Today’s post highlights the design of TheDesignKoop.com. The eye is immediately drawn to a catchy graphic in the header, reminiscent of the popular illustration style from 1950-60s as seen on this blog last week (also see the design of 204Beech.com). The deep red color is employed consistently throughout the sire, from section headers to bullet points to the main contact button in the footer section. However, the design seems to focus on the big elements and does not spend enough time on polishing the pixel-level details.

The static navigation strip has rather grotesque gradient along the top and bottom edges, with menu texts placed too close to the top edge. The overlapping curled appearance of the main logo is hindered by the fading gray element in its top left corner, with no outline to support the physical shape of the ribbon. The bullet points are aligned with the text baseline, and the typography in general can benefit from using a smaller set of sizes and weights. In addition, given how much the design relies on text sections, it would be interesting to see a better web font employed for the navigation menu and section headers – Bebas Neue seems rather bland and boring.

In general, the difference between “good enough” and “great” lies in the fine details – making sure that all elements are perfectly aligned, spaced and weighed. In this case, the site can definitely benefit from the extra work of polishing all the visuals and making it into a truly beautiful experience.