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Sunday, October 31, 2010
Savanah Loftus Photography
Website builder Wix was put to good use in the creation of this sleek, professional photography website. Check out stunning photo galleries and easy site navigation.
This photographer designed a simple homepage for her photography website with a large slide-show positioned front and center, making a huge impact on site visitors. Using the photo gallery tool inside the website builder, Loftus crafted a powerful visual element that traps the eye of visitors in an organic way. She set her gallery so that each photograph is shown for a few seconds before sliding over to reveal the next. The smooth transition between photos contributes to the level of visual attraction. Presented against a clean, white background, Loftus’ photo gallery competes with nothing, standing out as the key focal element on this page - an effective introduction to a professional photography website.
The site architecture is highly intuitive, allowing visitors to freely explore the site with the main navigation bar in view the whole time. Below the central photo gallery are a set of links connecting to the site’s inner pages. There is a music player widget with a highly visible ON/OFF switch, giving visitors control over their audio experience.
Highly organized photo galleries are presented with clear menu buttons and thumbnail images, giving the visitor a comfortable browsing experience. The About and Connect pages are similarly organized, with neat packets of text and plenty of breathable white space between page elements. Loftus’ use of the website builder produced a professional, personal and impressive photography website.
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
The Pulsera Project
With the website builder by Wix, this non-profit organization was able to create a stunning, colorful and inspiring website to promote its cause.
The moment you land inside The Pulsera Project website it’s clear something magical is going on. The non-profit organization buys bracelets or “pulseras” hand-crafted by Nicaraguan children and artisan families and sells them to U.S. schools. Using the tools of the website builder, the organization designed a powerful Flash website that promotes its cause brilliantly.
A celebration of color, the site includes eye-catching logo design, textured and image-filled backgrounds, and even stylized social media icons with a child-like feel. The eye-catching logo and ornate photos of the bracelets and patterns make the site design a celebration of color. The spirit of inspiration and positivity is embodied within these page elements, and the clarity of The Pulsera Project’s message.
Menu buttons with roll-over effects bring up drop-down menus, letting site visitors freely explore the various aspects of this wonderful organization. A 10-minute YouTube video shows the Pulsera Project story, uploaded with the website builder. Gorgeous photographs of intricately woven bracelets with a rainbow of colors are pleasing to the eye and effective selling points.
To bring the Pulsera Project to your school, check out the Contact page for all the information you’d need as well as links to the organization’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Addicted2art
Free website design never looked so good. Sultry tunes and sleek photo galleries present Addicted2art as a place of solace for budding Montreal artists.
The mood that exists inside this free website is full of intrigue; it’s clear that an artist’s hand went into its creation. Ambient, electronic music flows from a music player widget on the lower left-corner, setting a tone of progressive relaxation. A black and white color scheme with red accents draws a sharp focus to on-page elements. Professional design work was uploaded through the Wix platform, making each page of this site a gorgeous presentation of authentic artwork. You can almost feel the blood, sweat and tears that went into the making of this free website.
In addition to its visual appeal, the Addicted2art site is extremely user-friendly. The link navigation is set up to provide a comfortable visitor experience, with simple, text-only buttons arranged in the top menu bar linking to the site’s inner pages. The art galleries also have superior page navigation. Arrows, buttons and scroll bars make browsing a breeze. Book-style pages are turned with just a click on their corners, simulating the effect of flipping through a catalogue or art magazine. Drop a comment with your review of this Flash website or send a message directly to the free website owners through a contact form widget.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A Normal Day
With the website builder by Wix, these producers made a unique site to host their videos. Click on flag icons for the German or English version of “A Normal Day”.
Flash animation makes an memorable first impression as one enters A Normal Day’s website. Floating clip art zooms into focus, and a glittery Enter sign points visitors to the main site’s window. A Facebook Like widget at the top of the page adds a nice promotional touch.
Once inside, a billboard-style menu bar is found on the lower left corner, where the site’s navigational elements sit. Clicking the various links causes the static site content to shift, while the entire menu bar remains in place creating a nice separation between static and dynamic content. 3D-style country flag icons are linked to mirror versions of the site available in both German and English. These flashy details are found in the Clip Art section of the Wix website builder.
Videos embedded directly onto this Flash website allow A Normal Day to present its work in one convenient place, and a Comments Form enables user-feedback to be quickly collected. A slider photo gallery with rollover animation shows the guys at work. A film-style skin was chosen as a fitting frame for the gallery itself.
Fans in search of more content can link to A Normal Day’s Facebook and YouTube page, while links to an online shop allows visitors to purchase A Normal Day gear. The level of customization on this site makes it a powerful representation of what’s possible with the website builder.
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Monday, October 25, 2010
The Cake Mamas
To make a website as delicious as their confectionery creations, the Cake Mamas used Wix. Fill a custom-order form for a treat at your next celebratory event.
Sweet decorations like colorful clip art, heart-shaped icons and flirty fonts were creatively combined using the free website builder, to make a website as yummy as its sugar-filled treats. Background designs with striped, floral and lace-like patterns give the site a whimsical feel, with soft, pastel colors that don’t distract the eye away from main page elements. Dark colors were chosen for the textual content, making it extremely readable.
Savvy business owners, the Cake Mamas smartly included their physical location in the site’s title settings, which appears in the browser window when inside their website. Wix makes it easy to add this information to any Flash website, making it easy for search engines and customers to find local businesses. The Cake Mamas’ phone number is found by clicking the Contact Us link which opens a neat mini-page with all the information you need to place an order or get in touch. A Contact Form was customized with a blue fill to match the site’s sugary aesthetic.
The cherry on top of this beautiful website rests in its galleries. Visitors can navigate through stunning photo galleries filled with ornately decorated cake creations. Above each gallery rests a link to the customized order form - a smart and practical design decision when seeking to make a website act as a virtual storefront.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010
SeptDesign
This graphic artist used Wix to make a website that visitors can navigate with ease. Scroll down to reveal image galleries, the artist’s bio and widgets.
The unique layout of this website makes it both visually attractive, and user-friendly. It consists of one main web page that scrolls down to reveal four main sections. By deciding to make a website that is essentially one long page, the designer provides a comfortable visitor experience, with the simplest form of navigation possible - scrolling.
The top frame introduces visitors to the SeptDesign site with an eye-catching slide-show hosting a series of images containing thought-provoking expressions. The images alternate every few seconds, while navigation arrows allow the visitor control over the viewing experience.
Beneath the slide-show sits a static, matrix-style gallery of Sept-Design’s artwork. Clicking an image brings up an enlarged version along with a title and description blurb. Directly below this lies the third and text-based section of the site, in the form of an artist’s bio. English and Russian versions of the text are placed side by side, enabling the artist to speak directly to all potential clients from one convenient location.
The fourth and last panel contains two widgets that allow the site visitor to interact directly with the site design; a Comments Form is a space for people to leave public messages, and a Contact Form lets you leave a private message sent directly to the designer’s e-mail. Interactive widgets like these make a website visitor feel more connected to the site itself. Below are links to Sept-Design on Facebook, Twitter and Behance, a social network for creative professionals.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
Hippie Shop
Free website elements like a shower of sunflowers bursts from the logo of Hippie Shop’s site. Explore other rollover effects as you visit this online shop. Peace out, man.
“Give Peace a Chance” plays from a music player widget on the bottom right hand corner of the Hippie Shop website, sending good vibes to visitors the moment they land on it. The site definitely has a far-out appeal as it took advantage of free website elements like animation and Flash effects.
Shining stars above the store logo catch the eye, and rolling one’s mouse over the logo itself causes an explosion of sunflowers to flow. Rollover effects were assigned to the clip art on the upper right corner, which glow with blue haze. A soda can icon glows in pink when rolled over, and links to Facebook when clicked.
The “About Us” page features a simple paragraph of text with a translucent background, letting the photo of surfing equipment show through. A snapshot of the store’s founder sends a personal message to site visitors.
Handmade merchandise can be browsed through and purchased online with a shopping cart widget. Those who want to visit the Hippie Shop’s physical store for the full experience of free love and happiness can pinpoint its location with a Google Map widget embedded on the Contact page.
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Joanne Tolner Photography
The website builder of this fabulous photographer website placed an emphasis on photo galleries and minimal web design to appeal to her portfolio visitors.
The photography portfolio of Joanne Tolner was made with the website builder to present the artist’s work. The homepage takes a minimalist approach to web design, with a single photograph set as the inner page background. Black space makes up the upper and lower panels of the page, which make up the site’s static content. The logo, link menu and copyright are contained within these immobile panels, while the inner content changes as one moves inside the site.
Tolner’s Portfolio page includes a series of five galleries arranged by subject. The galleries can be entered by clicking on the album covers, or a set of links acting as a gallery menu. Individual galleries can be browsed with thumbnail galleries to the right of the main gallery window. Design details like the sleek, rounded skins of the thumbnail images were customized using features found in the website builder.
Visitors are invited to engage with Tolner’s site by leaving messages via a comments form and a contact form found on the Contact page. Along with her phone number, the photographer linked her e-mail address to make it easy for interested visitors to get in touch. She also included links to her Facebook, blog and free website Eyeheartphotos, which offers photography courses.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wei Hsu | Product Design
This sleek Flash website is the perfect medium to showcase the talent of product designer Wei Hsu. Explore accordion-style galleries with smooth rollover effects.
Impressive Flash web elements make this site a superb representation of Wei Hsu’s talent and professional experience.
As a product designer, Wei knew the importance in creating a sleek and user-friendly website to demonstrate his skills to potential clients. The simple color scheme of black with green and gray accents suits the hi-tech product types on which Wei focuses.
Accordion-style galleries make a powerful first impression on site visitors. Rollover effects cause the galleries to slide over each other, allowing the user to interact with the website’s design.
Wei’s logo on the top left adds a powerful branding effect, while linking users back to the homepage. The simple link structure of this Flash website makes it a breeze to navigate, and promote’s Wei’s ability to interpret the user-experience. His full resume can be viewed directly inside the site or through the download links above the main menu. A simple contact form widget was planted on the last page, linking site visitors directly to the website builder’s e-mail.
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Monday, October 18, 2010
Reckless Place
This hardcore rock band used Wix to make a website just the way they want it. Check out their grunge-style images, icons and text and sample their latest album.
Reckless Place smartly used their website to make a statement about their music and artistic vision. Using customized web design, the band created something that looks and feels like a natural extension of their music.
Photos of the band were set as page background, and were assigned effects that make them appear old and stained. Grunge-style icon links to Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter connect fans to the band’s social media sites. A Facebook Like button lets visitors show their solidarity with the band, without having to leave the website.
Album art sits behind 3D-style Play buttons, letting users click to hear a sample of the band’s raw sound. An Amazon MP3 playlist was embedded using an HTML widget, where visitors can navigate through the band’s debut album. Links to Amazon, iTunes and CDBaby make purchasing easy through a fan’s preferred channel.
Live Twitter feed features updates and announcements, and a contact form widget provides a quick way for visitors to send messages to the band directly. For a group of head-banging rock n’ roll musicians, Reckless Place knew how to make a website that gets their sound heard.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
Dear & Loved | Jewelry and Design
Dear & Love used website builder Wix to create a customized online store. Browse through edgy jewelry designs, donate to their charity and check out live Twitter feed.
When these jewelry designers used the website builder they left no stone unturned in order to promote their unique and edgy designs. They chose a black background for their site, causing the eye to focus on the shimmer of the jewelry, and the bold, pop-style clip art. A slideshow gallery displays alternating pieces within the Dear & Loved collection, showcasing new items and introducing the Dear & Loved style right away.
The Dear & Loved site consists of 12 inner pages, which are accessed through a clear row of links across the top of the site’s static content. As users click on the different pages, the menu bar remains in place while the inner content shifts, allowing for a comfortable viewing experience. The store’s logo also remains seen throughout one’s visit to the site. An additional menu bar is located toward the bottom of the site, as an extra user-friendly element.
The entire Dear & Loved collection can be freely browsed by clicking on the corresponding link, and using a matrix-style thumbnail gallery to navigate the large gallery window. When ready, customers can head over the Store page, consisting of a product gallery, displaying each item’s price and title. A shopping cart widget and checkout button position this site function as a viable online shop.
A dynamic assortment of items and widgets were added through the website builder to enhance the site’s functionality and visual appeal. These include a Facebook Like button, live Twitter feed, links to the store’s charity and private blog.
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
Lani Blue Stationery
This stunning stationery site takes advantage of free website elements found at Wix. Explore this dazzling website and for a glimpse at subtle Flash effects.
Lani Blue Stationery used the free website builder to design an exquisite online shop where visitors can browse through stationery designs, fill out orders and get in touch easily. The calming color scheme presents a tasteful and elegant look, with a pale pattern set as the site’s background.
One’s eye is drawn immediately to a photo gallery on the homepage, arranged in a matrix-style format with space separating the photos creating a pleasing, airy effect. Flash emitters sparkle around the images creating a glittery and highly attractive visual effect. Acoustic music flows from a music player embedded on the lower left corner, which can be turned off easily in just a click, should a user wish to browse the site music-free.
One can breeze through this site with ease, using the top menu buttons. The inner pages are filled with photo galleries containing crystal clear images of stationery that become enlarged when clicked. A video playlist on the How To page provides for a comfortable viewing experience, with colorful menu buttons stacked alongside the video player.
The creators of this beautiful Flash website made it easy for customers to get in touch, by linking their e-mail address located at the bottom of each page, directly to a contact form. This form can also be accessed via the Contact page. Buttons and icons linking to Facebook and etsy are also helpful. Scrollable text on the FAQ page answers all users’ questions and round out the user-friendliness of this fabulous stationery website.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Isaiah Frazier Designs
Website builder and graphic designer Isaiah Frazier made a fresh, modern site for his professional portfolio. Sample his creativity with a visit to this inviting website.
This graphic designer used website builder Wix to promote himself as a creative and experienced professional web and graphic designer. Frazier’s branding expertise is displayed by the web design of his own website. By customizing the font of the buttons, headers and on-page text, Frazier’s words seem to have their own distinct voice that presents the designer as a passionate and focused designer with an appreciation of typography and web design.
Other elements that contribute to the site’s branding are found in the colors and the clip art. Bold red hearts are a theme throughout this site, as a creative expression of Frazier’s love of design. Samples of client work are included in sleek, accordion-style photo galleries. Visitors can hire Frazier for a variety of design-related projects by clicking on the Hire Me page, and entering a contact form. This digital portfolio is an inspiring representation of how Wix’ website builder can be effectively used to express one’s talent as a creative professional.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Emma Block | Illustration
Emma Block cut, pasted and arranged the design elements offered by Wix to create a website in her sweet and delicate style. Take a peek at her work and get in touch.
This illustrator used Wix to create a website that embodies her artistic style. She chose a white background, leaving plenty of space between the simple menu buttons and the web design on each page, creating a light and delicate feel quite similar to the pieces featured in her own artwork. Visitors are invited to read a brief bio on Block’s about page, and connect to her blog, Twitter, Flickr account and Etsy shop. The typography found both on the buttons and page content further contributes to the dainty minimalist feeling evoked by Block’s artwork.
On her Wix site, Block’s illustrations, collages and paintings are presented in neatly arranged photo galleries. Hovering one’s mouse over each piece causes a brief textual description of that piece to appear. A simple contact form sits next to a watercolor portrait, allowing visitors to send a message to the artist while enjoying the beauty of her work, adding a personal element to this functional feature. Block successfully used Wix to create a website that is itself a lovely artistic creation.
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Monday, October 11, 2010
Reservoir Studios | Web Design
The Wix free website builder helped build this dynamic, pop-inspired website. Check out photo galleries, a video playlist, rollover effects and widgets in this fun Flash website.
Reservoir Studios is the brainchild of freelance designer and creative thinker Sabrina Salazar. Using the tools provided by free website builder Wix, Salazar built a customized Flash website to advertise her talents as a designer and to engage with clients. The site has a bright, pop-style feel to it with a hot pink and blue color scheme. Lively jazz plays from a music player on the top right corner offering visitors an all-encompassing viewing experience.
The homepage features a design resembling the Periodic Table of Elements that represents the artist’s “chemistry of creative thinking” tagline, written below the Reservoir Studios logo. Salazar uploaded her resume onto the website in the form of a pdf file, and talent speaks for itself in beautifully presented photo galleries and a video playlist showing multimedia works. Scrolling further down the page exposes the visitor to the site’s “Extras”, or an additional set of mini pages featuring news, a comment form and a links page. This digital portfolio bursts with creativity, and powerfully demonstrates the freedom of expression made possible with the free website builder.
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Sunday, October 10, 2010
Barber 2 Barber
These barbers used Wix to make a website to teach everything there is to know about cutting and styling hair. Watch a video tutorial and sign up for their newsletter.
This innovative group of barbers know the advantages of building a strong online presence. They did so by creating a multimedia website that includes Google map directions to an offline barber shop located in Lancashire, England.
The website’s black background illuminates the Barber2Barber logo featured on the upper left corner. The logo glows with sparkling Flash effects, a great way to make a website that captures the attention of site visitors the moment they arrive. The black color scheme with blue and white text create a modern, masculine look that suits the site’s purpose. A series of menu buttons connect visitors to various inner pages, where they can watch a YouTube video tutorial of a haircut, browse through photos and even read tips and tricks not only how to cut hair, but how to run a successful barber shop. There’s a link to an external site where the full video tutorial set can be purchased. HTML widgets including a forum, a newsletter sign-up form and Google AdSense complete the package, great tools to make a website have an enhanced level of functionality.
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Thursday, October 7, 2010
Supervivencia
Wix was used to make a website for this website and graphic designer. Cute animation, fun clip art and smooth transition effects produce a fun and dynamic web design.
These web designers knew how to make a website that would skyrocket their success. A bright blue background sets a cheery tone and complements the yellow, white and blue color scheme of the site’s inner pages. A graph paper background was chosen for the site’s inner frame, with a pattern that presents an interesting visual effect without causing too much distraction. Simple site architecture was set up with a set of text links on the left that link to inner pages, where visitors can view samples of Supervivencia’s work, clients and contact information.
Carefully chosen animation files were planted sporadically throughout this website, expressing the creative energy that this design team offers to its clients. A snail travels at a controlled pace on the homepage, while a rocketship blasts off into space leaving behind a trail of energy on the Nosotros page. The smooth page transitions provide a sleek, finished look, allowing visitors to effortlessly breeze throughout the site without waiting for pages to load. Widgets like a music player and a contact form were added to make a website with extra levels of interactivity.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Paul Bacon | Sculpture Artist
Sculptor Paul Bacon used Wix to make a free website for his art portfolio. He built his site to match the dark aesthetic of his artwork with customized web design.
Paul Bacon’s portfolio made with Wix is a sensational example of how powerful the website builder can be as a creative tool for artists to promote themselves on the web. Bacon matched the aesthetic of his website perfectly with his own artwork, creating a well-branded depiction of his artistic vision. Working mostly with steel, Bacon crafted a textured background for his free website that connotes the manipulation of materials and produces an illusion of depth. The colors chosen are earthy, raw and organic and fit in exquisitely with Bacon’s oeuvre.
Keenly aware of his visitors’ experience, Bacon made his free website extremely user-friendly and comfortable to navigate. His collection is controlled with yellow page arrows found to the left of the central gallery. As one scrolls through the slideshow, each sculpture is accompanied by basic label information similar to what one would find in a physical art gallery. Simple, readable text indicates each sculpture’s name, dimensions, price and material. Bacon chose to include a music player in his website, placed toward the bottom left of the main page. He smartly set the default as off so as not to bombard visitors the moment they enter his portfolio. To activate the music, one simply clicks the play button on the music player, and enjoys a stream of lively, invigorating sounds that enhance the viewing experience. Links to Bacon’s gallery, e-mail and a chance to leave a comment complete one’s visit to this beautiful and thoughtfully designed free website.
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Thingys Shop | Happiness in Nonsense
This jewelry designer created a free website to function as an online shop. Check out neatly organized galleries of funky charm necklaces, and fill out a simple order form.
This free website promotes the cute and quirky, while remaining user-friendly, organized and professional. The Thingys Shop homepage features a clean white background spattered with bold, graphic clip art and bright, playful images. A smiling girl in a yellow t-shirt, pink floating hearts and an image of a pizza charm all provide visual cues that brand the Thingys Shop image.
The products featured on this site are hand-made pieces of jewelry, divided by collection. A set of links connect to each collection, in a catalogue-like format. Visitors can enter a specific collection by clicking on the title links, and browse through pieces using neatly arranged thumbnail images. Clicking on each thumbnail image causes an enlarged version of the image to appear in the photo gallery on the right, under which the title and price of that particular piece is displayed. Darth Vader gets a whole new look with each piece featured in the Style Wars gallery. An order form and clear instructions let visitors fill out purchase requests that go directly to the builder of this whimsical and creative free Flash website.
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Monday, October 4, 2010
Katrina Gelino | Design Portfolio
Website builder Wix was used to create this dreamy designer portfolio. Watch a Flash slideshow of artwork and link to the artist’s Twitter, Etsy, resume and e-mail.
Graphic designer and creative talent Katrina Gelino used Wix’ website builder to craft a portfolio website as unique as her own artwork. The sage green background provides a gentle background to the site’s inner frame, composed of a custom-designed graphic work. Dreamy chill-out music plays from a music player widget, with an adjustable on/off switch located beneath a photo gallery. This effect sets the tone for Gelino’s website, creating an atmosphere of lightness and effortless modernity. The gallery features alternating images of Gelino’s work, which expand when clicked on to offer visitors a closer look. As each image transitions into the next, a brisk sense of movement is injected into the site, adding to the site’s playful aesthetic.
The site is simplistic in its architecture, consisting of one main page. A basic link menu connects users to the designer’s e-mail address via a contact form widget, as well as her Twitter account, Etsy store and downloadable resume file. Gelino’s Wix site essentially serves as a hub for her entire online presence, presenting clients with a convenient and impressive format in which to access her body of work, get updated on current projects and contact the designer directly. This site is representative of how the website builder allows one’s inner creativity to flourish, within a professional and high-quality format.
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Sunday, October 3, 2010
Journal of a Troubled Teen
This free website doubles as an online journal. Learn about this teen’s life as a high school student – if you can relate to her daily struggles, click the Facebook Like button!
Claudia Chao used Wix to design her very own free website that doubles as an online journal. The homepage provides a warm welcome to those interested in learning more about this introspective teen, with a few snapshots of the author and some customized design elements. A series of links to the site’s inner pages are presented toward the top, allowing readers to read a quick bio, and Chao’s personal writing. The three “Journal” pages contain book-style mini pages, simulating the page-turning property of a real, physical journal. Clicking on a corner of a journal turns the page in a sleek and controlled Flash movement. Chao planted text, quotes, snapshots and even video inside these journal mini-pages, providing a multi-media look inside her world. More pictures are found stacked inside automated photo galleries on the Photos page, with accompanying scrollable text. A Facebook Like button was embedded on the top of this free website, enabling friends and admirers of Chao to show their support. There’s even a visitor tracker widget to the right of the Facebook Like button, adding a professional dimension to this creative personal website.
