the delicate beauty of one-page websites

one-page websites are a trend i'm not ashamed to follow (clearly, as my own website has just one page).

they just make sense. in this age of overabundant information, there are far too many saturated websites: too much text, too much imagery, too much fluff.

concision is a beautiful thing, and can definitely be a case of less is more. not only that, but limiting oneself to one page forces a designer to be creative, and has yielded incredible results.

here are a few good examples (i'll post more from time to time):

1. Ben the Bodyguard

this site showcases an iphone/ipod security app. the brilliance here is that they took something that would usually be boring (security? boo), and gave it an air of darkness and mystery, with a slight sense of adventure.

seriously, how cool is this guy? keep scrolling down to get the whole story

2. Head2Heart

it's rare to see beautiful, creative, or even decent websites from non-profits and charities, as they typically lack the budget (or the insight) to commission a good site. more and more of these organizations are understanding the value of a beautifully designed site - this is just one great example.

this site flows horizontally rather than vertically - a newer style with great potential

3. Skittles

yes, skittles. the skittles crew went the "never-ending" route with their site, and added a whole lot of psychedelica. keep scrolling at your own risk/peril.

this website never ends...

4. Komrade

i love this site's unique style and light-hearted tone. i must say, their own site is infinitely slicker than the sites they design for others :/

fun, diagram-y style

5. Oliver James Gosling

this site is basically a resume for this individual. the design is really crisp and simple - a very nice execution all in all.

very clean, very slick. i'd hire this guy!

spring is in the air...

i love the combination of blue and pink - the shades are just perfect to create a nice complement. the whole thing is reminiscent of cotton candy and bubble gum, and makes for a great spring ad

the pic isn't clear, but this mall of america shop has a very nice design. check them out at www.docpopcorn.com

i love this business card. it's a non-standard size/shape without being obnoxious, simple "raw" recycled look with one ink color. fab

review: new gmail toolbar

last month, google very quietly introduced a new toolbar for gmail.

new gmail toolbar

the update presented two drop-down menus in place of the standard "sign out" and "settings" links. the settings/utilities menu, pictured below, offers a nicely compact grouping of all the settings you might desire to view and change.

new settings/utilities menu

it includes the standard mail settings (and help), as well as access to gmail labs and your google account settings. all in all, most everything one would hope for in a utilities menu. use of the "gear" image in place of a text label keeps the design clean while leaving it open for them to continue adding other useful items there.

the second menu they've added is somewhat of a mystery to me.

questionable new menu

in place of the simple link to sign out, we now have a drop-down of questionable utility. it provides links to your google profile and a link to sign out at the bottom. this seems to be a pretty poor move to me, from a usability perspective - asking users to take an additional step to complete a simple task like signing out is ill-advised, and i wonder why they would have done so without so much as a warning. we may have moved away from doing everything "within three clicks," but signing out should always be fast and easy. asking users to click twice to sign out will likely discourage them from doing so at all, and the pessimist in me fears that gmail accounts everywhere will be left open on public computers. i hope i'm wrong.

it looks as though perhaps they have some other purpose in mind for the menu. if, for example, they intend to allow users to manage multiple accounts in that way, then the addition of this menu makes sense.

i'm an avid google user and fan, to say the least, and i've loved many of the things they've introduced. the new gmail toolbar is sleek, with a pleasing design that makes good use of the little space it occupies, but i worry that google may have sacrificed usability for the sake of beauty.

in short: new gmail toolbar = pretty with questionable usability