Website Design

I was first interested in Libba Bray's website, as it is both simple and yet complicated in its layout. It's just very interactive, kind of like a video game. It's an interesting way of designing the website, considering she is an author and most of her works are not received in this way. It adds a visual to something that is usually not visual.

As I am an author and an artist, I think a simpler way to implement these "tricks" are to make my buttons into images. If someone wanted to learn more about my book, they could click on the title art of the book instead of just the words.

Another interesting layout I saw was Kokormoi. This layout seems a bit less complicated than Libba Bray's. However, it goes against the whole "header/footer/table of contents" sort of configuration and instead puts everything into a grid, both pictures and its Twitter feed. It gave me the idea of incorporating blocks of my artwork into my website, instead of it being absent or simply on the sides.

On the other hand, there is a certain pleasing aesthetic to a "words only" type of website, if done correctly. Such a website is Zachary Pulman's website. There is no artwork or blocks of color to distract the eye. It is a very simplistic approach to a website layout, but continues to be original, as it too avoids the "header/footer/table of contents" layout and instead uses unconventional words to throw you to each new webpage, such as "Obsessive" and "Distinctive". The only color is a very small line above each title, and so that small line of color is far more attention-grabbing than if the whole website were filled with color. It's definitely a minimalistic approach, but a successful one.

Obviously Libba Bray's website is a bit out of my reach at the moment. Kokoromoi and Zachary Pulman's website are a bit easier to obtain at the moment. Kokoromoi appeals to my inner designer, and Zachary Pulman's website appeals to my inner writer, as writers write and read black text on white, and there is an aesthetic to it that is always pleasing.

In both Pulman's and Kokormoi's websites, there is the idea of "blocks" instead of the usual menu style website. This is probalby what I can pull from these websites and take to hear the most, the idea of blocking out your ideas instead of putting them in a list. All that's needed now is a way to implement the idea.