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prior listings

 

• transphormetic.com 5/31/01 
  Description: vector experiments as internet art
  Comments: There's something about the simple shapes, in various grays and black, that hold the square or rectangular visual content window (depending where you are), that I really like.  It looks like an elaborate machine or something, but it's incredibly simple — a case for what form becomes through our perception of it.  Anyway — today's pick is a real treat for those who enjoy vector motion graphics, and if you don't have Flash (or just don't like it), there's still two sections of the four that you can enjoy.  Section 2 is a collection of static visuals and Section 4 is primarily a listing inspirational links.  But those other two sections are what I really liked — one is an assortment of interactive Flash pieces that are colorful and fun to play with — the other section contains what Paul, the guy behind the site, calls "generative art" and it's really cool — very smooth motion graphics!  The "updata" section has some good links, too, but if you're at 800x600, go to fullscreen mode if you don't see the link to it.  As far as "experimental" Flash sites go, this one is more artistic than most — definitely worth checking out...
   
• Burntgraphix.com 5/30/01 
  Description: Personal site and art work
  Comments: "To all of you that really like the current design on my site. DON'T GET ATTACHED!.. I'm going to be changing it again soon. haha, does it ever stop?"  So — I guess you better check this one out today, 'cause Anthony's on the move.  An interesting guy who tells a bit more in his personal section than some care to know (but says it very concisely, thank you), Anthony impressed me immediately with his honesty and sensivity.  In the news archive, I read the bit about a site who ripped off his design and can relate to his response to being accused of being unprofessional about exposing the ripoff publically on his site — it always amazes me how obnoxious people, when called in for their actions, always come back to the accuser with nonsense about how rude or unprofessional the victim of their behavior was — "you didn't have to say it and do it that way" always attempts to move the "problem behavior" from one person to another and is usually attempted by someone who thinks they didn't do anything wrong (except get caught), if you know what I'm saying.  So, kudos to Anthony on that one — you don't owe anything to someone who rips you off — it's just the other way around.  In addition to a simply knockout design in general, I picked this site primarily for the cool content in the "artwork" section.  Anthony does oil paintings and sketches on various media and I think the pieces he shares in that section are excellent.  There's also some cool desktops and an experimental Flash splash page, and I really enjoyed Anthony's "news" feature — some interesting words and a fair amount of tasty linkage.  I'm looking forward to seeing that redesign — it's bound to be good...
   
• conclave obscurum 5/28/01 
  Description: the unique work of Russian designer/artist cmart (Flash)
  Comments: Today's pick stands alone — there's not another site like it anywhere.  Big words, I know, but I'll stand behind what I just said — you simply will not see anything like this anywhere else.  Some things just can't be imitated.  Step into the ingenious world of Cmart, a Russian artist who will capture your imagination with his dark characters and eerie animations.  The interface is amazing all by itself and the doors it opens lead to indescribable works — the intensity and passion will take you over and you will be affected.  It's truly like stepping into a different world... (Flash)
   
• between 5/27/01 
  Description: ...from 1973 to 2001, oil paint to flash, a point to space-time, a sand to the world...from 0 to 1 ... try to explore some more possibilities between the facts ... The site covers my beliefs, portfolio and some experiments in interactive media. (Flash)
  Comments: I think Stanley sees his life as being on some sort of continuum from here to there — "It's not about the destination.  It's the process."  That's what it says in the section called "the way from point A to point B" which is really Stanley's portfolio of work on canvas, on paper, and on the web.  I can't help but wonder if maybe we equate what we do professionally with who we are just a bit too much at times.  The "canvas" samples are personal, yet the "paper" and "screen" samples are mostly commercial work samples.  So — is the continuum from "oil paint to flash" really defining the movement from being a pure artist (an uninhibited creative spirit, if you will) to becoming a professional, multimedia designer for hire?  Just a thought, and I guess part of the power of Stanley's "between" perspective is to make one ask such questions.  There's also three other sections worth checking out, featuring some cool interactivity and glimpses into Stanley's beliefs (or at least, some of his thoughts).  There's an obvious invitation to explore various continuums in this well-designed site and I think the concept works...
   
• superHYPERdemonchild 5/24/01 
  Description: Bertie Cheng's personal site -- "this site is entirely designed, handcoded, illustrated, back-ended, flash-animated, fed nestle crunch, etc. by me."
  Comments: I love the site name Bertie came up with, but I'm not so sure it really fits her.  But then again, maybe it does because Bertie's a multitalented type with a lot of energy and being a little devilish is probably a significant part of her interesting personality, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Like in that post about being laid off recently — she says what's on her mind in no uncertain terms, as the cliché goes, and though the language isn't for the faint-hearted, it certainly makes the point.  I can relate to Bertie's anger about the situation, because I joined the ranks of unemployed web designer/developer types about a month ago myself.  Though I've contained my anger somewhat, I'm thinking that Bertie's honesty about it in her weblog just may be a better approach and I commend her for it.  I guess we all gotsta keep the faith.  Did I say multitalented?  Bertie was her high school class Valedictorian with a perfect grade average and went on to Harvard where she was on the Dean's List all 4 years.  Though she majored in Biology, as a "Harvard Science Scholar", I think she knew she had a knack for building websites and it wasn't long before she ended up doing it professionally.  Her site is designed really well and for someone who claims that programming is quite new to her, she seems to know a lot about PHP and JavaScript.  Her site has some interesting content beside the weblog.  There's a cam portal featuring almost 80 different webcams and the "survivorcam" project looks promising — "16 cams. 1 survivor. be very afraid."  You won't wanna miss the about page — "the last time i was in taiwan i was attacked by a chicken on the road. "  And I definitely agree with Bertie about WYSIWYG editors.  Again, the way she says it is priceless.  Gee.  That was fun...
   
• bkaro 5/21/01 
  Description: A new kind of digital art/design gallery & community. Everyone recieves a bkaro (a "wall"). Intuitively organized. Make a bkaro - it's a lot of fun, expressing & presenting this way.
  Comments: "...a new kind of an art gallery, open to everyone" is the introduction, and from what I can see, this is a fresh concept in community-type sites.  Today's pick is really an online application that lets the user immediately create their own "wall" where they can upload artwork and create various text layers and links to other members' walls — it's got a nifty toolbox, a choice of fonts, and even a message thingy (like a guestbook) built into the functionality.  Everything is viewable in any 4+ browser, but you do need IE to use the "site management tool" which is the heart of the application.  There's a bunch of these walls already made and some of them are really creative gems.  Hat's off to Dany, Thomas, and Amelia for moving on this unique idea...
   
• curliQ 5/17/01 
  Description: personal site of artist Dao Nguyen
  Comments: Born in Saigon and now living in San Francisco, Dao Nguyen is quite a talented artist.  Today's pick is her personal site — it features her paintings, drawings, and etchings, along with some print designs she's done.  Though some of the popups need to be resized a little to accommodate the default margins and eliminate those pesky horizontal scrollbars, I think Dao's presentation is done really well.  When it comes to original, quality visuals, this is one of the best personal sites I could hope to point to.  Then, add 32 original poems to the mix, and you'll realize that Dao is really cranking out the creative content — great stuff...
   
• heavy rotation 5/15/01 
  Description: abstract desktop wallpapers
  Comments: So — the question of the day is whether Gary Burgess, the guy behind today's pick, is the same Gary Burgess who produced the "Sh0ck" website, which now appears to be gone.  That site was a pick back in 11/99.  If he is one in the same, I guess I like his various styles, though today's pick is clearly a more minimal design than "Sh0ck" was.  Minimal doesn't mean lacking in design though — it's clean and direct and the look and feel is as good as any.  Sometimes, I equate minimal with clarity and that's a good thing.  There's also a clarity to the concept — "I create desktop wallpapers for your computer. If you like them you can download them for your own personal use."  That's it, and that's clearly enough.  Hats off to sites that don't try to be everything to everyone.  Hats off to sites that stay focused.  There's several little touches I like about the presentation.  The wallpapers are available in virtually all sizes from 800x600 to 1600x1200, and Gary uses a nice click-to-enlarge plus click-to-return navigation device for the little popups.  If abstract visuals are your thing, go for it...
   
• safeplaces 5/14/01 
  Description: a digital playground brought to you by g-com (Flash)
  Comments: Today's pick is a site I saw for the first time some months back.  When I explored the main Flash piece (which was all there was at that time), it was interesting to me but I just didn't get it.  Like many Flash pieces, there's not always a point and usefulness is the last thing one can expect to find.  But it was engaging and a little hypnotic in its own way — its colorful, cartoon-like visual quality combined with motion and sound urge the user to interact and explore.  Anyway, on this visit, I found several more pieces created by G-Com which are pretty neat, and that same original piece that I played with before was just as much fun and engaged me all over again.  Though I still don't get it and probably never will, I realize now that it's not important — it was thoroughly amusing, and maybe that's the whole point...
   
• derailer.org 5/12/01 
  Description: close the popups yer damn self
  Comments: I bumped into today's pick while checking out a preview of Remix v3.0 of LiminalResponse — interesting to watch the work in progress as LR undergoes a "facelift."  So — I thought the "Artwork" section of today's pick is rather interesting.  Several DHTML scrolling experiments plus several big, black and white designs are what grabbed me, but there's an assortment of other goodies in that section as well.  I also enjoyed the "Cover Archive" — more cool visuals.  The author has a certain sense of humor and attitude that shows through at times.  Like telling you to "close the popups yer damn self" or explaining that "disgruntled" cover — "I was pissed.  Mmm-kay?"  I like the grays-plus-red color combo — the site definitely has a unique "Ninja" flavor to it.  Wevah, who just happens to be in my neck of the woods for an event today, serves up an inspiring design style...
   
• pixelHugger 5/9/01 
  Description: pete's pixelated playground
  Comments: To add to my ever-growing list of picks with the word "pixel" in the site name or description, I'm going today with yet another site with a name that fits.  Pete knows pixels for sure and serves up fonts, icons, wallpapers and games for pixel lovers everywhere.  I love the look of the site and Pete's obvious love for the pixel.  You'll need the latest version of Shockwave for the games, but I've gotta tell you that his version of Space Invaders works really great — this review would have been up much sooner if it wasn't for all the fun I was having shooting down those pixelated enemies.  The site is pretty new, but Pete says "it's set to grow fast."  There's some stuff in development that you can look at, too, and he's even got a Shockwave application you can download that converts images to ascii art.  Pixels rock, and so does Pete!
   
• fragmente 5/7/01 
  Description: personal site: everything here is self taught.. web design for me came about from years of practice and failure. i would not call myself an artist but i do enjoy drawing and taking photographs.. if anyone else enjoys what i've done, thats good enough for me.
  Comments: "Everything here is self-taught" is what Dave Robertson says about his personal webspace.  I know exactly what he means when he says "web design for [him] came about from years of practice and failure."  I'm drawn to Dave's humble attitude about his work and skills — he loves his full-time gig as an interface designer/developer, but his personal site gives him a chance to shoot for what he calls "creative simplicity" — minimal navigation and experimentation with alternate ways of presenting content.  Well — the look and feel of today's pick is what attracted me to it.  Effectively using the chromeless window idea (ala microbians) to present a sampling of his web projects, drawings and photographs, Dave managed to accomplish the simplicity he was after — the horizontal scrolling is perfect for what he's presenting to us, and it even works well for the blog.  I love the background images and Dave's sense of color as well.  I should note that the chromeless windows are best viewed in Explorer — though it all does work in Netscape, the popups and the way the scrollbars look aren't quite as impressive.  Great work, Dave!
   
• IMPRESSION++ 5/4/01 
  Description: Using traditional drawing skill with Flash technology to compose his Faith in digital way.
  Comments: Billy Kwan's first site has been listed as a coolstop featured cool site since September, 1999.  It's really a masterpiece and I'm thinkin' that not including it with the best of the cool was a mistake on my part.  I can remember trying to decide back then.  My gut feeling now is that it was ahead of it's time and I just didn't realize it in '99.  That old version is still in place and I encourage you to check it out — there's a lot of information there, embedded in the works, that will fill you in on what makes Billy tick.  Today's pick is Billy's brand new version which resides on its own domain.  Picking this site today gives me a second chance to extend to Billy the respect he truly deserves.  I think Billy would tell you it's all a matter of faith.  Faith is the driving force behind this twenty-something's creative work and like his first version, this new one is also ahead of it's time.  Outstanding use of Flash and a unique collection of "cases" tell me that Billy Kwan IS the man — they also tell me that faith and devotion can drive one to heights that few people ever see.  In my mind, this site is one of a kind...
   
• The Young Designers League 5/3/01 
  Description: a project aimed at young designers. interviews, advice, competitions, and more.
  Comments: There's several types of sites that I always enjoy featuring as a daily pick, that is, of course, if they measure of up in terms of design, content, concept, etc.  First, I love it when I find a cool site that's brand spanking new and, second, it's a special joy for me when sites comes from young designers who show great talent and potential.  So, I guess today is my lucky day (and yours, hopefully).  Issue one hit the web on May 1st and this site is not only made by young designers — it's made for them as well.  This first issue hit the ground running, offering "advice" in the form of an interview of well known, veteran designer Mike Cina.  There's also the "feature" for this issue which contains splashs from two young designers along with interviews of each. The first featured young designer is someone we know — a 17 year old from Miami who calls himself Skizz — his site was a daily pick right here last June.  Though I don't know the second featured designer, Trent, you can bet I'll be looking at his site soon — he's only 11 years old and here he is being interviewed in the first issue of this cool site by young designers for young designers.  You've got to admit that this is exciting stuff, and when the young designers start submitting their pieces for the "competition", it's gonna get real good.  Kudos and respect to Justin and Antti for this great new project!
   
• dreamshocker 5/2/01 
  Description: cool images, cool sounds, cool guestbook, welcome to my dream =)
  Comments: My word!  Roy used the word "cool" three times in the description he submitted for his site which I've got to admit made me a little skeptical at first.  "How cool can it be?" I thought to myself, "I've got to see this!"  The first thing I encountered was a choice of which server location I'd like to use so I can get optimum loading time.  "Nice" I say, "Roy wants the user to get a good experience."  So I choose the appropriate location and the next thing I see is page with tasty graphics that offers me a choice between Flash or HTML.  I'm beginning to like Roy, especially because sometimes I'm just not in the mood for Flash.  Besides, the big company that's making broadband available in my area is dragging its big posterior and I'm still stuck with a 56k dial up.  The next page I get has a super tasty background graphic on it and the mood is just right.  The content is a little light at the moment — there's several things marked as "in progress" or "working on it" — but there are some pretty cool things, including samples of his web work and wallpapers.  I'm starting to accept Roy's repeated use of the word.  I like his enthusiam for design and his site is a clear indication that he's pretty good at it.  So — I picked this one without even exploring the Flash version and I even passed on checking out his "cool guestbook" because it's Flash only.  I'm thinking I'll be back there soon enough to see more, but for now, I can safely say this is a site worth watching — it's gonna get better and better...