Website Graphics Now

In the fastest growing information network in the world--the Internet--new developments happen overnight. Website design is constantly changing, both technically and graphically, and the range of sites is expanding in this age of the information revolution. From educational sites to corporate communication, social services to electronic publishing, Website Graphics Now offers an inside look at the present and future of digital communication. This book by the editors of Mediamatic, a sequel to the groundbreaking Website Graphics, features thirty of today's most visually attractive and innovative sites, accompanied by hundreds of full-color illustrations and provocative articles on the future of web design. Written by experts at the forefront of Internet technology, the articles explore the process of designing and creating a site, and getting it to work effectively. Selected by an international panel of designers, writers, and web masters, the book's wide-ranging and innovative array of sites and essays reflects the diversity of the World Wide Web itself.

Chock-full of electronic eye candy, Webs!te Graph!cs Now surveys a number of cutting-edge Web sites created by companies and individuals from around the world. The editors of the book, from the Netherlands' Mediamatic Magazine, sift through and examine the elements of the featured Web sites in an adequate attempt to outline the requirements for great Web design.

Editor Erik Spiekermann makes the smart decision in the preface of admitting that, "whatever I might want to say about any cool new stuff--Flash, Shockwave, you name it--may be well out of date by the time you're reading this." The statement lends a great deal of credibility to the need for the book, allowing readers to concentrate on the design elements used on these Web sites rather than on the technologies used to implement them. Without this consideration and a general focus that goes beyond technology, the book would be no more than a time capsule holding numerous beautifully produced, full-color screen shots of once exciting Web destinations.

The large size of the book lends itself well to explorations of sites like "The Secret Garden of Mutabor." In the section dedicated to this narrative and animation-rich site, multiple slides illustrate pathways through what functions much like an elegant, story-centered game. Other Web sites featured in the book include the fully-mapped-out Mercedes-Benz A-Class promotional site, the Colors Magazine site, and a number of other big corporate sites, along with some lesser-known but innovatively designed sites. --Ryan Kuykendall