was one of the stand-out ones of the Reboot for me, too.
Matt Brett
November 9th, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Whoo, thank you!
This here, is a beautiful site you’ve got. I’m not sure how, but I missed it in the Reboot. Nicely done! I love the anchored string down the right. I followed it all the way down just to see if there was something at the bottom.
Matt Cahill
November 10th, 2005 at 8:07 am
Haha maybe you do have a thing for Matt’s, I’m the third one to leave a thank you!
Seriously though, your praise is more than enough motivation for me to continue the work on my site and refine the design. Thanks for the attention and after reading through the last few of your posts I’ve definitely added you to my daily feed read.
Matt (rka Daz)
November 10th, 2005 at 9:14 am
Ooooh, thanks for the kind words about my site. Two or three mentions on cool websites is far better than being second from last in the voting – thank you!
And I’m not just saying this because I’m on your favourites – but yours is one of my favourites too. I love the rope (quite why it is joining two walls together, I don’t know, but hey) and the rest is cool too :) Good job :)
I must add a list to my site at some point :)
Anthony
November 10th, 2005 at 10:05 am
Matthew(s): You know what, I hadn’t actually spotted the un-proportionate amount of Matthews on my list, but now you mention it, I might have to seek some professional help…
Daz (aka Matthew): “quite why it is joining two walls together…” – yeah well, it’s art innit? You’re not supposed to question inaccuracies like that ;) I assure you that there is some deep meaning to it all, and it’s not because that’s just what sort of happened…
Andi: Thanks for the award – better late than never ;) seriously, though, thank you!
Generally thanks everyone, not just for the comments, but for making nice sites and all that too – awww shucks!
Charlie
November 11th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Nice list, I’d missed http://www.matthewcahill.com which is a gem and http://www.andio.net, the rest i’d seen and i agree with you they are all great sites.
C Montoya
November 13th, 2005 at 9:56 am
Nice list, and yes, this website is a gem too. Just amazing.