http://ftdesigner.net/

This is a site that I love for its visual design but hate for its strange decisions about navigation. Everything is on one page. This makes it extremely difficult to use the URL of the site to link to specific information, as a user who wants to link to say, the illustration section, has to give out his main url and instruct the recipient to scroll or navigate down. This is really the only major issue I have with this site, but unfortunately, it is a large one. Despite this navigation style, the sections are separated well by whitespace and an interesting design style which makes use of { brackets to join together related content. This typography focus and elegant grouping creates the impression that the site owner is an effective graphic designer as well as web designer.

Visually, however, this site is very effective. It is made extremely clear what the owner of the site does, thanks to a handy blurb fore grounded at the top of the page. However it is somewhat unclear what the mysterious ‘ft’ stands for, as the ‘ft’ image on the top left links to the contact section. This is a somewhat odd decision but it does not at all diminish the impact of the site. The use of a dark background with bright colours on emphasised text draws the user’s attention to the right areas, and the use of paper textures and engaging typography creates a look and feel that screams ‘graphic designer.’

The designer’s work is also front and centre, with a display of works on rotation as high as possible, right under his blurb. The user can click this showcase to move to the next image, which is quite effective. An option to go to the portfolio section of the site and view each image at full size would have been a nice addition, however.

This website is a portfolio and has no blog, so up to date content is not as large of an issue as it could be. However, some of the portfolio works are dated, giving the impression of frequent updates.

As an aside, I love the creative design this designer has used for his email form. It’s a postcard! This is an obvious choice but one I’ve never seen before, and it works extremely well, extending the post metaphor of email while being somewhat playful and cheeky.