...or ‘An embarrassingly late, yet hilariously insightful look at the year in web design’
It’s really my fault for timing the launch of childfreechoice.com at the beginning of this year, so my last three weeks have been insanely busy. Then we leave for a week in Houston, and this is why my year end review is so unpunctual.
Without further ado, this is my very own list of the Best and Weirdest in Web Design for 2006. It was a cool, weird time for all, enjoy :)
The Weird Ones
These are definitely not meant to be the bad sites at all. A lot of these are very nice, they just represent weird little trends I kept seeing. Some of the categories are just for one site, since it’s that cool/weird/unique.
Best Use Of Grass and/or Bamboo
Stylish, clean, eco-sensitive, these sites manage to squeeze every bit of design goodness out of our long-time friends: the plants.
.. and the winner is Implementek, master of the green blade.
Coolest Domain Name For A New Site
runner up:
and the winner is: soupnazi.org!
The Trippiest Car Insurance Website
The Best Of The Skinnies
I’m not sure why this trend is around, but I have to say, it is definitely cool.
...and the winner is: The Skinny, lime green and brown really do go together.
Best Use Of Blatant Sexual Imagery
The good ‘ol stand by in the marketing world. If a near-naked woman can’t make it look cool, nothing can.
...runner up:
...and the winner is Orange? or Разработка сайтов? orangeonweb.com? I am totally lost as far as their name, but great job anyway guys!
Best Website For A Totally Cool Upcoming Game
I didn’t know about their game until I saw this beautiful site on CSS Mania early last year. It’s the ultimate synergy of web design and gaming goodness.
Best Designed “Time Waste” Site
Bronze:
Silver:
Gold:
Best Use Of Hair
Nive hair, good unique design, and colors. Who could ask for more?
Best Use Of Someone’s Face
The three elements to consider when using someone’s face in web design: location, clarity, and creepiness. Just kidding Leihu, nice work man!
Most Well Designed Proof That Churches Are Taking Over Web Design
It’s not hard to come up with a great design concept when Jesus is your partner. Just kidding, good job Genesis Church!
Best Dentistry Site
Best Tagline For A Blog
and the winner is:
Best Use Of Flowery Elements
Deep down inside I want a site that looks like these. Theres no winner, simply because I liked them all exactly equal.
Best Use Of A Skyline
A well-used skyline can produce excellent results, and these are the best of the year:
and the winner is City Framing, excellent job with the color scheme too guys!
Best Use Of Hidden Code
Can you find it and decode it? Hey, this can’t be a web design ‘best of’ without Jared.
Just Damn Cool Sites
So towards the end I got a little lazy, and these were the ones that don’t get a category. There all definitely worth a look-see though, as they’re all well designed but definitely weird.
The Best
These are the best of the best, and in my opinion, all excellent examples of usability, originality, and aesthetic beauty.
Best Use of Photography
Photography is getting better and better every year, and it’s use in websites has just been phenomenal this year.
The runners up:
...and the winner is Jayber:
Best Use Of Illustration
Sure two of ‘em are cartoony, but they all use illustration in excellent ways. All exude a definite sense of personality, which makes them all winners.
(In all honesty this list is very long, and almost warrents a ‘best of’ all its own)
...and the winner is:
Best Use Of Typography
...the runners up:
...and the winner is:
Best Use Of Flash
Although these awards are mainly for CSS & XHTML sites, sometimes a bit a Flash can go a long way.
...and the winner is:
Best Use Of A Traditional Layout
It’s not that any of these designs strayed too far from the normal, they just did it better than it has ever been done.
...and the winner is:
Best Use Of A Non-Traditional Layout
Thinking outside the box, these sites are on the bleeding edge of all the current design trends, and look to inspire another great year of originality.
...and the winner is Andy Rutledge. The sites loud, yet clear style is a testament to Andy’s writing style. The big bold text lets everyone know what he’s thinking, and the use of yellow and black ties everything together.
Best Website Design Of The Year
There really isn’t compelling evidence that any one of these are beeter than the rest, just due to fact that all of them are the best of the best. But, as with all award shows and end-of-year lists, there can only be one.
The runners up:
Third Place:
Second Place:
..and the winner is:
Kineda’s design deserves to be best. The attention to detail, the attractive color scheme, the slight use of texture, and the contrasting pinks make it my choice for best designed site of the year.
Comments
James Morris
Very inspirational collection of sites there. Great article!
Best regards,
James
Chris
Thanks James. I was a bit hesitant to choose winners and such, as I think any of the sites listed (even the weird ones) are well worthy of many awards.
Phil Renaud
Oooh, I was THIS CLOSE to best tagline. Shucks.
Thanks for the mention though, excellent list. Bookmarked.
Mathieu Cassonnet
I’m happy to see that my personnal and amateur webdesign is one of the weirdest in natural design.
Thanks for mention my website, I also like your.
Lucas Murray
Thank you for listing one of my sites (Lazaryn.com) as “best website design of the year” runner up. I don’t know what to say. _;
Erica Glasier
Thanks for the mention, Chris! My fantastic site was designed by husband at Tactica Interactive – www.tactica.ca.
Great list!
Christopher Scott
You know what, I almost sent out emails to everyone mentioned to let them know they were on the list, but I didn’t want people to feel like I was soliciting visitors. On the other hand, though, I know I always love to check my visitor logs and see where people are coming from.
Sven
Yay! We’ve won ‘Best Typography’! ;) Glad you like weknowrap.com and thanks for the compliment. Greetings from Cologne, Germany –
Sven
Terry
With so many great sites included in your list… I’m flattered and honored that you considered "The Best!":http://www.kineda.com :D
James Mathias
Thanks for the mention, I appreciate it, although not sure how I feel about being honored for having the “Best use of a face” :)
In case you missed it, clicking my eye creates a whole ‘nother reason to be creep-ed out.
Chris
James: wow, not sure how I missed that ‘dark side’ but it kinda gives your site a whole different feel. Very interesting. Anyway, it wasn’t just the face that caught my eye, I love your layout and the design in general, it was just the face that stuck out the most. And I felt you should win something…
James Mathias
Well, in any case, thank you, I appreciate the mention! :)
There is a third scheme on the site as well, that I put up for the month of October, the link to that is in the about page sidebar.
Thanks again.
Andy Pearson
Cheers for the props fella!
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Monday, January 15, 2007
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