This is a style that won't likely end anytime soon. This wonderful batch of sites tastefully use the approach to demonstrate how sharp the style can be.

A fresh batch of portfolios.

Yes, finally a fresh batch of illustration focused designs.

Round 4 of event promotion sites.

A fresh batch of zesty orange sites. Enjoy.

Another round of the ever popular minimal style.

This particular topic has been on my collection for quite some time, I love the style, but it seems it is not that heavily used so it took me a while to assemble this list of sites below. All the same I think they are a sweet cluster of sites and serve the style really well. First and foremost is the fact that though these sites make use of fabric in their design they aren't necessarily fashion or textile oriented. Lets just look at a few samples to see how this style is leveraged in various ways.

I get lots of portfolios sent my way, so this section just keeps growing. I am still on my rant about focusing on highly effective and easy to use portfolios and almost all of these reflect that. There is one odd ball in the bunch though, a flash site that caught my attention. This one harkens back to the days when portfolios were so complex it was annoying. This one has the flash style, but isn't to hard to use. Somehow a nice balance has been struck between usability and sizzle.

I have once again fallen a bit behind on things, but as always I pick back up where I left off. I suppose some people take their blogging incredibly serious and stick to strict schedules. I find that this only sets you up for failure. It is impossible to think you can write every day on a topic and never need a break. I have been off busy getting a job and going to classes to learn to care for a baby. But alas, here I am, back with a fresh set of links. Enjoy the samples.

In keeping with the recent trend towards organic design the sketchy style fits right in. Sure this isn't a new trend by any means, but it is still a solid design solution that has a unique and useful set of connotations. The fresh hand drawn style eludes to an artistic and crafty atmosphere. This connects viewers with a creative side and really establish's a context for the sites design to exist in. Almost any topic feels a bit more personal and creative with this style.

This new set of red sites once again deomonsrates the power and authority this color carries.

Sometimes there is a trend, and sometimes there is a trend. Is the use of wood the new glossy style? It just might be the case. I have noticed for some time now the shift from a technical aesthetic (things like shiny sites, badges, saturated colors etc) to a more organic style (think brown and muted colors, and wood of course). As I researched my database of sites for this article I couldn't believe how many sites I found that used wood. There were so many I just got tired of looking to be honest. But this wasn't until I had 40 samples to provide here. Which by my standards certainly establishes this as a solid trend. Sure the style has been around for a long time, in fact it was one of the first articles on Design Meltdown. However, there is a massive surge of design using this style and it easily warrants a fresh collection here on Design Meltdown. Enjoy the samples.

This is a small set of blog samples, and yet it still has such massive variety. My goal with this section on blogs in general is not to include every last beautiful blog, that would be an impossible task. Rather, I hope to provide diverse sets of samples which demonstrate a variety of layouts and design styles to push us towards inventive designs.

Many months of hard work is finally paying off. The Web Designers Idea Book is finished and accepting orders, and yesterday I finally put the finishing touches on my next Meltdown site. I am thoroughly pleased to announce that SpamMeltdown.com is up and running. And since I don't believe in launching empty blogs and tout what they will be I have already posted 20 articles featuring about 650 HTML emails.

Some styles just never die, and the use of old worn paper is certainly one of them. This is not to suggest that in any way it should. No more then we should decided that the color blue should no longer be used because so many others have. As the saying goes, there is nothing new, only new combinations (actually, I think I just horribly misquoted the bible). Anyhow, this design style is fun for one main reason, it breaks the techie feel sites seem to come with.

It is really amazing just how much work it takes to crank out a book, but I have finally made it. The book is in fact finalized and being manufactured right now! This is of course massively exciting! The book is available for pre-order, to be delivered to you by mid October. Needless to say I am exceedingly exited, I can't wait to see the printed book!

It comes as no real surprise that blue continues to be such a popular color. In fact, it would almost be surprising if it weren't. Its ability to apply to most any topic, combined with the mostly universal appeal of the color makes it about as fundamental as white or black.

It might seem that the way food is often used in a design is rather cliche; and certainly it often is. This small set of samples shows a few ways food can be worked into a site design. It seems that citrus fruits are the most popular, and vegetables the least. This isn't the most exciting of trends I suppose, unless your a bit hungry.

Hard to belive it has been over a year since an update to the yellow section. Just a slow building category I suppose...so here is a fresh set of samples.

A new batch of gray centered designs.

Univiersities have come along way in terms of web design. These 15 sites demonstrate the energy that these organizations are putting into their public image.

Yes, another round of portfolio sites. This is one of the most frequently submited types of sites so it is inevitable that so many get listed.

More tasty restaraunt sites to sink your teath into.

A fresh batch of blue and green designs.

This somewhat small set of sites representing a few niche hotels and resorts was selected primarily because they are powerful demonstrations of their type of service. I intentionally left out the major brands because these are not hard to find, and are typically rather uninspiring. What stands out to me about these sites is that they represent the smaller providers in the industry and yet they have a quality to them that is not common.

If there is one thing missing for the typical web site it is personality. Personality is hard to get across with out putting some "live" element into a design. Mascots are just such a tool. They imbue the design with a character which inevitable has some sort of personality. The amazing thing is that these characters need not be animated in any way to effectively fill this roll.

At the Future of Web Design conference I mentioned that the muted color pallet is a future trend. Well of course it is hard to know what is coming, but in this case I was certain about it because I was already observing an upswing in terms of usage of this style. In fact this large collection of samples is a small portion of the sites I could have cataloged this way.

I hereby declare that the recent DMD silence is over! Being caught up in so many aspects of life I can finally focus again on my writing here. Fortunately I have still been cataloging, just not publishing the results, so there is a glut of samples waiting to be published. I am also super excited about several new Meltdown projects that are in the works of which I plan to launch the first one in the next few weeks. Just ironing out some development issues. So, on with the trend! While these samples don't necessarily embrace the theme of Flower Power in the stereotypical 1960's way, they do make use of floral elements in a common way. And many of these designs fall somewhere between ornate elements and just plain old use of nature. All the same, I think this style deserves its own section.

A round up of off topic posts...

12 fuel efficient hybrid sites that make a clean use of multiple technologies.

16 fresh portfolios to feast your eyes on.

Some things in life are black and white; like these 15 sites. (Sorry, this is cliche day)

A fresh batch of minimal sites demonstrating that less can be more and not just a cliche.

15 more church sites for your worshiping pleasure.

A fresh batch of brownies...brown sites that is.

Well here we are (finally), back for another round of drip sprays and splatters. It is hard to believe this is actually only the fourth installment of this topic. It seems to be I have published this one a dozen times. But alas, I have not. This is one of those styles that lends itself to a more minimal style. Of course this isn't always the case, but quite often it is the result.

I know that I have said it before, but illustrations that are fully integrated into the design of a site can a page to life in a way no other asset can. The samples provided here are fun and full of life. And even better, they stand as visually distinct sites with very little similarity to sites we are familiar with. It is this uniqueness that should draw us to the style. Its ability to create a totally unique experience is invaluable in a medium where it is far to easy to blend in.

The use of jumbo sized typography leads to two interesting results. First, it often inspires the designer to rely more on traditional typographic methods. And secondly, it frequently leads to a semi minimal design approach. Lets take a look at both of these results by analyzing some samples!

Atypical layouts is one of the more exiting topics to look at. Inspiration comes in many forms, but for me one of the most useful is viewing work which clearly breaks the norms. Sites which present content in unique and often unlikely formats. You won't find any standard layouts here. What is really cool is how easy to use most of them are. A few of them are a bit tougher, but for the most part the layout is intuitive, despite its atypical nature.

I am continually amazed at how fantastic so many portfolio sites are. It seems really remarkable to me is how simple some of these portfolios are; and yet they are stunning and sell the individual incredibly well. Some that stand out in particular to me are Freshly Painted, Stage 5 Studio, 1984 Interactive, and Foan 82. What really sticks out to me about these sites is how the style of presentation so effectively reinforces the style of work the individual does.

I continue to find it very interesting how diverse the solutions to a topic like Finance can be. In this edition I have included several applications focused on finance, things like accounting, invoicing, etc. Certainly such products must be marketed differently then a site offering more traditional financial services. And yet, it is inspiring to see the variety of solutions revolving around the same topic.

It isn't to hard to dig up samples of web services considering the rate with which they pop up. For this edition of the topic I tried to present a rather diverse set of design solutions. From scanning the thumbnails you can quickly see how diverse the design approaches are. This is kind of exciting, and can hopefully demonstrate that their is always room to stand out and be unique.

This section on government sites is way long over due. Many people have requested it, and a few have sent in samples. The hold up, not surprisingly, has been the lack of decent samples with which to feature the site type. And yet, ever so slowly I accumulated the sites you see here. This is one of those sections that doesn't necessarily present earth shattering design samples, but one that should help to inspire and motivate a difficult part of the internet. I am certain the budgets for government sites are small, I am also certain that the tasks often fall onto the shoulders of those who aren't trained in such areas. I don't want to bash these people at all, I think it is a tough role to fill. Even if you were a brilliant web designer, it seems you would be fighting a bureaucracy the whole way. This brings back my days at a university where it seemed you had to convince people you were right, and eventually it just wears down your will.

The Coming Soon page is simply the modern version of the classic under construction page. This modernization goes beyond just a change in labeling. This type of landing page has dropped the annoying construction cones and replaced with relevant and useful features. Namely among this is a sign up form to be notified of an actual launch, beta release, or other significant milestone. And of course this is a great way to build a nice mailing list of people to market a new product to. After all, if they actually complete the form they are likely to be very interested.

The Future of Web Design Conference this coming April is going to take place in London. I will actually be speaking at the conference on where to find inspiration for web design. I was thinking of just pointing people to DesignMeltdown.com but on futher consideration it does make sense to offer some other ideas! I am really excited about the opporunity and am looking forward to visiting London. If you can, I hope you attend the conference.

It has been a remarkably long time since I published an update to the white section. This small set of sites manages to represent the minimal usage of color well. From scanning the thumbs it would look like a rather dull approach, but dig deeper and you will find some wonderful sites that are very easy on the eyes. More often then not the usage of white results from a need for a clean and simple design. These designs often contain quality content that doesn't necessarily need a flashy wrapper. Or, the owners of the site are not as interested in grabbing as much attention as possible with the design, and prefer to rely on quality goods to attract interest.

tShirt sites are all the rage and are a rather popular style in fashion. The range of tShirt styles available are broad and range from clever and humorous, to ultra stylish, to crud and obnoxious. The quality of these designs varies just as much. We won't be looking at actual shirts so much here, but the web sites that sell them of course. This is another one of those topics which could grow exponentially.

For this edition of distressed design I tried to include some more subtle usages of the style. Often times this worn and battered look is taken to an extreme (and there are some examples here of course), but other times it is used in a less over the top way. As with many design elements they can either be the focus of the design, or simply play a supporting role. I am very intrigued at how something like the distressed look can be used to support other more dominate elements of a design. Lets look at some samples and see how it works.

Forever stuck in a supporting role the radial does a remarkable job. Its ability to instantly provide a level of emphasis and importance to any element in a page is remarkable. The lines of the radial seem to draw the eye into the source and force the focus onto what ever is at it's center. Typically this element is used to emphasize some element in the header of the page. Most likely this will be the logo or other key element. The radial can also be found in backgrounds with out as much of an emphasizing role, and more of an energizing one. Denniswest.com for example uses the element to simply bring the page to life and give it a vibrant animated feel. Although, it could easily be argued that the radials focus around the left side helps to reinforce the navigation. So it seems you can't quite totally escape the focusing power of the element.

Regardless of the type of event, be it a business conference, a design seminar or a sporting event; in order to entice people to attend the site advertising simply needs to look enjoyable. The sites representing events simply must connect with the potential attendee and give them a sense of fun or enjoyment. After all, for many people traveling out of town for some work event isn't always the most desirable of situations. So, the more pleasant the event looks, the more likely people will attend. Simply put, the site must reflect a positive atmosphere and encourage people to attend.

This years holiday branding wrap up comes a bit after the season is over. The topic isn't quite as full as last year, I simply didn't find nearly as many examples. As expected many of the bigger retailers put up some holiday cheer on their web sites. There are far less small sites on the list this time around.

Module madness is quite simply the placing of content into nice little containers. These stand out from other organization methods because every element is contained in what is usually a separate and distinct little bucket. By doing so content is broken into chunks and can often be more easily consumed. This works particularly well for content heavy sites.

In terms of sheer power to communicate the photographic background stands as perhaps one of the most powerful tools. These large dominant elements completely shape the mood of a site, and they speak volumes about the contents of the site. Such complex backgrounds inevitably force a simpler foreground, leaving even more of the weight of visual communication on this single element.

This is one of those topics that just never gets old for me. There is something about the organic and friendly feel of these wood based designs that makes me want to linger on these designs. Perhaps it is the warm and welcoming mood created by the wood, or even the anti technology feel they create. What ever it is this style is a beautiful and appeal design approach.

In the first edition of the topic of dog ears I failed to really note a useful aspect of this visual element. Dog ears can be a very effective tool for attracting attention. Perhaps your trying to control the flow of the page, or need to create a strong focal point. What ever the goal the design element can be a handy tool. Other visual devices serve similar purposes, things like the badge or radial element. Unlike those elements though the dog ear tends to be more subtle, and uniquely it can allude to content that is contained behind a button or element.

The color pink continues to be a popular color in web design, which is of course a bit surprising. This is certainly not the color one might expect to be so widely popular. Interestingly this color is found in many place one might not expect it. Its playful, happy, and hip connotations make it an attractive color to those looking to set a different type of expectations and mood on a site. As with all things, don't just follow the herd but rather consider the purpose behind your color selections and see if this one might solve your design problems.

The color blue has a very diverse set of connotations and is one of the most universal colors available to the designer. Here is a sampling of the meanings the color can connect to a design.

Well we made it to the final topic for this 6 part series and find ourselves on the principle of flow. Again, this rather obvious principle is an often overlooked or forgotten one. After all, it is hard to keep all the principles in mind at the same time. For me this is one that tends to fall out my thought process. So what exactly is flow? Well, flow is simply the path a users eyes take through a design. This is primarily a result of how elements like emphasis and contrast are used. In fact, flow is entirely the result of how other elements are put together.

For the fifth design principle we will be taking a look at the concept of repetition. With this principle the focus is on how elements of a design are used more then once throughout a design in varying ways. By doing so designs that contain such repetition become far more unified. This repetition can come in many forms, things such as: color, shape, line, fonts, imagery, theme, or just an overall approach to style. Repetition is an inevitable design principle. If no elements in a design are repeated it typically lacks a unified and cohesive feel.

The principle of alignment is just as seemingly simple as some of the other ones, almost deifying the need for definition. And yet, when reflecting on the basic principles one can learn from the simplest of ideas and be reminded of their importance. This process of relearning the basics really helps to refresh our minds and focus us on the basic underlying elements which create great design.

Putting together a list of beautiful blogs seems nearly pointless, considering the countless options and a never ending list of potential directions the topic of blog design might go. And yet, at their core they all contain pretty much the same set of content. This set of blogs is rather diverse with a very broad range of topics. One thing all these sites do share is a clean unified design. These designs feel fresh and easy to use. They have managed to overcome one of the primary hurdles for many blogs, clutter. Often times blogs grow frankenstein style, with new widgets or features being attached here and there. As a result the sites grow into sloppy beasts. This is actually what forced the last redesign of Design Meltdown, and which will likely cause the next. The sites featured below have really managed to pull things together and create easy to use designs. Many of them have abandoned some standard blog features like tag clouds.

These one page sites are just bursting with style. It is so fun to see what these designers have done with a single page. To me it is really interesting to see just how well a single page can reflect on a person. There is no need for hundreds of complex pages to manage. A single page will do. In fact, these single pages sell me on the services of these guys so well I can't imagine how a deeper more complex site could possibly do it better.

The principle of balance revolves around the idea of how the elements in a design are distributed and how they relate to the overall distribution of visual weight. Balance is all about how elements are distributed on the page and the way this affects the stability of the page. As elements are grouped together in a design they create visual weight, typically this weight must be balanced out by an equal and opposite weight in order to achieve a desired balance in the design. Not doing so results in a design which feels unstable. The idea is that a balanced designed is more appealing and creates a subtle notion of stability. Well balanced designs are often very comfortable and appealing.

The second key principle of design we will be discussing is contrast. Contrast as you might expect is pretty self explanatory. But hey, this is the basics, so some clarification is in order. Contrast is simply the visual differentiation of two elements. Elements with strong contrast look distinct, elements with low contrast appear similar or blend together. There are many ways to achieve contrast, some of these include: color, size, position, font choice and font weights. Through contrast a site design can have visual variety, and avoid being stale. It is also through contrast that focus can be achieved, there by addressing the need for emphasis on certain elements.

The first design principle we will take a look at is that of emphasis. Emphasis is defined as special importance or significance. In many ways emphasis is closely, if not the same as, related to hierarchy. Basically emphasis is the analysis of a sites content in order to determine what the hierarchy of importance the content has. Once this is determined a design can be created that carries out these goals. One great method is to list all of the elements required on a page in order of importance. Then, design with that in mind so that the visual hierarchy of the page reflects the determined importance. One reason this is so important is to avoid an attempt to emphasize everything. Remember, if you try to emphasize everything, you effectively emphasize nothing. Lets look at some samples to see what has been done.

One of the topics which I have long wanted to cover is the basic principles of design. My approach to design analysis and learning has always been from a sample stand point. That is to say I much prefer to analyze samples of design and how they address various topics instead of abstract talk about vague topics. The basics are no different. I believe that through the analysis of sample sites we can all get a refresher on the basic underlying principles of design. This is not only good for the beginner, but also the more advanced designer. I often find that when I go back to the basics I find something new that I didn't get before.

The fashion industry brings a very unique set of talents to the world of web design. For many of these companies the inevitable desire to use their fashion skills in this alternate medium is a logical path. As a result their sites are a direct reflection of their skills in the visual arts. It is no surprise that this industry puts so much energy into the web. After all it is a representation of them and they wouldn’t dare be caught out of style.

When it comes to site navigation there are serveral standard methods that have become widely accepted. One of these is the drop down menu. As with all standard elements designers have found various ways to mash this tool into a wide assortment of design variations. This sample set deals with a rather small set of sites but hopefully will set the ground work for what can be a diverse set as it grows. As always, with more editions of this topic we will see a much broader set of samples.

Green is one of the more versatile colors available to the web designer. I would argue that blue is the most flexible, and green the second. This explains why the blue and green color combo is such a common choice. Green is simply a pleasant color. It isn't over bearing, instead it is calming, friendly, and connected with nature. These positive connotations make it a safe and effective color to use.

As does most of the time, this round of portfolio sites really blows me away. I am sadly left wishing my portfolio was so much sharper. Dang these designers for being so good! What really intrigues me about these portfolios is the lack of over the top, difficult to use interfaces. It seems the days of wrapping your beautiful work in a pain in the neck flash wrapper are over. Now, I am sure these still exist, and I would even say that the flash style portfolio still has it's place. It is really refreshing to see so many wonderful portfolios that make it easy to look at the artists work. After all, why make things more difficult then necessary when users already have such short attention spans! You don't want your users saying "you lost me at pre loader"

The building of an eCommerce store is no small chore, even if your working from an existing application. Home grown, or off the shelf, eCommerce systems are huge complex beasts. At their heart they are applications, and very different from your run of the mill static site. Applying a skin to such a beast is typically about the biggest pain in the butt one could imagine. This difficulty makes it all that much more impressive when you find beautiful examples. And of course, that is just what we have collected here.

The use of transparency in web design is a topic ripe with issues. Above all other things the technical limitations of "real" transparency are a huge problem, and the day all browsers fully support alpha transparency in png's will be a happy one. Until then though, we do have several options. Ultimately though, using this style in a design is a common task, and there are some solutions which actually make it a non-issue.

With the holidays rapidly approaching many sites are looking to bring in the little tweaks to give a site some holiday fun. Much like last year I will be collecting such examples and forming a large single collection to represent the year in terms of holiday branding. The larger sites will already have considered this, and some are already in holiday skin (amazon and ebay). But there is still plenty of time for the smaller sites to get in on the fun! As a reference check out last years final wrap up on holiday branding. You can view the larger cached screen shots to get an idea of what they were up to.

Some colors appeal to certain demographics; some have universal appeal; some are trendy; others are boring; but pink is the one color that when used well just makes me a jealous designer. Somehow this color can just ooze with style and elevate a site to an aesthetic other wise not possible. I love how this presumably feminine color can cut across the sex barrier and appeal to men and women alike.

Today's presentation of the use of old paper is a bit of an extension of yesterdays article about the color brown. It seems as though these two topics go hand in hand. A few of the brown items from yesterday had some old paper in them, and of course nearly every single one on this article has brown (or at least tan) in it. In many ways the purpose of this style goes hand in hand with the purpose behind brown. This style gives off a down to earth, often gritty, and home grown sort of atmosphere. The style is casual and fun, and connects with us on a physical level.

The color brown has many compelling reasons to be used, and yet, it is one of the lesser used colors on the web. There seems to be two main reasons to make use of brown color pallets. First sites doing so often have literal reasons for connecting with the colors of nature. Secondly, it is a great way to break the inherent technical connotations any web site has.

Over the years I have created many accordion style sections on sites. Most often it is a tabbed section where the content changes via an accordion script. My favorite script is moo.fx, and quite a few sites I have built use this. What draws me to this group of sites though is that the entire layout of the site is built on the accordion In many cases, these are essentially single page sites that have been reduced in length via the accordion By reducing these sites to their major headings, the length is greatly reduced, and users are able to go straight to the information hey are looking for.

The level of quality found in many of the church sites below still impresses me; and the quantity of them just shocks me. I never would have expected this category to be so easy to fill. And yet, here we are with 16 more beautiful church sites. It is easy to understand that many sharp web developers are committed to their church, and quiet often their are whole groups of such people.