DE51GN is a Dubai-based ezine by Shweta Parida and a team of underground experts where you can find interesting content and the must-know contemporary design, art, architecture and cutting-edge fashion from the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. The staff of DE51GN hopes to bring their readers the latest updates about events and newsmakers at a frequency that cannot be matched by any print version.
DE51GN runs on WordPress and the new design was realized with a new theme. News and posts are displayed on the homepage as blocks, in a multi-column grid. Each block holds essential information such as the title, published date, number of comments and a big thumbnail image. The big thumbnail image allows the content to be scanned quickly and easily. A picture speaks a thousand words therefore it is easier for a user to pick out what is interesting based on the image. Scanning lines and lines of headings is definitely less fun than admiring nice pictures.
On the left, you can see the layout for individual posts. Compared to the homepage, single posts are display in a narrow 2-column layout, for optimal average word-per-line of about 10 to 15. The layout is kept simple and easy to read, with as little gimmicks and distractions as it can.
Banner ads along the sidebar are chosen as the mode of displaying advertising because interested users spend most of the time between the middle-top and middle of the site so therefore ads at this position will enjoy the most exposure. Yes I said “interested” users because if users are not interested in your content, it will be very unlikely for them to be interested in the ads.
Archives are displayed in a grid similar to the homepage’s except for the lack of images. Each content block takes up less vertical space and two or three times more posts can be visible above the fold. When users use an archive, the behavior is different from when browsing the homepage or reading a single post, therefore it is important that the design caters to this difference.
Besides a new design for the site, I also revamped DE51GN’s identity. Retaining the purple (in a different shade) which was present in the old brand, I added black and crafted a more sophisticated identity design which is more suitable for the kind of content the publication offered. Black also brings out the vibrancy in the images on the site.
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The 2nd season was launched not too long ago with a new theme, updated gowns, fresh faces and a slightly improved user interface.
The new theme reminds me of scenes in fantastical stories by the famous writer Lewis Caroll, who wrote Alice in Wonderland. The emotions in this season’s photographs exude a more child-like and innocent air. The images are filled with softness that compliment the gowns wonderfully.
This has got to be my favorite photograph in this season. The model did a great job and looked totally natural in that outfit. Interesting and appropriate hairstyle too. The presentation of thumbnails are unchanged.
The presentation of gown details have changed and now features a more compact view to accomodate up to 4 gowns should a picture have that many. The previous version was designed only for a maximum of 2 gowns, both visually and programmatically. The layout is now also simplified with less visual effects applied, resulting in a more polished and exquisite look.
The wish list also shares similar visual improvements as the gown details box with new controls such as simpler scrollers and buttons.
I hope you like it.
Visit: SingaporeBrides Wedding Fashion
Tian Dot Com Pte. Ltd., client
Aen Tan, UI and Interaction Design
Chua U-Zyn, Web Development
Chin Leng, Editor
Ashley, Hairstylist
Jyue Huey (The Makeup Room), Makeup Artist
Monica Eng (Vivid Shots), Photographer
An interactive showcase of exquisite wedding gowns with a front-end developed in Actionscript 2.0. Wedding gowns from 2 boutiques are being showcased this season in an interactive gallery. Users are able to view the wedding gown photos by selecting individually and also in slideshow mode. The gallery comes with a Wishlist feature which allow users to save their favorite gowns into a wishlist that works like a shopping cart, all within Flash, without the need for any registration. When they return to the gallery on the same computer, the wishlist will still be around as it is saved on the user’s own computer. Those interested in the showcased gowns can then forward their wishlist to the respective boutiques.
The technology behind the showcase is developed in Actionscript 2.0 for Flash Player 8, which currently enjoy a good 98% to 99% adoption rate. Communication of data between Flash and the PHP & MySQL backend is via XML. An administration panel has also been built for the management of wedding gowns, enquiries and boutiques.
The backend is developed by U-Zyn, a very talented and skilled PHP & MySQL developer.
SingaporeBrides Wedding Fashion has been showcased in Anjo Dekiteharu, Straightline Bookmarks and Command Shift 3.
Visit: SingaporeBrides Wedding Fashion
17 Aug 2008
Aen in Website Design
Beverly is Singapore’s first one-stop women’s portal that caters to the independent, sophisticated and stylish woman. Constantly providing the latest updates and premium wellness products and services, we are the perfect source of information for the busy working professional, whether a fashionista who is concerned about the latest runway and beauty trends or a woman who simply loves to pamper herself.
The core of the website is built around WordPress 2.1 and extensively-customized with a XHTML Strict-compliant and CSS-based theme. Much of the functionality are achieved with WordPress’s own template engine and features that are not natively available in WordPress are achieved with the use of plugins. A large number of plugins are used in this project to allow the website to be used and managed like a CMS, and to extend the original membership features.
WordPress’s flexibility in it’s archival and category system allowed me to create specific category and archive templates. A large number of templates are created for articles, contest pages, membership and archives pages. As a plus, a printer-friendly version is available for any single article view. This allows the user to print information on an article without unnecessary content like advertisements and navigation menus.
BEVERLY was showcased in CSS Mania, Screenalicious, W3C Sites (Editor’s Pick), CSS Clip, CSS Impress.
17 Aug 2008
Aen in Website Design
Personal site of my girlfriend which we made together a few years ago. Dark and elegant was the motivation behind this design. I did the Flash development and scripting, and she did most of the design direction. It was linked on several design portals and webzines including Design is Kinky, soon after its release.
“Orgasmically sexy design would be an understatement”.
Design is Kinky (21 Apr, 2004)
