With the rapid advance of web design, more and more designers are utilizing the many powerful tools of Photoshop to illustrate some very creative (and very graphic) websites. Only recently, I’ve stepped fully into this method by experimenting on my own site to best learn what to do and, probably more important, what not to do. If you’re highly influential, there’s a risk that you’d be sucked into recreating what are fast becoming trite trends that seem to pop up around every corner you look. Bubbles, for example. Bubbles and deco foliage. It’s a good bet that 6 out of 10 graphic sites you visit nowadays will have one of the two (if not both) oozing out from the header and trickling down the sides like some fungal overgrowth threatening to swallow the entire interweb. I’m not entirely sure from whence this viral sense of design first sprang into being, but it has definitely spread like wild fire. And frankly, I don’t care for it anymore. It’s been around for a few years now and was initially viewed as quite an interesting approach, but lately, and as with most trends, it is clearly being overused. It simply is neither unique nor interesting.
Now I could say the same with all the grunge sites popping up, which is sad for me to say because I’ve always been a fan of the gritty and sometimes down right nasty feel of grunge texturing. I even use it a bit in my book covers! But I think the real problem comes from lazy and uninspired designers generating cheap mock ups of others’ designs. Not placing blame on anyone, mind you, ’cause I’ve certainly done my share of mimicking in the past, and I’m sure a lot of these sites are being put up by paid designers who are watching the clock, but I would like to see more genuine creativity being dished out.
I used to be proud of the fact that I was ignorant of the daily to-dos in regard to art and design, simply because it gave me the notion that I was keeping original (regardless if someone else had done something similar). And now, as I’m gradually stepping out into the social world, viewing and researching the works of others, I find that too many sites are starting to look the same. Whether it’s the swarming bubbles and creeping foliage, or massive type surrounded by empty space, or the ever growing footer field, there seems to be only a hand full of ‘accepted’ layout designs to which the majority of designers are abusing. A very simple case in point would be the WordPress.org theme directory. I challenge anyone to find uniqueness within. Kubrick… Kubrick… Kubrick… Kubrick with a smaller header… Of course these are all free themes to download and that is super fantabulous! Just spend a little more time to iron out a solid design for chrissake! It would benefit the world of design tremendously.
At any rate, as I venture deeper into this whole business of designing sites via Photoshop, and keeping an eye out for what other designers are doing, I get very excited and quite motivated and come up with new ideas to explore. I constantly want to redesign my own site! But I realize I must keep it under control lest I completely confuse my viewers.
Here’s a great tutorial of the efforts put into what I think is a very creative site.
Whatcha Think?