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Who’s in the mood for some red designs this week? Let’s start the show!

Designs of the Week

A bit of parallax going on in this horizontally scrolling site. Love the illustrations, which are interconnected through color.

I love that practically everything looks hand-drawn! But everything still looks tidy, and therefore readable.

I think my only nitpick here is the use of Flash for the top menu, and the lack of rounded corners in the pizza graphic. Other than that, this site is making me hungry from Brazilian pizza.

I like the not-quite-centered layout and the little nicks and cuts to the content boxes. Edgy, that’s what I think they call it.

I’m a sucker for these 3-dimensional, folded elements (is there a name for this yet? I really want to know). And the shades of red in this site are quite appealing. I just have a tiny issue with the top and bottom padding in the Featured Projects box—should’ve had more.

Now this is one of those sites that put me on the fence when it comes to looks, but I like how striking it is. Plus the quirky icons below? It captures how left-of-field tattooing is.

I like the whole industrial feel with a bit of a plastic-y twist in the menu and buttons. It makes browsing the site that much more exciting.

Beau.ti.ful. You can go a long, long way when you get the typography down pat. And whitespace is your best bud.

I really like the animated neon sign and oil rigs, dresses down the whole grand look of the site with its ornate borders and background.

This site’s bordering on very low contrast, but it’s still readable.

There isn’t as much red in here as the other sites but it makes since a very bright shade of red was used. I have to point out that something brilliant is going on in the contact page: the map of their company office is a live Google Maps spread which spans the whole background. Neat!

Social Media Weekly

Branding – Breadline Design’s Company Naming Machine
Just for kicks.

Design – A UI Design and Prototyping Treasure Chest
“Having these close by will save time and speed up your design and prototyping work flow. Here is a collection of these types of elements that should be a big help to you.”

Programming – 16 Different Clones You Can Build with Drupal
“So, if you’re thinking about building your next big site, here are a few ways that you can take existing modules and turn a project quickly, without needing to make any custom modules.”

This week on Friday Focus: websites that will make you want to get in the car or on a plane and head to these exquisite destinations. At least we can enjoy their views from within our own browsers!

Designs of the Week

I really like are the way the popup menus are designed. Even better is the way the background images load first, and then the content area fades into view.

Great lighting in the header, and the way the color of the wood background makes the photos pop.

You don’t have to pepper your site with concrete representations of what your site is all about, and this is a good example of that. Makes for an elegant yet still outdoorsy look.

I’m not sure exactly why you’d use a strap in such a prominent place such a header but it certainly looks different. Love the interactivity of the menus on the left. Another brilliant feature: the execution of the map menu on the right side.

Huge photos. Excellent typography. I’m just not sure about the wallpaper background.

Clean and modern. The labels on the photo itself are a great and necessary touch.

This design reminds me of Obama’s online branding, and it looks so elegant. This isn’t even a travel destination site, but it definitely makes you want to go there.

I like the textured background in the logo, and the way the photos fade at the edges.

Social Media Weekly

Design – 404 Error Page – Don’t Get the Page Itself to Be Even a Bigger Error

Programming – HTML, CSS, and Web Development Practices: Past, Present, and Future