Apparently there's stuff like CSS DESIGN AWARDS. I wasn't keen enough to read through how this award works or how legitimate it is... I never really read the details of it and I still don't really care. What's super cool is that they do list up their winners, honourable mentions, and (my favourite and only section I know of) their chosen WEBSITE OF THE DAY, adequately abbreviated to WOTD. Grool.
And then through WOTD, I stumbled upon this website: MARTINA SPERL. Combined with beautiful photography, html5, long scrolling, German words that I do not understand (#ForeignContentIsAlwaysSexy rule applies here), and--most impressively--video integration, Martina Sperl does more than just showcase her furniture.
The online design competition to gain respect and to never fall behind the latest web design trends is on its edge right now. I don't think we have had a demographic like the one that exists today; a viewership that sincerely cares about and notices a company and/or designer's web designs. The online "eye-shoppers" have become the critics, the judgmental verdict-givers, the brand ambassadors, and the shit-talkers. Note how I labelled them the "eye-shoppers" as they may totally be just internet passerby's and have absolutely no connection to the site's subject; in this case, shopping for boutique, indie furniture. This kind of people includes me! I have visited, gotten awed, and felt compelled to discuss more.
The brilliant perks of this site essentially boils down to the video integration and the personable aspect of it. By including the designer in every large section of the content, the viewers are exposed to the human-touch--the handmade-ness--which adds a feeling of notable specialized touch to each product. Once I heard from a boutique furniture designer and company owner that the sales drive the company's continuation, however it is more about the process and each creation's existence that matters to him more. The appreciation he gains from the people who have seen, commented, experienced his couches is the fuel to his work. This process of making such individualistic creations is intricately portrayed in details through short videos and photos that create a story until the very tail end of the scroll down the site. You're hooked! So what are her products like? Well, then, you are led to her SHOP. Check out those chairs!!! Subsequent to your semi-brainwashed state of appreciating Ms Sperl's undertaking, you are mitigated to having fond sentiments to her chairs. They aren't bad at all either. I wish I had a few in my house, hehe.
Anyways, all in all, we see so many pretty sites now that we are really spoiled as viewers of masterfully planned content. It is only until we face the developmental stages ourselves that we realize the time, effort, and talent that went into such outcomes. We are exposed to infinite number of excellent reads, images, variations, you-name-it! On so many portals! Magazines, online publications, social networks!!! What's the future then? UX/UI & aesthetic designs of the sites for upper-handed differentiation? Maybe. Maybe so. Like this one. Like Martina Sperl, no matter if it is furniture design or pure content writing.
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Less words, more images... Created for lazy visual viewers like (me and) you!
