Tag Archives: Design Spotlight

Meet Webmaster-Source 6.0

May 20, 2012 by Matt | Posted in Design, Featured 7 Comments

It’s been about four years since this site last had a design refresh, and it’s high time it did! Version five really hasn’t changed much over the four years since its launch, and it’s looking a little stale. So today I bring you, the sixth major revision of Webmaster-Source.

The new design makes use of fun new CSS3 features, like linear gradients, box shadows, and variable opacities. I also worked a bit to improve the legibility of the main content, which really stands out when you compare the two revisions. I think I achieved a greater level of polish overall, though there’s still room for improvement.

Let’s take a look at some of the new features added in the redesign.

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Design Spotlight: Pro Blog Design 2011

May 27, 2011 by Matt | Posted in Design 2 Comments

The industrious Michael Martin has once again redesigned Pro Blog Design, this time going for a more open (and less blue) look. The new design better incorporates promotion for Pliable Press and his custom design services, while still leaving room for third-party advertisers on blog posts.

I really like the texturing and color palette. They’re subtle, but still eye-catching. Legibility has been improved as well, thanks to Michael’s efforts to improve the typography. The new title font is much easier on the eyes than the blocky one from the previous theme, and he seems to be using TypeKit now, which doesn’t have the side effect of making the text difficult to select. (That was a problem with the previous theme, though I think it may have been fixed later on.)

Anyway, go check it out for yourself.

Design Spotlight: Rule.fm

Aug 9, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Design No Comments

It’s been awhile since I spotlighted a cool design, and now is as good a time as any, so…

Rule.fm is a web application with a spiffy design that a few noteworthy designers have commented on. It’s simple, it makes good use of whitespace, and the texturing looks great. I particularly like the large blue buttons and the footer. (Lean in and give your screen a close look!)

Envato Redesigns Tuts+ Sites Again

Mar 11, 2010 by Matt | Posted in Design No Comments

Once again, Envato has redesigned their Tuts+ blogs. The changes are primarily evolutionary, though there is a big difference. The new layout features a wider content area and a stronger focus on larger screen sizes.

One of the first things I noticed was that the sites’ advertisement strategy seems to have been rethought. There are no more large leaderboard or 250×250 banners; instead, there are only 125×125 banners. They sit at the top of the narrow sidebar and run down the side of the page in a single column. It actually looks pretty good. They’re out of the way, yet still visible enough to be sought after by potential advertisers.

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Design Spotlight: Grooveshark

Oct 28, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design 3 Comments

Grooveshark not only has a cool design, but is an interesting service as well. It lets you search for music and play it, streaming through the Flash player. Artists can submit their music directly to Grooveshark, giving them a promotional platform, as well as monetary compensation.

Anyway, to the design.

Grooveshark

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Design Spotlight: Envato Marketplace Redesign

Oct 1, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design No Comments

Envato launched the redesigns for their marketplace sites last Sunday. They all look pretty much the same, save for some color and logo differences, so I’ll just focus on ThemeForest here.

ThemeForest Redesign

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Design Spotlight: Pro Blog Design (Again)

Aug 6, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design 4 Comments

I’ve reviewed Pro Blog Design‘s theme at least once before, probably twice. Now that Michael Martin’s design blog is entering its third year, it has received yet another redesign.

Pro Blog Design 2009 Redesign

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Design Spotlight: The New Twitter Homepage

Aug 3, 2009 by Matt | Posted in Design No Comments

Last Tuesday Twitter unveiled their redesign of their homepage. The change is intended to help remedy peoples’ inability to grasp the concept of Twitter, putting trending topics and a search field front-and-center. Instead of promoting to new users the ability to say what they’re doing, they’re pushing the idea that they use Twitter to “share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.”

Defining a “tweet” for the uninitiated and explaining how to create an account doesn’t resonate with everyone. “Why would I want to do that?” is a common reaction. However, demonstrating the power of Twitter as a discovery engine for what is happening right now through our Search and Trends often awakens a sense of wonder which inevitably leads to a much more compelling question, “How do I get involved?”