Graphic Greats: Production Graphics with Wendy Peck at webreference.com | 23

Graphic Greats 5: Tiny Lines in Vivid Color

Bold color and innovative line use makes this very dark site easy to navigate and exciting to view. Images © Landrover World.

Landrover World
I really like the look of this site for many reasons. The first is the color use – I have commented before on how little brown is used for Web design, and yet the sites I see with a brown theme are usually quite dynamic. And in this case, what color could be more appropriate for a product that prides itself on playing in the mud.

The product pages use lines sparingly, but where they are used is very important. Lines divide the sections and help to define the menu. Much of this page is very dark. Without the thin lines, it would tend to all muddle together.

The close-up at the left is from the site entry page. I especially like how they used orange frames to separate pictures of approximately the same tone. The lines would not add up to many pixels on the page, but without them, the page would be dull at best and probably impossible to understand.

If you are intrigued by bold and unusual color in Web design, you must visit this site. View all the pages to see how each page is somewhat unique, yet very much graphically united to the rest of the site.

Mega color is broken by dark lines, which also help to direct the flow of the page.

Note how the lines are repeated on this interior page close-up. Great attention to detail. Images © TZ.

TZ
You could not slide by this site without noticing. Although the full size version of the entry page as shown here is much less aggressive than you may think, it still stands out vividly as you are surfing the Web.

But from the gentlest sites to this one, which is about as bright as you will see, lines have a starring role. Even the menu bar at the top would have to be classified as a line, since there is so much space around it. The menu is anchored on a line and enclosed by the curved end of a line. Although the lines do not add much color to the overall look, this page would be very dull without the line work. There is also no doubt where you should be looking.

In the second sample, I have included a small close-up of one of the interior pages to show how the theme from the front page carries through. Note the little detail of a thicker line beside the photo on the entry page and on the interior page. It is details like this that can tie a site together.

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Graphic Greats Index

Design Lines Start/Lines with Masks Tutorial
Lines for Design
Subtle Lines at Work
Tiny Lines in Vivid Color
Unusual Lines