Design Exploration

I found a couple of sites that I thought were really good examples of design, even though they are quite different. The first is http://www.michelinman.com/forward, a fun site by Michelin. They took their old mascot and created a fun site in which the design elements further the design goals. The whole site uses the rounded white circles of the Michelin Man himself as a consistent motif. The site also is primarily white and green, with nature sounds in the background (birds, water), aligning Michelin with conservation and environmentally-friendly products.

It's a very relaxed, mellow site. Even the cars racing in the background sound like waves against the shore. The structures are futuristic, placing the company firmly in the future, but warm instead of cool. They also found a few different places to mention the amount of fuel the country would save if everyone drove on Michelin tires (2.6 billion gallons a year). You can link to pages to buy tires or learn about them, but you can also just play around with great graphics and sounds. I could care less about tire brands but maybe I will look for Michelins next time I need tires. :)

The second site I reviewed is http://aisforapple.net. This is an multimedia interactive net art project. It uses music, photos, graphics, and spoken words to create an ambience and a commentary on randomness, good and evil, god, psychoanalysis etc. The artists use a lot of black and white on a large white background to isolate and highlight their work. There are some things that move when you roll over them but the primary interactivity is the path you choose. Each selection you make changes your future selections, kind of like life. You generally can't go back using the Back button either. I thought this was a great philosophical/art site in which all the elements contributed to the overall effect and message.