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Friday Focus

Friday Focus 09/11/09: Mostly Cloudy

What is it about clouds that instantly transports us to a happy place? This week on Friday Focus, we’re featuring designs with white, fluffy clumps of water vapor in them.

Designs of the Week

Jan-Eike Koormann

Love or hate the abundance of illustrated clouds on this site, it certainly makes a lot of impact. The moving clouds aren’t distracting at all, and are a nice touch. Cute footer too.

Serge Mistyukevych

I’m disappointed that the clouds graphic on the homepage don’t show up in the inner pages, because it does change the atmostphere of the site, especially the hands peeking out! Makes it a little quirky and fun. The background becomes bare as you scroll down, also making me wish the background was fixed.

Doxie Scanner

Simple, clean, to the point. If there were any more content in here the center aligned effect would have been a bit much, but here it’s just the right amount for a teaser.

Merge Web

Here’s another moving clouds effect. I like that the background changes colors according to different times of the day (I think). And the old style illustrations too, like the manicule (the pointing hand) in the search bar. I don’t know about you but it’s hilarious! Gives the site a lot of personality.

Design Attik

Several details I love here: first, the 3D slash folded paper effect going on in the portfolio items. Makes repeated elements a lot less dull. Second, the footer graphic where there’s a man looking up at the clouds from what looks like a rooftop. Third, the colorful ribbons in the logo and copyright text—I’ve seen it before, but it’s a nice break in color and it does look like ribbons floating in the sky on a windy day.

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  1. By Victoria Blount posted on September 14, 2009 at 7:55 am
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    Its interesting how clouds have been used and in so many different ways. The best examples are the illustrated fluffy cute version and the contrasting and sinister darker design with the hand reaching from the clouds.

  2. By Mistyukevych Serge posted on January 23, 2010 at 2:05 pm
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    Thank you for showcasing me! Serge
    I just wondering about fixed background, but decide to make it scrollable.
    Soon I will make some other iilustrations for inner pages, hope you like it.

    I’m always open for any critics, so just let me know if you have any questions or suggestings.

    Thanks again, good post and site!

    Cheers, Serge.

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