View Larger Did you know that the internet represents 2% of the world’s energy consumption? That’s only going to go up. This site uses a stunning design to help people track how much energy their internet activities are using. Inherently flawed concept perhaps, but stunning execution.
Concept 6/10
Design 16/20
Content 12/20
Total 34/50
View Larger The blurb explains it best: “Nature Valley Trail View offers 300-plus miles of immersive national parks content, through panoramic views and interactive guides to three of America’s most iconic national parks. A blend of boots-on-the-ground fieldwork and future-forward digital technology”. The site “offers views of trails at Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone National Parks.”
Concept 7/10
Design 14/20
Content 14/20
Total 35/50
View Larger Labour and Wait is the online presence of a store based in London’s East End. They describe themselves in the following way: “Established in 2000 in the heart of East London’s market district, we offer an evolving range of timeless, functional products for everyday life. For the past twelve years we have searched out specialist makers from around the world, many of whom manufacture their goods in the traditional way and to their original designs.” Their goods are lovely and their site is very nicely designed - I fancy picking up some of these enamel tumblers.
Concept 7/10
Design 13/20
Content 15/20
Total 35/50
View Larger http://www.twoto.com/lab/#/heavylines
Two to lab is the ‘personal creative flash playground’ of a designer and engineer called Patrick De Caux. Heavy Lines is a cool animation that builds a clock using thousands of individual lines.
Concept 6/10
Design 14/20
Content 13/20
Total 31/50
View Larger Terms of Service - Didn’t Read, is a very nice idea. It recognises that while it is a rare and hardy soul that wades through corporate terms and conditions, nevertheless we merrily tick boxes all over the web signing away all sorts of rights. So they created a browser plugin that tells you how any set of T&Cs have been rated by the user community, from A to E and highlights key passages so that you can make an informed decision. You can also browse their site to see how key web players rate - did you know that you can’t delete a Skype account? Neither did I.
Concept 7/10
Content 13/20
Design 13/20
Total 33/50
View Larger Black Negative is a digital agency. The site design they’ve pulled together to show off their work is absolutely incredible both aesthetically, and in terms of user experience. I particularly like touches like the cursor changing to an x to close videos.
Concept 6/10
Design 17/20
Content 11/20
Total 34/50
View Larger Rosemary Butcher is a dancer and visual artist about whom I knew nothing before I came across this site on siteinspire.com. This is a very fine website with a strikingly original design that, to me, evoked an old fashioned wireless.
Concept 6/10
Design 15/20
Content 11/20
Total 32/50
View Larger Very smart design (with bonus points for a lovely mobile theme too) on this site, which lists out some of the better known web companies, how they make money, and whether they turn a profit. Worth checking out for anyone who has ever wondered at some of the vast valuations put on internet companies.
Concept: 6/10
Design: 15/20
Content: 12/20
Total: 33/50
View Larger The motto of ‘If this then that’ is ‘put the internet to work for you.’ Gloriously simple, and very effective: there is a list of applications (email, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote) and you use the statement in the name of the website to create links between the two. So for example, you might have every photo you post to your Instagram account automatically saved in Dropbox. You can browse a range of ‘recipes’ created by other users. A sample: ‘Email me every time Facebook adds a new feature’ or ‘Notify me of birthdays in my Google Calendar’ or ‘Send a digest of my top RSS feeds to Pocket every week’ (Pocket is a popular offline reading app). The range of very useful things you can do with this very simple mechanic is staggering and exciting. The site has been designed with visual simplicity and ease of use in mind, but it also pleasing to look at. This could rapidly become an indispensable tool, and is part of an internet that is growing more ‘useful’ for people in their every day lives, rather than simply being about creating or consuming content (two things it has rather spectacularly excelled at).
Concept 8/10
Design 14/20
Features 17/20
Total 39/50
View Larger Lovely design on this site from Penguin, set up for the purpose of recruiting a Community Manager. Great to see such a devotion to design from a huge company, and I’m sure it wil help them get an excellent candidate.
Concept 6/10
Design 16/20
Functionality 10/20
Total 32/50
View Larger This application is a really really solid idea to help you plan fun things to do. It aggregates data from all sorts of entertainment, food/drink and event sites in London, and then serves it up to you based on criteria you’ve put in for what you want to do (location, date and the number of people). They have come up with a scoring system based on proximity to your target location, reviews of the places, and the amount of time you have available. If they can get enough data feeding into it and their technology can mimic what people actually want to do it could become a fantastic service as it will avoid users having to visit a whole bunch of different sites. It’s a big if however, as it’s always tricky for computers to match the whimsy of the average punter. The site is only for London at the moment but no doubt will roll out if they’re successful. One to watch.
Concept 8/10
Design 15/20
Functionality 12/20
Total 35/50
View Larger Anyone who has ever had some worrying health symptoms or been recently diagnosed with a condition may have been tempted to do some research on the web to put their mind at ease. Unfortunately, doing so may result in depression as they are likely to come across a whole range of irrelevant, scaremongering stuff written by a mix of quacks, well-meaning but ill-informed patients and anyone else that cares to weigh in. Further, while in my experience the quality and commitment of health professionals in the UK is extremely high, many of the NHS’s issues seem to come about from convoluted red tape, poor communication between health service and patient, and generally creaky admin. This is why sites like Patient Opinion are particularly welcome. It allows patients to give feedback on the care they have received and tag it by the type of care and the hospital in which it was given. This feedback is monitored by healthcare organisations (such as primary care trusts) and in some cases responses are given or policy changes are made. It’s independent and it’s working well.
Concept 8/10
Design 12/20
Functionality 14/20
Total 34/50
View Larger Scouting New York is a site run by a location scout who started it as a way of remembering all of the amazing places that he saw as part of his job. It has all sorts of wonderful places lovingly recorded and photographed. My favourite is this absolutely spectacular mansion in Yonkers.
Concept 8/10
Design 8/20
Content 15/20
Total 31/50
(Source: scoutingny.com )
View Larger Old Town is a maker of fine clothing. This is what they say about themselves “Old Town is a clothing manufacturer producing approx. 50 garments per week from our own workshop using British cottons, woollens and linens wherever possible. To the casual observer Old Town might appear to be simply an exercise in nostalgia, but we hope that the discerning might notice that the garments are essentially useful items with reference points and influences from past costume.” Their clothes are inspired by British workwear of days gone by, and are really really excellent. Their whole site is defiantly eccentric, without being irritatingly so.
Concept 7/10
Design 12/20
Content 14/20
Total 33/50
View Larger Dribbble is a platform where designers can put samples and snippets of their design work. It’s fun to browse as well as a useful tool for design professionals to get feedback and companies to find good designers.
Concept 7/10
Content 14/20
Design 13/20
Total 34/50
