A Fresh Look
March 12, 2009 - By Bobby Solomon - Category: Design & Kitsune Noir & Redesign
Last night I decided to give the site some minor tweaks, just to freshen things up. I wanted to keep things similar to what I already had, but still make things feel new. I decided to take some inspiration from the two magazine covers above, both are from last month. After I finished some things last night I kept thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Watchmen flavored”, but that’s not where the inspiration came from.
The title is set in Helvetica Ultra Condensed Bold, which gives it sort of a Metropolis magazine or Metal Gear Solid feel. The background was inspired by my Postalco notebook and it’s perfect little grid paper. The second image is from the book Japan Style, which inspired the background of the header as well as trying to clean up the design overall as well.
The last piece was installing Firebug, which allowed me to find and tweaked the code. I’ve known about Firebug for about six months now, but hadn’t used it until now. It seriously was my saving grace last night.
I hope everyone enjoys the subtle shift. I’ll be adding and tweaking to the design over the next week. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!
Bobby
Comments
If you've got something to say, keep it positive.super, super nice!
Nice font choice. My portfolio uses it. I like to call it the “star trek” type, only because all the fancy digital screens they have use it. Just try writing something silly like USS ENTERPRISE in it and you’ll know what I’m getting at.
Anyway, that’s my nerd moment du jour.
Very nice. I like the yellow “sticker” in the upper right hand corner. Great color scheme. Happy, yet dignified.
My crush on the site grows!
really love it…and i like the inspiration pieces, too. well done!
It looks really great!
Secretly I sometimes wish for a kitsune noir to make an appearance on your layout…
Nice little touches. The Wired cover really shocked me when I saw it, I didn’t think a magazine could ever be so 2d and stick out so well.
Maybe with the little grid in the background, you could make the white box (where the content is) align with the grid on the left side of the page. It’s just cutting off some of the boxes and that throws me off a bit. But beauty otherwise! It’s too bad that we rss readers can’t see these nice designs all the time.
Love the refreshed design! Well done.
Looks great, Bobby!
Really nice work Bobby! Your new banner is fantastic! I’ll be glad when you put a new background on the About, Contact, Advertise, etc. buttons – the washed out matte board look has been irking me since you had programming troubles a couple of months ago… Again, very nice!
I am surprised and delighted, I just love it!
awesome
Nice changes! It doesn’t change too radically yet does enough to be an effective upgrade. Great job!
Nice work Bobby! Will the favicon get a makeover as well, now that yellow has replaced purple? :)
Wow!! Looks great! Really like the yellow badge.
Also just so you know, there’s a floating “login” link in the right sidebar you might not want there :)
I would miss your spinning noggin if it weren’t for that smart new foto in the hot yellow circle.
Dig it all!
Love the new look!
love the new look!
Like it, too :)
Keep the good work coming!
diiiig the new look, bobby. you’ve been one of my dailies for a while and will continue to be.
oh man i missed out for a bit reading KN through google reader.. it looks great!
love the use of yellow with mostly greyscale. looks hot!