Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but functionality’s got to be a slam-dunk.
If it’s a store, it should be obvious how to buy stuff, right?
It’s a rare ecommerce site that combines beauty with utility. Some of our favorites are below – in no particular order. But remember: a website is only as functional as its hosting service.
So if you sell things online, it’s critical to find a reliable ecommerce web hosting company.

• Threadless: http://www.threadless.com/

This German company expands its core audience by offering an English version of the website.
Attractive splash page offers community and interactive features (like submitting your own tee design or voting for your favorite shirt) but lets the user who wants to cut right to the chase with links to the online store.

• Shoe Guru: http://shoeguru.ca/

No ambiguity whatsoever about what this site is selling!
The photographs on this site will turn even the most shoe-adverse into Carrie Bradshaw. Seamless navigation lets you go very deep into the site almost instantly. Our only quibble: It takes four clicks before you get to the page where you can actually buy something.

• Habitat Shoe Boutique: http://www.habitatshoes.com/

Another online shoe store with a crisp clean look that offers users not just the opportunity to browse and fall in love, but also the ability to hunt down something they’re looking for through a search box on the very first page.
Clueless and shoeless?
Then you’ll want to check out the Habitat’s Trend section (through a link on the splash page) devoted entirely to the hottest new looks. The site also allows users to compile their very own Wish Lists.

• Emptees: http://emptees.com/

Okay, this company loses points by having a name that’s not only ambiguous but, if you think about it for any length of time, is actually a deterrent to the “call for action” that all effective ecommerce is about. But once you get the website, it’s a stunner: The photos of the tees alongside the graphic art displayed upon them is so eye-catching it immediately makes you want to look some more.
You can personalize the site by creating your own account – and it’s a club most definitely any hip person – Emptees’ target audience, obviously – would like to join.

• Itself: http://www.hereitself.com/

We like this website for its minimalist design and the fact that you can start shopping on the entry page. The fish bait leads: “Free shipping on orders over $60!” Hey, we’ll spend $65! It also announces right upfront that its shopping cart is a secure technology. In these days of massive insecurity over identity theft and economic downturns, it’s always a good thing to let prospective customers know their money is safe with you.

• Fugitive Toys: http://fugitivetoys.com/

First of all, the name is just terrific. It lets you know your purchase is more than just a purchase – it’s an opt-in lifestyle.
It doesn’t get “stickier” than that. Customers will be returning to this website again and again and again.
The pricing breakdown is a terrific customer-friendly tool, as is the links to various social media on the right hand side of the page because these are purchases customers will definitely want to talk about.

Honorable Mentions:

Tilly Moss: http://tillymoss.com/

This site’s outstanding graphics will make you long to buy the product — even if you have no idea what a “sleeve” actually is.

Shop Curious: http://www.shopcurious.com/

The text is wobbly and hard to read, but we really like the eye-catching, diagonal graphic on the upper left.

Little Catwalk: http://www.little-catwalk.com/

Photographs could be somewhat better, but we the concept of lifestyle magazine content will draw perspective purchasers in.

Bridge 55: http://www.bridge55.com/

Great site in every way but one: the graphic underlying the product slideshow — a crumbling wall — is really a turn-off.

Cover creation from Peter Belanger on Vimeo.

 
This great video shows how much work goes in the creation of the cover of a MacWorld Magazine, to start from the planning of the first shot to the positioning of every single pixel, showing us that really nothing is left to chance.

Time lapse is so compressed that half a day goes in 30 seconds!

This video has been uploaded on Vimeo by Peter Belanger.
You can visit his Vimeo page to read his article about it and the technical details about the cameras and lenses he used.

Enjoy!

Here it is again the list of my 10 favorite readings of the week.
Let’s start.

• Most brilliant is new Zippo advertising campaign. Even if message clearly exaggerate the amount of space taken by discarded lighters, it shows an interesting point of view that probably few of us had considered before. Read a full article on StillAd ;
• Most Useful is The 13 most essential plugin for WordPress by Net-tuts. Even if I don’t agree to all of them because I think some plugin in list are not strictly necessary (don’t forget that each plugin you activate eats resources and slows a bit your wordpress!), there are some I didn’t know. I would add to list Login Lockdown: detect and record IP addresses of every failed login attempt and if more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range;
  
• Most stunning is Step into my Cardboard Office from CR Blog. Their article tells about Nothing, a new Amsterdam creative agency that built its internal working spaces with cardboard. Article has plenty of amazing pictures of the studio;
• Most funny is Comments you won’t have seen by DavidAirey.com. I read this clever and wit blog very often and surely there are a lot of graphic design post to point out (I especially like the “Logo of the month” series), but this one was, really, exhilarating;
• Most Interesting is Achieve your goals with Incremental Persistence. I’ve found this article on DevLounge. Very powerful explanation about how persistence conquers all. You can’t miss the linked John Reese article on Income.com too;
• Most Beautiful is a showcase of SmashingMagazine of 40 typography-related websites and blogs. Astounding creativity and a lot of knowledge here;
• Most Inspiring is a DesignM.ag Showcase about landscape photography. Incredibly, the shot of the cypresses has been taken not far away from where I live. Those trees are really famous among photographers here;
• Most Valuable is The Ups and Downs of Business by Chris Tomlison. I’ve found by chance this 5th and last article of an interesting series, so, my advice is to read them all;
• My favorite artist is Jay Horinouchi creates dreamy and intriguing worlds filled with Japanese-inspired creatures. Amazing painting technique. He is having a solo exhibition at Möbius Gallery in Los Angeles until April 7, 2009.

I really wonder if out there there are some of us that never had the frustration of a rejected work.
Lucky few guys!

For the rest of us Matt Gustavsen and Justin Hastings created Project Never competition.

It may be true that a lot of design concept gets rejected for (probably) a good reason, but many times worthy ideas are condemned to oblivion just because: “Ehh…this is good, but this is not what we had in mind” or : “we’re not going in that direction”.

Very frustrating.
Although this could be the obvious end of a poorly defined Design Brief (always be aware and take care of this point!) it is also true that sometimes it happens that customers don’t have any idea at all of what they want and we end up that we have to throw away our work and restart again.

Here it comes Project Never, which aims to give to all discarded designs all the fame they deserves.

Let’s summarize:

• award is open to all print and and web design concepts developed between January 1, 2007 and December 1, 2008;
• to all countries (but obviously they have to be presented in english);
• deadline is 1st december 2008;
• winner will be announced on 1st march 2009.

All rules and details are available on the website of the competition, the only fee is the willingness to be slapped in the face once again. ^__^

PROJECT NEVER
Rejection never felt this good.

When in 1970 John Pasche designed the famous Rolling Stones logo he was paid only £50.
He got 200 more two years after from the band as a bonus, so much they were pleased with it.

That logo, created for the album Sticky Fingers released in 1971, made music history and now Victoria and Albert Museum in London has bought for £50,000 (which means 92,500 USD) the signed original artwork sold by author with an auction.

Pasche says that he took inspiration for the logo from the rebellious spirit of the band and sexual connotations of Mick’s mouth. He designed it in a bold graphic style so that it could stand the test of time and he wanted it in an easy to reproduce shape.

Increasing success of the logo led, in successive years, to copyrights issues on two fronts:

• the mark needed to be registered worldwide because other business started to use it for their own products;
• a further agreement needed to be drawn between designer and the band for the merchandise.

The designer continued to create artwork extensively for the band until 1974.
This led him to work for Paul Mc Cartney, the Who and many other artists.

Actually this logo is one of the most famous in the world, a real icon of the pop art culture.

Ever since I was a child I’ve always loved it.
So colorful, so powerful, so direct.
But, most of all, it really was, (and still is) “ONE” with the band itself, a perfectly merged symbol.

This Sunday, I’ll list my 10 favourite websites of the week.
They may include articles, video and portfolios.
Let’s start.

• Most Comprehensive is Your Rights as a Photographer by Tutorial9.net: a complete and extensive guide about commercial and legal rights when you use your fotocamera, there also are two downloadable samples of models releases;

• Most Creative is A little something to remind me… by CR Blog that shows how photographer Michael Hughes renew the concept of tourist attractions in his new book Souvenirs, where he take a shot of a postcard of them, skillfully merged with the real view;

• Most Outrageous is Shavethepussy.com. Yes, as the name says, you have all the tools to shave a pussy and get a score to win the foam/moisturizer set. Honestly, I didn’t understand if this site was made to really promote the set or the amazing mastery of the flash design, but one thing for sure it gets noticed!!;

• Most Funny is Make my logo bigger video on YouTube. How often customers obstruct us from doing our work with request of the kind: “I want my logo bigger”, “All of that white space is wasted”, “I want more colors”?. Well, it has been created a new set of tools right for this purpose.

• Most Useful is How to Write An Effective Design Brief By JCD Blog. Starting from the definition of design brief itself it analyzes what goals of design could be, then it draws a roadmap through target market, design specifications, benchmark and deadline.

• Most Interesting is Typographic Nostalgia: Bell Centennial by Speak Up. This article talks of the creation of the typeface Bell Centennial, used for the AT&T telephone book, as an update of old Bell Gothic. A lot of good pics of the rare booklet that illustrate the process.

• Most Beautiful is The beauty of old maps by Design Daily. I just love vintage photos and illustrations. Period.

• Most Valuable is 10 Timeless Business Tips From 10 Millionaires by Quick Sprout. From venture capital to savings, from starting a business to investing in ourselves.

• My favourite portfolio: Philipp Zurmoehle at http://www.phillennium.com/ is a fine and creative graphic and web designer from Norway.

It must be some kind of “universal law”, I guess.
As you say his dreadful name you can see around you horrified, astounded, disgusted faces, wondering if you’re serious or if you’re only joking, when you’re talking about including it in your project (none of two: just testing the law ).

Every graphic and web designers in the world agree in hating poor dear Comic Sans.
Even those that use Microsoft Word to layout books, booklet and brochure.
Even those that use Photoshop to project a logo.
Even those that use Dreamveaver to write a post because they’re not able to hand-write a tag directly in WordPress.(*)

All of them, however, have one certainty: Comic Sans is ugly and despicable and everyone that use it and/ or denies it is as crappy as it is.

I wonder how does it feel about it that poor guy, Vincent Connare that created it in 1994.
Who knows… it could be he uses Oscar Wilde philosophy “I don’t care of your ill talking… as long as you keep on talking”.
But since he is a big professional and he probably makes big laughs of all this fuss…

Let’s say it.
Where does all of this hatred for Comic Sans comes from?
My opinion is that Comic Sans is a good font (I don’t fear to be considered crappy if I deny the universal truth!).
Good leading, good kerning. And it is nice and suitable for its destination: comics.
PERIOD.

My opinion is that truth lies somewhere else.
For years this font has been used and abused A LOT in web and editorial projects from “wannabe” designers (which it means that it was appreciated!) in an improper way, and I think that this is the real reason that lead to such saturation.

It has even been created a website, BanComicSans.Com that has started a petition to ban Comic Sans because, it states, “it threaten to erode the very foundations upon which centuries of typographic history are built”. There also is a section where you can download all kind of comics fonts to use in your project to make you stop using Comic Sans (what’s the sense of this?).
I don’t understand if the intention of this website is serious (oh my God!), controversial, or just a joke (I hope so).

Banning a font?
Ridiculous. Bad designer would use something else.
Why this makes some people upset?
After all bad allows to good to stand out, isn’t it?

(*)
YES! I’ve seen and read about people doing those things. Really.

Filthysmutpeddlers.com is a Website (with a nice graphic design, I have to say) born from from a collaboration between photographers, models, graphic and motion artists.

Filthysmutpeddlers.com provides a selection of pictures of pin-up and you have to create a design to enter the challenge.
It is not well explained how long each challenge lasts, but as they states everything is growing and subjet to change at the time that I am writing.

They address to all creatives with the aim, they say, to create “works of art to hang over the fireplace”, but it is true indeed that this initiative really is something different, with some fifties years flavour that we all love (don’t we?) and leaves the doors open to a lot of other opportunities.

If you want to give a look to the Website to apply for the challenge or just propose a wallpaper of the month, click HERE