Fubiz.com

Hello Readers,

Today I will be talking about Fubiz, which is essentially a site about the graphic world along with the urban culture. It's based on daily inspiration and pieces of work. When covering the graphic world Fubiz talks about graphic design, motion, advertising, photography and music. In a sense it’s somewhat like a design blog about design but more professional.

On the homepage of Fubiz you'll find the logo on the top left corner and an advertisement to the right of it. Under them lies the only navigation bar of the site is relatively prominent and noticeable when you first go to the site. As you navigate though the site the navigation bar does stay the same and also stays the same size along with the logo. Once clicked on one of the navigation links the color remains the same so you are not aware if that page was visited or not. Also when navigating throughout the site, personally, I am aware of where I am, but sometimes I’m may be a little confused or unsure why certain content are on certain pages but that will be talked more about later. Fubiz does seem to have many pages within the website, most likely because it covers so many aspects of the graphic and the urban world today. So to be able to know where you are within a site that has a very deep architecture is a success for the creators.

The typography in the website is relatively consistent. Meaning that the A head and B heads are very understandable and noticeable so you are aware of a title, subtitle and body copy. With the subtitles and body copy, the subtitle is a darker gray, and a bigger size than the body copy so the level of hierarchy is recognized.

The layout of each webpage in Fubiz does follow the same grid structure, so the content stays relatively consistent. Each website are very alike to the point that the content on the pages where there is more content than imagery, the content will be on the left column of the page and on the right column lies advertisements, featured videos and links to popular pages within the site. On a majority of the webpage the focal point is usually either the logo of Fubiz with the advertisement to the right and navigation on the bottom or an image relating to the content that is usually right under the navigation bar.

The web pages that do focus on imagery rather than body copy follows its own layout but same grid structure. The imagery throughout the site does add design to the site because most of them are about design and they go along with the content of the site. I believe there is a good amount of imagery in Fubiz.com and the pages that have a lot of imagery are appropriate because it is what that specific webpage is for.

The color palette used in Fubiz is mostly red, shades of grey, white and black. This color palette keeps it simple and isn’t overbearing since there are a good amount of imagery used throughout the site. Some of the red and shades of grey is used for the subtitles and body copy but other than that just simple lines and colored links.

Layers Magazine

Hello Readers! Since I've been looking at a lot of magazines lately I decided to write about one of my favorite design magazines and websites. Although this magazine stopped its issues in the beginning of this year, the website is and will still be up and running. Enjoy!

Layers Magazine is “ongoing aspiration is to equip creative minds with the up-to-the-minute tools they need to build the digital masterpieces of tomorrow”. This now only online magazine covers up to date tools and information for Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, GoLive, Acrobat, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Dreamweaver and Flash. Readers and users of this website would work or be interested in the fields of Graphic/Digital Designers, Photographers, video editors and animators. Kelby Media Group are the people responsible for the creation of Layers magazine along with Photoshop User, Photoshop World, the Adobe Seminar tour and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.

On the home page of Layers Magazine the navigation bar is right under the logo and advertisement ad. The main navigation bar is very distinguishable but is also somewhat blended in with the bar of the adobe applications that are linked to their specific pages, which I will get more in depth later. The navigation bar links to the tutorials, layers magazine, Blog, Reviews, and Layers TV. There is a hierarchy among the navigation systems because there is one navigation system above the logo on every page. Both navigation bars do indeed stay visible as you navigate throughout the site, but once you click on the links the colors do not change meaning you aren’t aware if you visited that webpage or not.

Even though you aren’t aware of a visited webpage or not the site’s architecture is very clear and understandable. The site does appear to have a deep architecture since it covers several adobe applications and the topics that are covered are very broad.

Layers Magazine uses a sans serif for its typography. There are many hierarchies between the type because of the many topics, and written content, but the hierarchies are placed well so the information is understood. Some titles have different colors and the colors are consisted with the level of its importance, also the body text is usually smaller, black and lighter, but the main titles of the main subjects have a bigger size and has a black color.

The majority of the imagery on this site is related to design and the topics the the site covers. It adds a better understanding of the subject of the links and what to expect. The images fit well along the grid structure that remains consistent as you navigate throughout the website. The focal point of most of the pages are the Layers magazine Logo and the two navigation bars along with the icons of the adobe applications.

There are many colors on the Layers magazine website because of the imagery, because it’s a designers website that covers a plethora of information. But when it comes to the basis of the website like its logo and text the colors blue, red, white and black are used throughout the site.

So when you get a chance visit: www.layersmagazine.com

Corey Weber Pontz Design Firm

Corey Weber Pontz is a web design and graphic studio in Philadelphia. It specializes in print and digital design along with web development, search engine optimization, copywriting and photography.  Corey Weber Pontz “ strive to bring polished, unique, clean design to all businesses, large or small” and is committed to green design. The owner Corey Pontz graduated from Skidmore College with a Bachelor of Science in Art and a concentration in Graphic Design

On the home page of Corey Weber Pontz website the navigation bar is actually on the left site of the page rather than the top like most web pages. When you click and navigate through out the website the bar remains the same but the links do not change color after you’ve visited that specific webpage. There is no hierarchy among the navigation systems and its only right because there are only seven of them that have the same importance. Since this site is so simple and provides its user with clear and straightforward information, there aren’t many web pages within the website so the user should always know where they are within the architecture of the site.

As stated before, the architecture of this site is very simple so there isn’t a deep architecture, there has to be less than twenty web pages within this website. That I don’t mind because I like the simplicity and there isn’t any information that I believe is missing, its important to me that all of my questions are answered when I am navigating through a website.

The type in this website is a consistent sans serif, making all the text easier to read. To show hierarchy between the text only font size is changed rather that font styles, and that’s only used when heading the specific web pages of headings of text.

There is a simple, consistent and apparent grid structure used in this website. The only webpage that differs is their portfolio page, which has a flash player where the user can click through their previous design work. The focal point of each webpage would have to be their logo and navigation bar on the left side that is the same on each webpage.

There aren’t really any imagery other than the pictures of their portfolio work in this website. Which I think is fine because I had stated before that the content is very simple and straightforward and I believe it’s best that way. The color palette of this website is very simple also, the colors that is used are a greenish, olive color red and black. The same colors are used on every page other than the portfolio work of course.  I think those colors were chosen more on a personal preference when creating this website.