site exploration...HIllman Curtis

Since we have been reading the Hillman Curtis book, when I saw his name on the list of websites I decided it check it out. At first I was not all that impressed with what came up; I wasn’t quite sure were to start. He positioned his work at the very top of the page, which I basically jut looked over; I looked under the picture first. Once I found where his projects worked, everything become a lot more uniform and I was easily able to find what I wanted to see. I was actually much further impressed with the sites he had created for although companies more than the site that he designed for himself. This struck me as odd. I would figure someone would want to make a good FIRST impression. For me I was put off by the first impression and I had to actually look through the site to be attracted to the designer.

In his book he seemed like he would have very edging and eye-catching designs, yet it is actually pretty dull. The background is gray/blue and the heart in his logo (the human heart that is) seems depressing. I understand that he is expressing himself someway through this design, but it is for his business. Many companies would pick and artist that seems eager and excited not depressed when it comes to their work. In terms of the usability design, like I mentioned earlier, I was kind of lost when I first got to the page, but other than that, he has nice roll highlighting rollovers at the top of the page. For his work, I think I would have liked it a little better if a viewer rolled over the image, the title, or the description that it would highlight (instead of just the title).

I hate to say it but the bottom line is, this site didn’t meet my expectations. Maybe if it was an artist I had known nothing about before hand I could have like the site. But I was impressed with the book so I thought I would like the site too. Actually come to think of it, his site defiantly seems to match the cover of his book. That is interesting, actually funny. He uses photos on the index page of the site as well with the slightest amount of movement (this I did like). This is just one of those sights that will get may different opinions in response.