Digital Gurus

This is something a little different that I'm displaying, mostly because I rarely consider flash sites to be well-designed other than being attractive and engaging. However, this site is one of those exceptions where the usage of flash is limited to what it needs to do, and doesn't exceed in presentation which would otherwise be awkward. Brilliant electric background and a simple fade in effect makes this site a designer's elegant dreamsite. The site is made by digital gurus, a sort of talent agency for anyone working in digital mediums.

For those of us not familiar with the problems arising from flash, let me go over a few. First, the size of the site is enormous, usually requiring a buffer to load the site. Digital Gurus has countered this with an intelligent system of loading the navigation before the content, so that each page can still be accessed even before the unnecessary animations start up. Second, flash sites are a single page, which means linking is always awkward, and selecting text is often impossible. Well, that's sadly something Digital Gurus was unable to fix. Not to say, however, that it's impossible, as I recall an old version of the Absolut Vodka site was designed with such capability. So they get 2 out of 3 for breaking the mould in flash, as their site DOES in fact have different pages. Well designed sirs and madams.

Next, looking at their actual layout, they have a topbar and secondary sidebar system, now universal to all Web 2.0, and a subtle deliverence of marketing throughout the page. Their in-flash scrollbar is a little unwieldy, something any decent designer struggles with, but their choice of sans-serif and serif fonts mingle in a near decorative manner, juxtaposed just right to accent the heading over all else. And as for their background, a photoshop lighting trick which is considered the draw of designers everywhere when it comes to photo editing. They're not original, but they are fantastic.