As someone who keeps myself regularly updated with artists within the art scene (lowbrow/underground/pop surrealism) I find it very hard to find artists with websites that match their work. It is so surprising to see a group of such highly creative people have such sub=par web presences.

I guess part of this goes back to the “my work is so good, that my website doesn’t need to be” mentality that many artists have, but whatever the reason is there are simply too many great artists with sites that don’t match their talent. So I began a search for some of the better (there‘s too many artists out there to call this a best of list) artist websites out there and here’s a sampling of what I found:

Artist: Friends With You

The FriendsWithYou website is one of the few sites I found that’s actually designed…..really well. The typography is clean, the 3d navigation buttons are a great touch, and the use of mouse-interactivity in the flash header is a simple tie-in to FWY’s world of smiley faced silliness. Images in blog posts are greyscaled until hover, and they’re big and splashy. A site that’s very easy on the eyes, as well as easy to navigate.

A little seen effect in modern web design is the parallax effect or parallax scrolling. Parallax involves layered images that move at different speeds from background to foreground, creating depth and if designed cleverly enough, the illusion of 3D space. The effect can be achieved with plain old CSS and HTML, as well as with jquery powered javascript application jparallax.

One of the most well known individual examples of CSS within the web design community of CSS-based parallax is on Clearleft’s landing page for their Silver Back App. The vines at the top of the page are set as parallax layers.

The images look great as a set of layered static images but there is no mouse interactivity, and the effect can only been seen “in action” while the browser window is being re-sized. Designer Paul Annett says using parallax in such a subtle way where not everybody sees it is “like a hidden Easter egg for those who do.” You can view a full explanation of the css that Paul used for the effect on his article here.

Note: This article was a collaborative effort between Jessica Kupferman of Pretty and Outgoing and myself. Thanks, Jessica!

We are all very fortunate to be living in a time that allows us all to witness huge breakthroughs in technology and ways we access the web. From the iPad, to the social media boom, to greater mobile and video functionality, our world is a world of web accessibility.

We wanted to survey some professionals in our field – web and graphic and motion designers, to find out their thoughts on how these changes in both technology and the economy have affected the work we do, our outlook, and what’s to come. With changes coming at us all so rapidly, we thought it would be prudent to take a “state of the union” of sorts: if for no other reason than to check current trends and thoughts of our colleagues.

1. What trends and advancements in technology do you see as the most exciting and how will those affect your work?

Almost every designer that took the survey had mobile as part of their answer to this question.  As mobile access becomes more popular, general consensus is that the web designer’s job will indeed become different and much more exciting.

“I’d say for web development it would be the rise of mobile as a real player. As phones & other mobile devices advance, clean, usable sites across platforms will be more in demand.” – Mike Conaty

“Mobile… I think we’re going to continue to see development in a broad variety of mobile devices. Once more organizations realize that content is being accessed and consumed in so many different ways, I believe there will be a push to deliver content based more on context than it is now.” – Michael Guill

Many designers also mentioned new and different types of web accessibility, such as the iPad, replacing desktops and even laptops. With breakthroughs in the ways consumers view the internet, not only will the technology change, but the sites and their accessibility will have to change as well.

“Computer as [an] appliance [is] finally here (and getting pretty cheap) – lots more people access services without all the hassles of a personal computer (use smart-phones, set-top-boxes, tablets etc. etc.)” – Martin Luff

In this article, we’ll be looking at ways that designer toys and their related characters are being promoted using the internet, social media, and content-sharing tools.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with what designer toys are, they are basically sculptural art pieces that are sold in limited editions. The designer toy world is an almost entirely character-based industry, and the web is used as the prominent source of marketing.

Click here to read the article at sixrevisions.com