If I could find a way to fund Joshua Longbrake as a storyteller I would. Not only does he take incredible photographs, but he has a natural gift at capturing the narrative of his life. Check out this set of photos from a recent trip he took from Portland to Seattle (I think).
I recently added the comps I designed for an RFP for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This project was a nice break for me from the work I do for AMD, which is my main client. It was a sizable challenge to create a blend between the Hard Rock’s luxurious, heavily textured persona and a clean, modern presentation of who they are as a brand. I browsed the assets provided by the client and decided the photography of their property would the main driver of the site’s design.
I pulled the color scheme out of the photos (purple and gold being the dominant colors) and mirrored the patterns in the carpets and wallpapers into the background of the site. I didn’t want to overwhelm the site with texture or organic shapes, so I used geometric blocks to house the content and utilized a 16-column grid from 960.gs as the backbone to the site’s structure.
If you’ve followed my work and know me well enough now you’ll know that I’m a big proponent for the details. It’s impossible for me to ignore them or to not zoom in to at least 1200% on my comp to make sure every pixel is perfect. One example in this comp are the social network icons. I could have easily dropped in some pre-built badges and had been done with it, but while those would have filled their purpose they would have stood in stark contrast to the overall aesthetic of the site (especially some horrible “hard candy” styled icons). So why not take some time to find a way to integrate them into the site and make them unique to the comp? The idea of using playing cards actually wasn’t the obvious choice at first, but after landing on that idea there was no other option in my mind. After building them we tweaked the copy to play up on the metaphor. I think they’re one of the best parts of the design and really play in hand with what the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is all about.
The mobile version of the site was a fun addition to design. I wanted it to be clear and functional, so I made sure it was relatively consistent with the native UI of the iPhone. Thanks to teehan+lax’s iPhone GUI PSD Design Template I was able to mock this up fairly quickly. I completed this design before I had my own iPhone and in retrospect I might have done a couple of things different here with the UI as I’ve grown much more familiar with how an iPhone operates. Still I’m happy with how it looks, the concept behind it, and what it represents as a mobilized version of the main site.
My design was one of 3 that we presented to the client and in the end they decided to go with another agency. Regardless of the outcome this was a great project to work on. I have other projects that I’m hoping to add to my site in the coming days so stay tuned for more new work.
Just watched this fantastic video podcast interview with Dieter Rams. I’m a huge Rams fan and love hearing his perspective on design. Pay close attention to his “10 Principles for Good Design” which are valuable words of wisdom for all types of designers. I particularly enjoyed his comments on color usage for kitchen items and how design should not dominate things or people but rather help them.
I’d love to attend the “Less and More — The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams” exhibit currently underway in London. I’d love a copy of the book as well.
Found via AisleOne and video courtesy of Gestalten.tv
Love this photo of Jack Kerouac (via the impossible cool). Great balance.
I’ve tried twice now to read through On The Road and always feel like I need to finish it. I love the writing style and the story is intriguing at first, but something about that book causes me to lose interest about halfway through. I think maybe it’s because I fail to establish a real connection with the characters and care enough to see where the journey ultimately leads Sal. Have any of you read it? Is it worth finishing?
