AND ATELIER—SIMPLE DESIGN WORKS

I love keeping up with Commarts.com Webpick of the Day (and Webpick of the Week or Month). I'm always looking for independent designers whose website was chosen as  "pick" by Commarts on June 18, 2014. So here is a portfolio website by an independent design studio called And Atelier, founded in 2010 by João Araújo and Rita Huet. They are based in Porto, Portugal. 

AND ATELIER

What I really love about this is the very simple and functional Swiss style grid layout, understated type, and the plain black & white photo of the founders. The about page's information is very clear, concise, and genuine. All of the information is there. It's not fancy or flashy; it's very ordinary looking. Yet, if you go to the About page first, you (if you're like me) read what they wrote to find out about them and then can't wait to see their work! (I was kind of disappointed to see underlining on their links...but I can forgive them that.)


A couple of quotes from their site, and my reading between the lines:

"Our work always tries to accomplish a strong conceptual approach, through very clean solutions and with a strong typographic component and respect for letterforms and reading rhythms.
On this website you will find more about our beloved projects and the process behind them.
Get in touch for a new project, commission or collaboration."

I really get "genuine, " "passion for their work," and "professionalism" from this.


"We want to continue to broaden our practice and experiments to/with other disciplines."... "Regardless choosing to stay small, we are happy to collaborate with other creative professionals, joining or building a team for a particular project."

From this, I get "open minded," "innovative/experimental," "collaborative," and "a deep love of learning and creating."


Their work is in a section called "Projects." It's a perfect grid, just like what many of us have set up in our Prosites. I like their focus on typography and conceptual design. They also go into great detail to explain the projects and their process.

I think they do really good, solid work, and they are involved with educational institutions, artists, and other interesting people and organizations, which is good. They love what they do, and they are, it seems, successful at it. Nothing earth-shattering, but I do like and really respect what they are doing. This was just a departure from the "cool" and flashy, innovative portfolios I tend to seek out!

Here are a few screenshots, but please visit the site (link at the top).

THE GLOSSARY PORTFOLIO WEBSITE—AMAZING!

Now THIS is a cool portfolio website! I suppose it's not just a portfolio website—it's the website for The Glossary Production Company. "This company has a one-of-a-kind web presence, designed and built by Ludlow Kingsley. This immersive site plays on a ’50s theme, scrolling and animating like sweet candy for the eyes." - Commarts.com from July 15, 2013 Webpick of the Day.

It most definitely is eye candy. I love it! The work they do for clients is amazing as well. You HAVE to check it out! It's unbelievably cool! So easy to use, fun, brilliantly designed, vintage/retro, professional... it's remarkable. Just gorgeous! (A side note—the fifth image down should look very familiar to anyone taking Graphic Design III! It's posted on their blog!)

The GLOSSARY

These small screenshots don't do it justice. Visit the site!

THE PORTFOLIO WEBSITE OF TINA GAUFF, PHOTOGRAPHER

Tina Gauff's portfolio website is super slick, focusing heavily on her photography (as it should be). It's really professional and hip at the same time. Navigation is easy—when you hover over the menu symbol (3 horizontal lines) the menu drops into the page as a thick white horizontal bar with just minimal options. The lettering is either black or white depending on the background.

Her website was featured in Commarts.com as Webpick of the week on September 17, 2014. Commarts says, "Tina Gauff is a fashion photographer and videographer based in Berlin. Her portfolio site features large photos and minimizes all other elements to keep the focus on her work."

Her photographs are astonishing, and the website does exactly what it should for her work. The only thing I just didn't like personally was her photo choice for the landing page. But it was still intriguing!

Check out her website. TINA GAUFF

  

  

  

  

  

  

Justin Lerner—Cool, Minimalist Site

From Commarts.com:

03.12.15

WEBPICK OF THE DAY

Justin Lerner (check out his site)

"Art/Creative, Self-Promotion

JLern Design presents the creative works of web designer and developer Justin Lerner, based out of Philadelphia. The website takes a minimalistic approach to explore the beauty of wireframes and how they transform into designs. jlern.com"

I really like the concept behind this portfolio website! I've not seen anything like it before, and enjoyed looking around at his design. Very innovative.
The first screenshot is what you see when you first go to the site. At first I thought something was wrong with it or that it hadn't loaded yet! Ha! I really like the colors that do appear when you hover and click on different areas.
As I explored, I really appreciated the ease with which I could navigate and find things. It's very pro. It's like the Swiss design of web! And it is really cool how he uses wireframes for his structure, illustrating how they, as CA puts it, transform into designs. I'm impressed!

LOVELY FASHION DESIGNER WEBSITE

This is Commarts Webpick of the Week, February 23, 2015. It's a pretty slick site showcasing the fashion design work of Giacomo Morelli. The photography is amazing, and the little video clips as well as the interactive aspects of the site make it really fun as well as professional. I love how the shoes are "floating" just above the ground on some of the pages (see the screenshots lower down on the page). The typography is super-clean, and I also really like the look of layers created by overlap and variation of opacity levels. A nice variety of layouts for the different pages that have common elements which tie them together and create a unified site.

Check out the site: Giacomo Morelli Website

From Commarts.com: "Giacomo Morelli Giacomorelli.com is the site of Italian designer Giacomo Morelli. With designs as unique as Morelli’s creations, each web page has its own structure, creating a user experience in tune with the mood of the brand. awdagency.com"

Prosite of the Month: ANIMATURA

So we were talking in class about how we might go about animating something in our own Prosites. Here is a fantastic example! This Prosite was chosen by Behance as the Prosite of the Month, and the little bits of animation make it really fun. Considering the work they do is motion graphics/animation, I would expect the Prosite to have a bit of it. I especially like the animation of the logo and might try to do something similar to it for my own logo on my Prosite. There is a little animated GIF for a phone on the contact page and another one of a little guy being placed by a big hand on another page. The look of the site is really pro, besides the animation features. Check it out!

ANIMATURA Prosite



Some screenshots:

Note the rollover effect on the upper right thumbnail.

The logo is on a looping GIF. I tried to capture beginning, middle, and end in these 3 shots.

I think it's done really beautifully!

It keeps growing very slightly at the end. A really nice subtle part of the animation.

The phone moves and... just go look at the site!

I wish I knew how to read Portugese.