Studio/Artist Exploration-Devin Cox

This first Flash based website has the most eye appealing front page I have seen on a website.  It's such a great quality image.  Look for yourself:

http://www.v5design.com


The first page keeps you entertained and amused as a few butterflies fly through the background and one perches itself on a tree and continues flapping its wings.  No menu's or pages pop up immediatly; instead you just have the background of the mountains and valley.  Then there is an awesome navigation bar that is transparent so you can still see the background.  There is also nice rollover features where the text goes down and comes back up with a different color.  Then each time you click on the link the space that contains the valley and mountains fills with a scroll-like background with more design elements embedded.  The portfolio page has a nice logo laying in the middle of the page with links to different design categories.  Then when you click on a category a frame of pictures appears and you can scroll through thumbnails and enlarge the picture in the frame.  This is my favorite part about the site.  Its very well done and is super professional.  Definitely a site you can brag about If you were part of the design team.  So many intricate details to the layout.  Links inside links with new features in each page.  HIGH quality graphics and logos make it very easy on the eyes.  The layout is consistent, great color scheme and overall great design quality.  Somebody put great effort into this site and made sure everything flows very well.


http://www.arihirvonen.com/ 

This is the website for Ari Hirvonen and I was very impressed.  It has a cartoonish feel and yet a sophisticated style.  The effects and graphics are not meant to look real but are very alive.  The main animations on the page serve as platforms where links are placed.  For instance you can turn a cartoon image of himself around and click on different parts of his body to find out: "who I am", "view my education" and view my awards.  Then there are effects that appear when those links are clicked.  The theme is based on a laboratory with my favorite combination of colors: black and green.  He has a basic page with 3 drop down menu Items, the most complex being the Portfolio menu.  He has listed projects using Flash, After Affects, Photoshop and other video editing software.  I don't think the website is "different" from many other flash websites but it is entertaining  and cute.  Simple and effective is the name of the game and Ari Hirvonen certainly knows what he is doing.  Just a very good feel to the website and unlike some, it's very easy to navigate.