Axioms of Web Design

I am a little embarrassed to admit how many times I have opened IUQO's landing page just to sit and watch the clouds go by. Flash properties drive this portfolio-based site and it is pretty awesome.

I didn't have much of an idea for which site I wanted to use, so I did a Google search for "beautiful
websites," and I found HubSpots Blogs' "10 Award-Winning Websites With Kick-Ass Designs" By Matthew Bushery. 

The site looks very simple, which the author said is deceiving. When you click on the Our Work icon, the viewer can interact with the different visual projects the company has created. 

The About Us section said: 

"IUQO is a unique and unusual organism. A multidisciplinary group of creatives and technologists, working collaboratively to create amazing interactive experiences across all devices and platforms."

When the viewer clicks through the site, or uses the a hand icon to slide the screen between different projects, little shape icons on the page move like mini gears.  The text also changes size and location between the projects. 

I tried to pick out a grid system within the deign elements, but I concluded that the designers decided to eschew the traditional ways of designing within a grid. None of the elements really line up, but I think it works. I would say there is more of a Fibonacci Sequence element going on with the design components.

The "call to action" on the landing page is in the lower center section in the two choices the user has with the About Us icon and the Our Work icon. There is a more subtle call to action in the lower left corner, with the contact information for the agency. 

The different layers of the portfolio seem to follow a flow of the main image and the title of the project. The title is a link that leads to the description of the project. From the description, there is a Case Study icon that leads to a YouTube video about the project.  The menu of projects continues to stay on the upper right side.

The site is intuitive in there are very few options for the viewer to go into, but there are a couple of different ways to navigate the information. There is the standard click -on-the-information, or the screen can be grabbed and moved to go to the next project. I personally think the sliding option is a cool idea, but it is difficult to get it to work sometimes. 

Affordance, or the experience, is the best part of this website. As mentioned in the introduction, the landing page is beautiful and I enjoy watching it. Honestly, I thought the projects would be just as cool, but I was not as impressed.

The best example of contrast I can see on IUQO's site is the different sizes of the interactive elements. The name of the projects are in a huge, serif font, while the menu is in a tiny sans serif font. I really, really like the triangle /line/ logo design that is on the top center of the page.

I have looked at this site on my iPad and on my iMac. Oddly enough, I found it easier to navigate on the iPad. The page also loaded faster on the tablet.