Trends & Cliches in Web Design

I'm putting together a bunch of visual resources for web design trends that i've come across lately. Two are most notable, and one shines brightly: ModernLife and Smashing Magazine have both written similar summaries, and DesignMeltdown serves as a constant inspiration with the Daily Slurp and massive design/style showcase.

Here is my condensed|expanded version:

Simple Layout.
http://www.distinct.ie/index.html
http://www.nofrks.com/
http://www.clearfocusdesigns.com/
http://freesbe.es/

Centered Orientation.
http://www.munaya.com.br/
http://www.paul-wallas.co.uk/index.html
http://www.netdreams.co.uk/
http://www.weslicetomatoes.com/

3-D Effects light
http://www.whoooz.nl/
http://www.mccoy.co.uk/
http://www.vbski.com/gallery.php
http://ma.tt/

Gradients & Neutral Backgrounds.
http://www.icdcouriers.co.uk/
http://docsource.sundance.org/
http://www.ohvavaho.com/blog/

Whitespace.
http://www.plankdesign.com/en/
http://www.designedbyanderson.com/
http://chrisgross.net/
http://www.fulcrum-cm.co.uk/

Icons, Badges & Characters
http://www.4recruiting.co.uk/home
http://www.trevorberg.com/
http://www.sitemakers.co.uk/
http://www.dailyslurp.com/default.aspx
http://unite.blogcatalog.com/

Big Text.
http://postmachina.com/
http://www.sublime-digital.com/
http://www.rafaelzundt.com/
http://www.ricardoarce.com/
http://www.citrus7.com.br/
http://www.typeansich.be/exhibit/pierredisciullo/index.html

3's
http://www.bitsandpix.de/
http://www.mansz.pl/
http://www.dee.ie/
http://eutelnet.com/

Transparency/Layers
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
http://www.belgrade-jazzfest.org/
http://www.bestof.cz/

FLASH Universe.
http://www.depthskins.net/
http://www.newbalance.com/outdoor/
http://unscrewamerica.org/
http://www.unkemptstudio.com/
http://prospectdenim.com/
http://www.chickenjam.eu/

Grung/Drip/Swirl
http://skate.share.ea.com/language.aspx
http://rawnet.com/
http://www.imlousekstudio.sk/en/home

Themes:
Wood
http://www.paul-wallas.co.uk/index.html
http://www.davidhellmann.com/
http://www.designedbyanderson.com/
http://unite.blogcatalog.com/
http://www.gym-bohumin.cz/community/
Collage
http://www.shawnjohnston.ca/
http://www.chemistryrecruitment.com/
http://www.gotaqua.com/
http://www.rxmonsters.com/
http://boostup.org/
http://chicas.elansnowboards.com/

Delicious fruit flavor + absurdist messaging

I've been honed-in on the trend of absurdist marketing campaigns for awhile now, but a post in AdFreak today has really perked my interest. Some of this stuff is just too good to be true, and watching a few spots starts to feel just like an episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show (Great Job).
Specifically, Skittles and Starburst have gone head-to-head with the weirdness. Personally, I'll call Skittles the winner on this one, mostly because their switch at the end from bizzaro-world to 'BRIGHT SKITTLES SCREEN' is more effective than the similar Starburst transition.

The best absurdist campaigner in my opinion is Comcast, whose 'Spidey Rommie' spot gets me every damn time (I think its b/c I can relate to tiny dog torture in the form of odd costumes).
Perhaps that is what is at the heart of this type of messaging - it plays with your sense of reality effectively displacing your role as consumer. Instead you sort of 'wonder' at the message, and perhaps can even relate to it in some way in the disjointed pseudo-reality that you are presented with.
So weird, so cool.

I would totally trash the DVR if I had the option of only viewing commercials in this style. In the meantime, i'll have to keep fast-forwarding and look to the web for my healthy heaping dose of weird.

Open Source Values

I just came across this great post on ZD|NET Blogs about Open Source Values. This article pretty much pins the key underlying concepts of Open Source that excite me so much: Transparency and Consensus.
Our access to information means that we demand to know more about who we are dealing with - who they really are - and it's easier than ever to find that out. The power of Open Source Intitatives in this modern landscape lies in their actions:
Tell the world what you do - update them daily.
Let them know what you value and how you are building value.
And share as much of it as you possibly can.
Work in teams, collaborate, and let ideas run rampant to see what they can become.
Invite everyone to participate, and nurture that community.

More than just being honest and giving as much as you can to each to day, an endeavor that strives to be transparent and open, while thriving on consensus, is a very beautiful thing. I want to give my all towards something great.
(Soon enough)

Implicit Web

I came across a post in ZDNet Blogs this morning about the 'Implicit Web' - a term that was born from the meeting of minds after hours at the recent DeFrag Conference. Here is the bit that got me really excited:

"The implicit web is not part of the Semantic Web, but they are closely related. If the Semantic Web constructs a conceptual model of World Wide Web, the implicit web constructs a behavior model of World Wide Web."

The Semantic Web has been lingering in my imagination for a few months now. I feel like this sort of 'web theory' is becoming more obviously important (I keep hearing about it more and more in the low-lit corners of my RSS feed).
I want to ride this wave, I want to help build the new web.

Anyway, the post has motivated me to finally get those two books that have been in my Amazon Shopping Cart for a few weeks now:
Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder - David Weinberger
Glut: Mastering Information Through The Ages - Alex Wright