On Gummsig

Sorry for the delay in posting, better late than never. The site I'm featuring today is actually a site owned by a repeatedly accomplished webdesigner "gummisig" Guðmundur Bjarni Sigurðsson, whose works include the site for Ikea, Ingvar Helgason, and El Mundo. All of these sites have success, not only in hits and an attractive layout, but also within the coding itself. Look at his validation page, a full parsing which reveals the nature of every error imaginable. His sites have won awards, and is associated with AIGA, WSG, and e-Commerce.

Sadly, with all his background, I must criticize his lack of change. His color schemes and stark designs, while very much a product of Icelandic influence, no doubt, remain a product of the web 2.0 phenomenon. No efforts are made to break the mold, nothing is done out of the ordinary. But perhaps that is his strong point, he resonates with an older era of design, while updating the capablities of everything running in the background. He has updated with networking options and a full color background, as well as updates to his rss on the bottom of the page. But the site screams default for those of us who work in the industry. It would be interesting, however, to hear if you think the same. You can always comment to my twitter account.