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New Criteria: Demand Design In Your Web 2.0

Demand design in your web 2.0. Please. From now on, we’re voting with our mouse, and we want  you to come along. Design matters. We vow not to spend a single second looking at an ugly screen.

virb

This was brought to mind the other day when an artist we know pointed us in the direction of Virb.com. Another social networking site, yes, like myspace, but prettier. And you don’t have to be a coding genius to make your little corner of the web prettier. Virb lets users click and drag modules around to customize the page. It’s an elegant backend interface, and it makes for elegant user pages. Sure the second wave of users will visually dumb it down, but for now, it’s a designed oasis. And even if they do, Virb has an awesome kill button that removes the users customization for your viewing pleasure. Goodbye wacky background. Goodbye bouncing .gif.  (Plus there are interesting music and photo integration features.) So if you’re currently using myspace to get a little free home on the web, do yourself a favor and look at Virb.

On a similar note, YouTube (a dumb name) or Vimeo? Never heard of Vimeo? Here’s the logo:

vimeo

Friendly. Clean. Uncluttered. Just like the website (and the video interface). Oh, but maybe we’re just taken with sites whose names start with the letters “vi,” you’re saying. Maybe it’s like “vi” is the new “i.” Well then, we submit Flickr and how about Google. See: simple, clean. Yes and yes.

Interestingly, we are not recommending the new social networking site for fashion-heads Iqons.com, but we do have to mention it. If you can get an interview with Franca Sozzani, you surely know a designer who will know someone who can do something to elevate the design.

POSTED: May 7th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: design | TAGS: | No Comments »

ultra Q: makelike

makelike cats

You’ve seen identities makelike has designed for Masu, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Entermodal, and now STRUT, but did you know that this Portland-based design studio has also done work for Missoni/Valentino, BabyPhat, Iceberg, and W Hotels? Mary Kysar and Topher Sinkinson (see also: Swallow Press (x2) art collaborative) founded makelike at the turn of the century having met at Johnson Wolverton. The first makelike project was major—art direction, design and production for Richard Christiansen’s flagship magazine, MILK, completed in four weeks. They went on to design both Suede and Radar.

Their work has been featured in iDn, Surface, British iD, Communication Arts 2005 Design Annual and a new DGV book, Tres Logos. Having just moved the studio into the Skylab Building at 12th + Alder, makelike recently took a minute to answer the questions of the ultra Q.

Portland-based design firm makelike for Suede
Suede magazine cover. design: makelike

Qualities you most admire in design:
ML: complex-simplicity

Qualities you most despise in design:
ML: under-produced over-production Read the rest of this entry »

POSTED: May 7th, 2007 | AUTHOR: erin | FILED UNDER: ultra Q | TAGS: | 1 Comment »