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prior listings

 

• factory512 1/31/01 
  Description: global galaxy inspirit service
  Comments: You've heard it here before.  I get excited for you and me both when I come across a new inspirational portal — new for me, that is, because today's pick has been around for a long time — I keep seeing the name but never realized it was so good.  Recently while checking out sites, I've seen the words "Thanks to [today's pick]" over and over.  Accurately calling itself an "inspirit service" and delivering fresh links like a maniac on it's main page and archiving all those great destinations on it's "friendly link list" as it goes, this site isn't only offering the inspiration of others.  Not at all.  The link to "inspirations" actually leads you to the biggest list of visuals I've ever seen — apparently all done by Dmitry and all good (not that I've seen 'em all yet — that would take days!).  And the link to "covers" provides even more inspiration submitted by some of the coolest designers around.  The site is designed really well and provides a welcome day off from all that Flash I've been pointing you to lately(not that Flash is bad — I've got some great Flashers in the queue to share with you in the days to come).  Today's pick is yet another outstanding, alternative kind of portal that's so important to the web — it brings balance, flavor, and creativity to our browsers to offset all that dotcom madness on all of our minds these days — in the end, it's just what the doctor ordered...
   
• reFrag 1/30/01 
  Description: Flash experimentation and creative outlet.
  Comments: Mikael's done six new experiments in "actionscripting" this month (so far).  The latest, "Global Positioning", is a world map for you to mark your location on.  As the little comet (I guess that's what it is) moves about the map it exposes the name of the user who marked a specific location as it passes through that user's claimed area.  Intriguing.  Mikael started the site last August and there's quite a bit of content here — to reach the different experiments, you'll be using a really cool interface that was introduced in December with the "relaunch" of the site.  The menu system is "generated on the fly" and provides access to calendars for each month in neat little internal popups — very much like a desktop within your browser and very fast.  Flash doesn't have to be something that takes forever to load and it's not always useless intros and slow transitions, either.  Mikael proves that Flash can be a super-fast means for content delivery and user interaction with the data system.  Check out the "link engine" and the "story engine" and feel free to participate — I love that type of interactivity and when it's combined with the newer powers of Flash, it's downright cool.  Keep up the interesting work, Mikael...
   
• Reality9 1/29/01 
  Description: personal site that has some graphical content I've made
  Comments: Today's pick comes from a 16 year old living on the southern coast of Finland.  I like the look and feel of Archi's graphics site and it looks like he really knows his graphics software of choice.  Proving that the web does not live on Photoshop alone, Archi uses PSP to make his nifty wallpapers and skinz and he seems to go for a 3D look in a lot of his work and does it pretty well.  He also offers some easy-to-follow PSP tutorials and a few free samples of JavaScript code.  Then, there's the section called "work" that actually had a lot to do with my picking his site.  There's all kinds of colorful digital art and tablet illustrations plus a photography section with shots he's taken from all over the world.  I love it when a young talent like this decides to do the webthing — he's creative and obviously loves sharing his work.  Kudos to Archi for the great job on his personal creative space...
   
• Kobalto 1/27/01 
  Description: design lab
  Comments: Today's pick, from a designer named Javier Revilla, is an interesting collection of visual art.  I like the background graphics and the simple popup presentation of his showcase.  Most of the pieces are static, but there are a few cool Flash pieces with neat motion graphics and a little interactivity.  There's also some free downloads and several other new features coming soon.  But there is a problem here which is definitely not Javier's fault — it stopped me dead in my tracks from enjoying all of his tasty content.  Seems I was missing a component for QuickTime when I went to view his "Camacho" piece, so I followed the prompts to download it.  After three failed downloads, I think to myself "those guys at Apple really suck" and decide I don't have time for this nonsense.  Not only do they try to upsell you to their "Pro" player everytime you wanna view a QuickTime piece, but they can't even provide a reliable download when you need to grab a needed plug-in.  Anyway, like I said, it's not Javier's fault but I'll bet that the piece I couldn't view was as good as the rest of the site and it's unfair to the artist, Javier in this case, that he spent all that time creating something that can't be viewed because those guys at Apple can't handle it!  Sorry, but yes, I feel better now — kudos to Javier for all those great visuals I was able to enjoy...
   
• pseudodictionary 1/25/01 
  Description: we take the words you use everyday, but aren't in the dictionary, and put them into ours
  Comments: I've known Paul Jarvis for quite a while now.  His personal journal is one of the member sites at the dailywebthing, which means I read his daily updates every morning in the wee hours as me an my spider gather the day's content.  It's interesting reading for sure, and today's pick was born there back on January 4, when Paul wrote "I want to have an online dictionary full of words and phrases people actually use, but that wouldn't ever be found in a real dictionary."  So, an idea was born and I liked the concept.  I silently wished Paul good luck with it.  Well, since that time, people started sending Paul new words for his dictionary, and he got a little bonus exposure from the baldies over at k10k and right now there's over 300 words in the database.  Looks like the concept has wings after only 3 weeks.  Yesterday, I heard from Steve Comrie, who's the backend ace for the site and I'm really glad he contacted me.  They've bought the domain name now so that this unique new online dictionary has its own identity.  I'm hoping this little bit of new exposure helps keep the ball rolling for Paul and Steve — nice people, nice site, nice concept — nothing "pseudo" about today's pick...
   
• hirmes.com 1/24/01 
  Description: in the cave of the factotum (Flash)
  Comments: It looks like today's pick is definitely a daily thing.  Since the start of the year, a new Flash piece has been added every single day (I just love this morning's entry).  As one who updates several sites every morning before I head off to work (that's right, y'all — not all web designers are out of work, so lighten up, would ya! — things will get better like they always do), I have to tip my hat to all of you out there who keep cranking out fresh creative content daily.  That's a most unique thing about the medium.  Anyway, today's pick seems to be an ongoing study in Flash and the experiments on display (I think you could call them that) are fun to browse through.  The menu looks sorta like a little periodic table and the immediate plans include making the source code available for each piece, and screensavers, too.  Another menu shows some other features that are "coming soon" and my guess is that this site will keep getting better and better, especially if that daily updating is maintained.  For now, you can bet that I'll be checking this one out again tomorrow morning...
   
• sigs portfolio 5.0 1/22/01 
  Description: flash portfolio
  Comments: Today's pick is the design portfolio of one Siegfried Ganhoer, which features works he's produced over the last 2 years.  The Flash interface is rather unique and I'll have to confess that my decision to feature this one today has more to do with the interface than anything else.  When you slide out the "navigator" tab, it exposes a cool, animated 3D graphic that's color coded to the different sections (he calls them workareas), and each section lists the works as title bars for expandable internal windows which house the samples.  It's got the look and feel of a desktop to me (which I think is really cool) and the graphical accents are nice.  Sig's work is A-1 stuff, but I left disappointed that virtually all of it is commercial work — nothing wrong with that — he's not doing a selling number on you here.  It's an excellent non-commercial presentation of this young designer's skills.  So why am I disappointed?  Based on how good all this work is that he's done for clients, I'd really like to see more of the stuff he's done for fun over the last 2 years...
   
• untitled.nu 1/21/01 
  Description: this site is for the artists who created it. not for you. if it were for you,it would not be art. art is selfish.
  Comments: Yesterday's pick, JimmyD, says coolstop "features a new cool site every day...some are better than others" — so true, but now and then, genuine greatness rears its head 'round here and the room shakes with joy.  So, if you don't visit every day (shame on you!), be thankful you did today, 'cause I've got yet another one of those rare, special delights.  You might remember several picks last July — mental.nu and surfstation.  Though both were collaborative efforts, they both had a major player in common — an artist/designer named Errol Richardson.  Surfstation is still alive and kicking as one of the best inspirational portals out there (in my humble, yet consistent opinion), but the mental project came to an end last September.  Errol was ready for a new start — he needed to be re-inspired, so mental was finished (but not forgotten).  Though endings can seem sad at times, if you just think of them as steps in a greater plan, you realize that endings are always beginnings leading to greater things... like today's pick.  Timing can be a funny thing.  I just became aware of this site a few days ago and checked it out briefly.  That was enough to add it to my "potentials" list immediately, which would assure that I look at it more thoroughly within 1-2 days.  Then, yesterday, I got a note from Errol letting me know about his new site ("a good sign" I thought to myself — "what timing!").  So last night and again this morning, I thoroughly went through the site, not because I needed to decide whether it belongs with the best of the cool — that was already obvious after that first glimpse, but gee, I needed to wait until today to make the pick.  All the time I spent last night and this morning was for my own enjoyment of all that great content.  Errol and his friends have done it again — go discover some real art! — though it wasn't made for you, I'd bet that you'll love it.  Re-inspired?  Hell, yes!
   
• eblots! 1/19/01 
  Description: cut rate internet therapy
  Comments: It's Friday — time to lighten up a little and focus on a little fun and diversion.  Knockout design?  I don't think so.  Great use of color?  Definitely not — in fact, the only use of color besides black, white, and gray, are the tiny little squares that appear next to the usernames, which are all color names.  Wacky use of color?  Indeed.  So why did I pick this puppy?  Because it's a nifty concept and it's interesting and fun to participate in.  If you don't contribute your own impressions, you don't get to see what others have said about the picture of the day — sorta like a forced sense of community, which I really like.  Little interactive diversions like this often sit unused though many will visit to view others responses.  So maybe what I called a wacky use of color is actually a great idea after all — treating all users as anonymous gives them a second incentive to participate.  The guy behind this little gem says it's a kind of therapy and I think I have to agree.  What I'm still trying to figure out, though, is why he incorporated (i.e., added "Inc." after the site name).  There's nothing commercial here, so I'm guessing he might see dollar signs thinking about all the advertising revenue he's gonna generate.  My advice?  Don't hold yer breath — just keep having fun with it...
   
• Corporate Pig 1/18/01 
  Description: This site is what's left over after I dump all my daytime energies into programming flash games at work. Corporate Pig is my other half.. design and multimedia. (Flash)
  Comments: The key to enjoying a site like today's pick, especially if your connection is the dial-up variety, is to do some other web surfing while it's loading.  Otherwise, your eyeballs will cross as you stare at the "loading" screen for almost five minutes.  Though we humans are conditioned to wait, wait, wait, we would rather not — our lack of patience is only amplified when it comes to the web, dontcha think?  And it's not like the producer of this site isn't aware of our impatience — "Please accept my pre-apologies for the blatant disregard of bandwith and processing power issues seen throughout this site.  I worry about that stuff at work.  When I come home to do this.. if it works on my machine, it works."  At first, I thought "how arrogant!" and went on to the next site on my list, but then I thought "wonder if it's worth it?"  So, I went back and let it start loading, then opened a new window and continued looking at other gems under consideration.  I'm as impatient as the next guy, but it ain't so easy finding great websites and I think I better give this one a chance just in case it's better than the other 12 sites I just deleted from the submissions.  When I start thinking "who pushed me in?" as I'm sifting through the crapola for you fine folks, it's important that I always regain my perspective and give every submission a fair shot.  I return to the now-fully-loaded bandwidth hog still thinking "wonder if it's worth it?" and am pleasantly surprised with the realization that it is... mahvelous!
   
• H69 1/15/01 
  collaborative Flash gallery (mature content) Description:
  Comments: Today's pick is a collaborative offering featuring Flash pieces from its producer and five other contributors.  Some of the content is not exactly suitable for the kiddies, if ya know what I mean (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), but if you look at it from work, you might want to check your volume so that guy in the next cube doesn't think you're up to something.  I like the sense of humor that comes through in some of the works — "Scream" and "Come Again" are good examples.  I also like the simplicity of the interface, and with the mouseovers, I think even Jacob would agree that Flash can address some of those usability issues he talks about (unless, of course, the user doesn't realize that moving one's mouse is the first step of any meaningful user experience).  Enjoy!
   
• half-mute 1/14/01 
  Description: basically a portfolio
  Comments: Using white type on a black background can be a touchy design choice — I've come across many such sites that seem crude, unfinished and difficult to read — the lack of color leaving only bright white text can be most uninspiring.  But if the designer introduces images and color into the mix just right, the design choice can make perfect sense.  Christina Leander Thomsen does it just right, using astounding images and touches of red, blue and various shades of gray, turning drab black and white to a colorful and engaging canvas.  Today's pick is the personal space of a most interesting personality.  She was in radio for many years and music plays a major role in her life.  She's interviewed Michael Hutchence, Boy George, and Concrete Blond, to name a few, and if Neil Young's "On the Beach" album is one of her favorite albums, I can't help but to want to know more about her.  She also spent some time in the world of print publishing and in more recent years, Christina became immersed in web design.  She's designed a few great websites, including her own and if the term "websculpture" is a real word, I would say it describes her style — very rich look and feel — very artistic...
   
• K:e:i:c:o:n 1/13/01 
  Description: A Flash folio site
  Comments: Today's pick was officially launched on November 1st — a news entry on November 2nd indicates that the producer of the site was involved in a new book called "New Masters of Flash."  It seems to me that using Flash itself to cover the subject of Flash might be more appropriate than printed media, but based on the cool interface you'll find here, I think this site definitely belongs with the "masters."  Anyway, what really attracted me are the rich, color visuals.  The "portfolio" and "laboratory" both contain excellent examples of what I'm talking about.  As far as presentation goes, I'm not crazy about long, drawn out transitions each time you make a navigation choice, though I realize that's all part of the artist's visions and intentions and it's up to each individual viewer to decide what is tolerable.  In the end, I'll take the slow transitions when greatness keeps showing up at the other end...
   
• Modern Living 1/11/01 
  Description: animation series reflect my dreams, expectations, conflicts, experiences, hopes, defeats, fears, demons, questions, laughter, lust... it's an ongoing selfportrait. (Flash)
  Comments: The series of interactive Flash animations presented here actually started as an experiment back in 1995, and though the first nine pieces are not included, the 10th piece, done in July of 1998 plus 72 pieces done since then, make up the content you'll find here.  The producer calls it the Neurotica series and I think it's great.  H. Hoogerbrugge tells us it's a selfportrait, a private one, and he must be the interesting monochromatic dude that shows up in many of the works.  He dances, snaps a shot of you, does diving board tricks and counts with his fingers — I'm thinking his face has more color in it than the animations show because there's a colorful and somewhat humorous spirit at work here.  The current piece, "Credits" was done in December and shares a list of some of those who have inspired him — John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Curt Cobain, Walt Disney, and Sid Vicious, to name a few.  It somehow makes a lot of sense to me...
   
• TripleOptix 1/10/01 
  Description: Weblog on What's Up with three Aussie Asians (Korean, Chinese, Filo) doing their thing down under.
  Comments: Mike seems to be the dominant force behind this high-spirited, three-headed beast, but Shor and Dre are pitchin' in to the effort, too.  They're calling it a weblog but it's hardly the typical fare — it's busy and fun and I've got to admit it sucked me right in.  Pick a tasty beat to listen to in the background (you're payin' the royalties out, ain't ya, Mike?), and dig in for your share of "rants, opinions, philosophies and a good dosage of crap."  I like the photographic accents throughout, and the "snapshots" feature ain't bad at all — Boston, Singapore, Malaysia, Sydney — for a 20 year old student who spent some time recently working 100-hour weeks as a designer, Mike sure gets around (assuming he took all of the cool photos).  Then, there's his own little personal portal thing, his webcam, music reviews, and all kinds of other stuff — like I said, it's busy and fun — check it out and let Mike, Shor and Dre fill you in on "What's Up" down under...
   
• scrap-pile 1/9/01 
  Description: "you gotta pay if you want to know anything more, this jazz ain't free"
  Comments: I've gotta thank freshfroot for providing the spark that led to today's pick.  After looking at (and deleting) a dozen or so commercial sites (some blatant, some sneaky) that were submitted yesterday (nice sites, y'all, but you're wasting your time submitting them here), I found myself in need of a little inspiration.  "Been there, done that" you think, but then again, that's why you're here, isn't it?  Me, too!  So, anyway, I decide to stop looking at the submissions and go do some surfin' on my own and freshfroot is one of many sites I frequent when I'm looking for visuals to sate my palette (no pun intended — okay — pun intended, I'll admit).  The theme is "alone" and today's pick was one of the sites gathered to fit the bill.  I'm hoping for simplicity and substance as I click on the self-portrait series link.  I don't care about easy navigability or bells and whistles and a snappy design as I follow the link — I'm just looking for something real.  Guess what I found...
   
• liminal response 1/3/01 
  Description: designers showcase
  Comments: Today's pick has been on the web for a little over 6 months from what I can see.  I doubt that Carolynn, Jullian, and Chris are newbies (just look at the great design) and would guess that they've all been into design and on the web for considerably longer than this site, which they describe as a "designers showcase."  It's actually a community within the bigger design community on the web and every few weeks, the site features a new cover done by one of the members.  I think their target is to feature a new cover weekly (as well as a new feature article or interview) and if they keep adding members as they have, they should reach that goal.  Their site is an excellent inspirational portal (and Lord knows we need all the inspiration we can get) — on one of the dropdown lists, you can access the homepages of all the members, and there's also several other lists of great designers' sites.  Though I previously listed a subsection of this site in the featured cool sites, it seems appropriate to list the main site with the Best of the Cool... because it is that cool, silly!
   
• Jureta Ivan 1/2/01 
  Description: personal work - the designs (Flash)
  Comments: A young creative in Belgium is behind today's pick — Ivan Jureta is a freelancer for now but I've got a feeling his personal webspace will help him land a full-time gig.  The unique Flash interface is artsy, sleek, and colorful with some really tasty motion graphics.  As you enter the site, the top half of the window is taken up by an excellent example of Ivans artistic work, and the rest of the window has several narrow bands that provide navigation.  When you make a menu choice on one of those bands, the other quickly scrolls horizontally into position for the chosen section and the top half of the window becomes the target for secondary menu choices — I love it.  Along the bottom is a news window that's only about 30 pixels high, which should be pretty cool to use once Ivan starts adding news to it.  His design portfolio is impressive — Ivan's a wiz at Flash and his talents as an artist and designer come flying off the page at you...
   
• a weekly dose of architecture 1/1/01 
  Description: looks at contemporary architectural works with architectural and/or cultural significance
  Comments: I'd have to guess that today's pick is done for the love.  Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't find a name behind the site, except for the nickname in the email address, but the producer of the site obviously enjoys architecture.  I'd like to see him/her come out from the anonymity with a more personal touch — it would probably add a nice dimension.  He/she has been putting out these weekly "doses" for two full years now, and I think it's interesting.  The well-written articles give in-depth views of the buildings in question and the photos help the cause.  Nice layout and color and focused content all add up to a nice experience — for this user, anyway...