Brian Taylor’s <a href=“http://www.xl5design.com/”>XL5 Design</a> is a leading contender for the best Flash site I’ve ever seen, and although I was prompted to post this link by <a href=“http://www.kirupaforum.com/showthread.php?threadid=12356”> Ilya’s Rustboy thread below</a>, I think the site is worthy of, nay commands, its own thread.
In his ‘motion’ section, you’ll find a brief description of the techniques used for Rustboy, an amalgam of 3d graphics and image manipulation with Photoshop.
The elegant simplicity of Taylor’s design has been gracing my screen for the past several weeks while I’ve been forging my own new site. XL5 Design’s very fast loading times and straightforward functionality are two other extremely important site attributes which propel Brian’s work to the head of the class. Oh, and did I mention his great content?
For my tastes, it don’t get much better than this, folks.
Thanks for your comments. Perhaps many of you have seen more Flash sites than I, and could readily suggest what you might consider to be better sites, or offer comments about where you feel XL5 Design comes up short.
In the final analysis, it’s all subjective and in the eye of the beholder. Different strokes for different folks, but I find these kinds of discussions can be fruitful
Let me use a basketball metaphor. Many fans are most impressed by a slam dunk, or a three, but a long-time basketball fan like myself is probably more impressed by a good pass which leads to an easy layup.
Back to Flash. If you like a lot of things flying around, mystic segues, clever menus, involved actionscripting, and the like, then this kind of site is not going to impress you. But if you’re keen on restraint, understatement, and simple but elegant and functional design, then Brian Taylor’s XL5 Design will be a favorite and an inspiration, like it is for me.
It seems to me that many Flash sites emphasize the container over its contents, and probably for good reason. At XL5 Design, Taylor has done an excellent job of keeping the container in balance and harmony with its contents, which are substantial.
Flash is just a tool, not an end in itself.
Just as brevity is the soul of wit, so too is simplicity the essence of design.
No one said XL5s website sucked, just that it wasn’t the best Flash site out there. Personally I think the site itself is great, I like the colors, the design, etc, but I have seen better Flash sites as well.
The tastes (at least that I have seen) of this particular forum seems to be more on the side of AS, and doing something differrent with Flash. They are a bit jaded, due to the fact that there are some amazing coders here (both mods and normals), so we see a lot of cool stuff.
In my opinion, as a group, we tend to be drawn toward moving, sparkly things. Sometimes animation detracts from the product we are trying to promote (your hoop analagy works great), and that gets lost in trying to make the site “cool.”
beyond that, it is all subjective, but I agree with you on most points… Most of my sites are subtle, functional, and have an obvious purpose.
