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Holding A Design Together

Posted by Andrew Faulkner on October 6th, 2005.

Andrew Faulkner is the admin at fadtastic. Andrew prides himself on standards-based, accessible web design in the city of Nottingham, UK. He believes in aesthetically pleasing accessible design and that 'standards compliant does not equal boring.'

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A recent trend has seen designers use their abilities to reproduce paper effects, often used as background for content areas or as ‘Polaroid’ effects for images. Designers competed to get the most realistic paper effect and now the showcase sites are showing them - realising the amount of effort that goes into them.

But that’s not what I’m interested in. To get ahead and appear the best at the ‘paper effect’, a new element of design had to be introduced. This new trend encompasses paperclips and stickytape. Another example (Flash based).

I love the amount of detail that has gone into these little features purely for our visual enjoyment. They seem to hold a site together, maybe because in our heads that’s what they really do. I think these sites breathe the word ‘designed.’

However, seeing these crop up everywhere would really begin to annoy me, just the way the paperclip in Word does until he’s turned off. Maybe we’ll see an invasion by stationery?

Spotted any clever uses stationery in web design? Seen a new spin on the paper effect? Let us know.

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11 Responses to Holding A Design Together

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I really hope we don’t see these paper effects used ad naseum like we do with other effects.

Even the glassy look is starting to get old because of its overuse. I personally prefer the clean, simple layouts, such as http://www.haveamint.com

Mark Daoust
October 6th, 2005
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Interesting! I have noticed this becoming a bit more popular recently… especially considering I thought I was so clever using it on a site Mass Mailings almost four years ago.

It’s ugly, I know. But hey, I’m not *really* a designer per se…

Alex Burr
October 6th, 2005
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Personally, I think paper effects are already overused but that’s another article.

Alex, Mass Mailings was well ahead of its time there. :)

Andrew Faulkner
October 7th, 2005
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Mark said:

I really hope we don’t see these paper effects used ad naseum… I personally prefer the clean, simple layouts, such as Have a Mint.

Isn’t that a report on a sheet of paper poking out at an angle to the left?

Personally I like ‘analogue’ effects on web design, as it makes sites look more real. A web application that we’re currently working on is designed to be used for large amounts of time, so it’s design reflects a friendly, familiar real-world working environment, for example by use of handwriting on Post-it notes as navigation, and lifelike highlighting inspired by the main navigation on Lisa’s site.

If it’s relevant to the site, I think it’s a good trend. Relevence is key - I can’t stand sites which look wrong for their market.

Nice Paul
October 7th, 2005
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PS - thanks for the links from this article and a previous one :)

Nice Paul
October 7th, 2005
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If it’s relevant to the site, I think it’s a good trend.

A great quote. I’d like to add “if it’s relevant to the audience” too.

thanks for the links

No problem.

Andrew Faulkner
October 7th, 2005
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analogue-media-tastic - Designchuchi.com

Nice Paul
October 12th, 2005
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Another one to utilize this trend:

plastikfantastik

I think the analog design can certainly add a sense of dimension to a page. If it is used in the right way (ex: to simulate a newsletter, stationary, etc.)

It should make the user feel more comfortable viewing materials online that would otherwise be print.

Marc Bernstein
October 12th, 2005
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It’s an interesting trend for sure … I don’t know - I quite like it, it kinda says ‘old fashioned sensibility in this crazy interweb world!’.

A couple of examples that have caught my eye:

http://ourcommon.com/ - for stationery effects (via hicksdesign) and

http://www.constructiondurable.com/ - for a flash based paperclip.

Fun stuff.

David

David
October 13th, 2005
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I personally love this style, but it’s hard to achieve. I’ve been working around this same theme for my next portfolio / blog redesign. It won’t be as heavy, but will make use of digital tape to hold it together

Zeerus
October 13th, 2005
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