From the desk of Mr. Monk

The Smile Website Dilemma

So as part of the Last/First project (uni project about Smile’s last uni project that’s also our first project as a commercial entity) I will be redesigning the Smile website so it looks its best.

My problem? I think we need three columns. Nav>Content>Copy. Easy right? Wrong. It’s a pain in the bum! This is because of the limited width I can use. I think that most design studios websites fail because the content and copy overpower each other. Clearly the Swiss were the best at information architecture. This style has bee adapted to the blog platform with great success at http://www.subtraction.com/

It desnt quite adapt to a studio site. The closest I’ve seen to what I want is http://www.seadesign.co.uk/

What I have noticed, is that these studio sites that use this style are flash heavy. For me, this is an instant fail. Why? a) I can’t do flash. b) It isn’t great for SEO c) iPhone. Flash isn’t supported on the iPhone, the business markets fastest expanding browser share which (lets face it) will be the dominant phone in the next 3 years.

http://www.whynotassociates.com/ is the closest in terms of not using flash, but still isnt great. It feels 50% compete. 

http://www.spin.co.uk/ is another flash based studio site and the one phrase that keeps popping up is ‘Our website has just been updated with fresh content’. Wow, way to make it sound like a chore! Posting a new project online should be dead simple and what’s more the output should be obvious. These sites seem like a designer microcosm. It’s a different universe compared to the rest of the web. These site should be able to communicate. If I don’t understand their complex systems for navigation or how to reach the project copy, then the site has failed to serve its purpose.

So I need to create a site that’s not using flash and serves all of the necessary information in one glance. No easy feat.

Oh yeah, did mention I also want to use a serif font alongside a sans (properly!) and keep it from being clinical/sterile… and also add in some daily dynamism?