AbsoluteB.com

As the saying goes; “the customer is always right” and I believe that to a certain extent. Obviously in this line of work, we have to aim high in order to make the client happy when it comes to the projects they bestow upon us. I take a lot of pride in the websites that I design and build and when a client’s expectations are surpassed and when whatever they initially had in mind pales in comparison to the end result of my work, I feel a real sense of accomplishment. This week however, I experienced client intervention to an all new extreme! So much so in fact, that the website I had initially designed and built and was so proud of will unfortunately not be finding its way into my portfolio.

Before I go any further and get into it, I would like to share this link which I got from a Bonobos colleague which pretty much sums up my story, but in a much funnier and more graphical way. Check out How a web design goes straight to hell. …read the rest of this entry »

One of my favorite design studios, FI, or Fantasy Interactive. has given their website a face lift, and though it can hardly be called a redesign at all, I have to say that its a huge improvement on a design that was pretty much near perfect to begin with. I remember when FI launched their previous site, which replaced a design that was, in comparison, very flashy and inspiring, it was met with quite some criticism that it didn’t quite represent the company as it should have. That design incorporated a lot of 3D, dynamic Flash components and video and it was a whole new standard on its own. With the previous iteration of the site, things calmed down and the idea was to let FI’s work speak for itself, rather than the website itself. Given how the trend of web design is towards clean, sensible usability, which everyone seems to be following, only a few agencies like FI could go with those trends and still come out with something unique and special, and this face lift is such a breath of fresh air! …read the rest of this entry »

I always try to stay on top of things, regardless of what it is. Whether it be related to design, development, Internet, technology, economy, gadgets or automotive, I just wanna know it all! It’s in this way that I first read the rumor that Apple was probably about to launch a new mouse, and this while I had just bought a wireless Mighty Mouse. Not wanting to be stuck with old tech, I rushed back to the Media Markt electronics store and returned it within the 2 week period in which this was allowed and got a full refund. Two months later, sure enough, Apple launched the Magic Mouse and though I have yet to pick one up, I’m glad I’m not stuck with the soooo 2009 Mighty Mouse.

Among the many news/social sites and blogs that I visit daily, even hourly, CNN.com is definitely one of them, and recently the International news network launched a new site, which I have to admit took some getting used to, but having spent some time on the new site, I found the user experience to be much leaner and cleaner than the previous design. Like all new sites and designs I come across, I looked at it analytically, wondering if there was anything I would have done differently or if there was anything I could maybe learn from their new, (I’m assuming) well thought through design. Then I came across an interesting article on Web Designer Depot . It described the new layout, design and usability of the site and brought up some interesting points. Some of which I agree with, others I don’t so much. None the less, I thought it was worth sharing! …read the rest of this entry »