Members of military and intelligence forces around the world risk their lives daily to defend their countries and assist in peacekeeping and aid missions both at home and abroad. The men and women who make up the world’s defense forces make sacrifices that most civilians wouldn’t consider to serve their countries.
So, with everything they do for us, shouldn’t they be represented online by website designs that reflect the honor and responsibility they undertake every day? Unfortunately, that’s not the case in many countries out there. Many military websites out there are some of the worst designs in any industry. Whether they’re outdated, broken or designed by amateurs, some of the websites showcased below are bad enough to make you cringe.
There are some good ones, though. A number of countries have obviously dedicated the time and resources necessary to project a professional and polished Web presence for their members. A number of other websites have obviously put in some effort and are pretty close. If you know of examples of other great military or intelligence websites from around the world, please add them in the comments!
[Offtopic: by the way, have you ever visited Smashing Magazine's List of tags? There might be something interesting for you.]
The Outdated
The websites featured here might have looked great 10 or more years ago (which was likely when they were created). But either their designs haven’t been updated in a very long time or their designers are still borrowing conventions from the late ’90s.
Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Argentina
Everything from the color scheme to the header image to the skinny three-column layout dates this design.
Royal Bahamas Defence Force
This website wouldn’t look quite so dated if it weren’t for the drop-shadows behind the content blocks.
Bolivian and Venzuelan Ministry of Defence
The overall layout of this website screams early-2000s.
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus
Very minimalistic website with a solid background, gradients, tiny links and many  -empty spaces.
Colombian National Police
Here’s another great example of a website that would have looked right at home in the late ’90s or early 2000s.
Hellenic Navy
The thing that dates this website the most is its width: it would look right at home on a screen with a resolution of 800×600.
Macedonian Ministry of Defence
The layout, the partially rounded corners and the drop-shadow against the background all date this website.
Pakistan Maritime Security Agency
Using an image like this one as a background was very popular in the ’90s.
Serbian Ministry of Defense
The layout here is almost grid-like, but it doesn’t quite make it. The color scheme is the most outdated, though.
Slovenian Armed Forces
Another website that would have been current 8 to 10 years ago.
Spanish Armada
The rounded colors and glossy buttons would have looked great a few years ago, but now they just harken back to the earliest days of the Web 2.0 style.
The Russian Federation Ministry of Defence
The design has a striking resemblance to traditional Google AdSense blocks, and the line-height property for the content area certainly should be increased..
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence
The color scheme and typography here are definitely reminiscent of Web design 5 to 10 years ago.
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
The skinny layout, color scheme and overall look of this website feel at least 6 to 7 years old.
U.S. National Reconnaissance Office
This website screams late ’90s and early 2000s, especially the navigation and typography.
Uruguayan Air Force
This looks like it was based on a standard template from 5 to 10 years ago.
The Poorly Coded
These websites might not have been so bad if they were cross-browser compatible and adhered to Web standards even a little. But they are all so poorly coded that they don’t render correctly in browsers such as Firefox or Safari.
Luckily, there aren’t too many of them.
Brazilian Army
The coding on this website isn’t noticeably horrible… except for all the thin white lines running through the backgrounds and borders of the content blocks.
Pakistan Navy
I don’t even want to begin figuring out how they got the rounded-corner background to repeat like that in the main content area.
South African Army
This website wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the giant gray bar running down the main column, effectively blocking half the content.
United States Special Operations Command
The headers for all the content blocks here are fine, except the one for the news feeds, which prefers to be higher up on the page.
The Poorly Designed
These websites are just poorly designed. Some look like they were based on stock templates… bad ones. Others look like they were designed in programs aimed at hobbyists or those needing to set up personal websites (in any case, definitely not appropriate for government agencies).
Bolivian Army
Between the color scheme, the header (which doesn’t come close to spanning the whole design) and the broken icons, this website just doesn’t look good at all.
Cuban National Defence
I’m not sure where to begin with this one…
Egyptian Armed Forces
It looks like they couldn’t decide whether they wanted a minimalist website.
Republic of Fiji Military Forces
This looks like your classic template website, with minor modifications.
Ministry of Defence of Georgia
This wouldn’t be so bad if the content areas weren’t so disjointed.
Indian Air Force
This might have been salvageable, except for the horrible alignment.
Kenyan National Security Intelligence Service
The padding and margins in this website aren’t adequate, and the alignment is off in places. The concept is sound; it just needs to be better executed.
Lebanese Army
This website might not have been so bad if the colors complemented the camouflage background, rather than clashed with it.
The Philippine Marine Corps
This is another one for which I’m not even sure where to start.
Polish Land Forces
Forget for a moment how amateurish this one looks. Notice how the text doesn’t even match up with the navigation buttons.
Portuguese Army
From the header alone, it’s not so bad. It’s the lower area of this website that doesn’t seem to have any aim.
Romanian Land Forces
I’m still trying to figure out if that white bar across the top of each column is supposed to be there. Beyond that, they should have paid more attention to how the header colors go with the rest of the color scheme.
Royal Thai Army
There’s just way too much going on here, and no focal point to grab your attention.
Turkish Air Force
This almost made it into the “Not So Bad” category below, except that it doesn’t have any focus, and the alignment of some elements is off.
Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
The ads on this website should be better integrated in the overall design. Other than that, the design looks very dated.
United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence
Where’s the content?
Zimbabwe Ministry of Defence
There’s no color scheme here, and the entire thing looks like something a kid did in class.
The Not-So-Bad
The websites here aren’t terrible. In most cases, only minor things hold them back. Most of them could be great with just a bit more work.
Ministry of Defence of The Republic of Armenia
Other than the width of this website (which is a bit narrow for even an 800 x 600 display), it’s not a terrible design.
Australian Secret Intelligence Service
This design is just fine, other than being a bit boring. And the text could be slightly enlarged for easier reading.
Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina
If more attention was paid to the baseline or vertical rhythm, this would be a reasonably good design.
British Secret Intelligence Service
The angles in this design should either be better incorporated into the other elements or removed altogether. Other than that, it’s not bad.
Brundeswehr
This is one of those websites that doesn’t have anything particularly wrong with it. It’s just underwhelming.
Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China
The elements on this website don’t quite have enough continuity, but the color scheme and overall layout are good.
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia
This website is also underwhelming. Nothing particularly “wrong” with it, but not impressive either.
Ecuadorian Army
The header here is great, but the rest of the website doesn’t quite match up, and it feels a bit like a generic template.
Ecuadorian Navy
Parts of this website are great (the slidehow in the header, for instance) but other parts don’t quite match up, particularly the buttons on the right-hand side and the off-center navigation elements.
Armed Forces of Honduras
This website isn’t bad. But again, nothing makes it stand out.
Norwegian Ministry of Defense
Another example of a website that doesn’t do anything to stand out.
Peruvian Air Force
The idea here is good, but the result isn’t very interesting.
Portuguese Ministry of Defense
Another inoffensive yet unimpressive website.
Portuguese Navy
This would be great, but it has just a little too much going on. Some negative space would make a huge difference.
Saudi Arabian Ground Forces
This website is more interesting than some of the others here, but it doesn’t quite pull it together.
Sri Lanka Navy
Here’s another website that looks like a template. The use of white space could be better and makes everything look a bit disjointed.
Swiss Army
Another underwhelming, uninteresting design. At least it looks professional.
US Air Force
A professional yet boring design. But maybe that’s how military websites should look?
US Central Intelligence Agency
This website is way too narrow, and overall it’s just not eye-catching.
US Department of Defense
Too much is going on here, and the social media links (the icons especially) on the left look out of place.
US Navy
The icons and banners in the header don’t really fit the rest of this design.
A Few Good Sites
The websites below are the stars of this post. They are well designed, easy to use, professional and worthy of representing the armed forces and intelligence services.
Austrian Armed Forces
This one’s clean and well laid out, with plenty of white space and a great color scheme.
British Army
A professional-looking website, with a background that’s more interesting than most.
British Royal Air Force
Another website with an interesting background and a clean overall design.
British Security Service MI5
The color scheme here is great, as is the overall aesthetic, which is a cross between minimalist and magazine-style.
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria
A clean, well thought out design that makes good use of textures and gradients.
Chilean Navy
The header here is fantastic, and the rest of the layout works well.
Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of the Czech Republic
Another great header design: this one doubles as navigation. Each section of the website has a different color scheme, while maintaining the same basic look.
Defence Command Denmark
A minimalist layout that leaves plenty of white space.
The Finnish Defense Forces
A clean and organized design, with double-tabbed navigation bars.
Netherlands Ministry of Defence
The purple color scheme here is unexpected, but it works well and sets the website apart.
Polish Ministry of National Defense
This is one of the nicest designs in this post, especially because of the header.
Swedish Armed Forces
A good clean design with a minimalist aesthetic and great typography. The transparent titles over the images on the right really take it up a notch.
US National Security Agency
Professional, easy to use and coherent: everything an intelligence website should be.
US Army
The US Army website brings together a lot of content of various types while maintaining a usable and consistent user interface.
US Marine Corps
This website stands out mostly because of the grid used for the main content area and the ample white space everywhere else.
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© Cameron Chapman for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: showcases
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Inspiration, showcases
Cliff Maynard is a 38 year old male artist from Pittsburgh, United States. He is a maestro in Chronic Art, or — to be more specific — Roach Paper Art. Unusual but true, he uses unrolled roaches for his designs. His work is very original because his concept is unique and he has experimented with portraits from Jesus Christ to Bob Marley. The result is truly remarkable. Maybe that’s the reason why his art work always seizes attention. You can find more information about the artist and his work on Cliff Maynard’s website.
Roach Paper Art
Bob Marley
Jimi Hendrix
Creation
Seattle Hempfest
Jack Herer……The Hemperor
Cheech & Chong
Jesus Christ
Jim Morrison
Fossil
Jerry Garcia
Addiction
John Lennon
Snoop Dog
Method Man
Sacred Heart
Sativa
All images presented in this post were given permission to be published by the artist himself.
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Inspiration, paper art
By Tomas Laurinavicius
The main task of any store is to sell its products, so there is an important usability and user experience factor, making conversion rates and selling figures a primary consideration. However, marketing objectives often tend to conflict with design goals which way too often results in clumsy, overcrowded and busy e-commerce websites.
For this article, we researched current design patterns among the biggest and most popular online stores as well lesser known but professional outfits. The showcase below may not be very pretty, and we do not know how effective in terms of conversion rates they are, but because they exist, it is very likely to assume that they work one way or another.
Below, you’ll find 40+ online stores, with short observations on their design and usability. We hope this list helps you better understand the world of online shopping.
Content Sliders
Content sliders, also called slideshows or carousels, allow designers to squeeze more content into a block without cluttering space. They are also interactive.
Staples
Staples has a lot of white space and red accents. This store stands out for the unusual location of its navigation: the menu for its main products is in the left sidebar.
DealExtreme
DealExtreme uses mainly orange and blue in its design. All products appear with a short overview of the essential information.
Target.com
Target is an American retail company founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. Target is the second-largest discount retailer in the US behind Walmart. Its design is very minimalist: a lot of white space and emphasis on big pictures.
HSN.com
The Home Shopping Network is a 24-hour basic cable shopping network that is accessible on cable, satellite and some terrestrial channels in the US. The company also operates HSN.com, an e-commerce operation. Its design is simple and colorful. On the main page is a big slider with pictures and special offers. To help you find what you want, HSN offers horizontal drop-down navigation at the top.
Very
Very.co.uk has a dark background with its logo repeated. We also get a big slider with the latest offers.
Puma Online Shop
Puma has some good design elements such as white space, large images and contrast. The modern drop-down navigation at the top makes it easy to find what you’re looking for.
Real.de
Real.de looks refreshing and catchy with its variations of blue. The easy modern navigation at the top and the slider on the home page beckon the user to take action.
Play.com
Play.com is an online retailer of DVDs, CDs, books, gadgets, video games, DRM-free MP3 downloads and other electronic products, as well as clothes and accessories. It has a very colorful and playful layout. Two colors dominate: blue in the logo and horizontal navigation (on hover), and orange also in the logo and in the product names and top navigation. The “Shopping Basket” is set off in light green.
Simplicity
The philosophy less is more is also followed by online stores. Simplicity done well highlights products and make them more attractive. It also creates contrast between less important and more important products.
ShopNBC
ShopNBC uses white space and gray gradients to make its design simple and easy to navigate.
Liverpool
Liverpool uses an extremely slim layout and a playful pink and white combination. Liverpool demonstrates that less is more while remaining professional.
Ozon.ru
Ozon.ru is light and simple. Browsing products is easy, but the small font sizes make it a little confusing.
Ashford
Ashford looks elegant and projects a high-end image. The simple silver, white and red keep the design tasteful.
Overstock
Overstock has a clean and simple layout, similar to that of Tesco. At the top is a big search field that lets users easily find the search options.
Next
Next has a dark layout with big pictures. For a fashion store, its layout is clean and elegant.
Dean & Deluca
Dean & Deluca is different than the other online stores here, with its unusual fonts and subtle dark-green and white combination.
NBA Store
This layout retains the NBA’s three essential colors: white, red and blue. One can find a lot of team logos. The store is easy to navigate, thanks to the drop-down navigation at the top and the useful menu on the left.
Argos
Argos is the largest general goods retailer in the UK, with 750 stores. It is unique among major retailers in the UK because it promotes goods to customers primarily through its catalogue.
Rounded Corners… Again
Good or bad: rounded corners are still popular and are used for an attractive and playful look. They are friendlier and less aggressive than sharp rectangles. Almost all stores use more than one color on rounded-corner elements.
eForCity
eForCity has bright fresh colors—orange, light green and blue—which help customers easily find darker-colored products.
Dial a Phone
Dial a Phone’s layout is colorful and confusing. A lot of offers are shown, and each of them is in a different color.
eToys.com
eToys’ layout is playful and reminds one of childhood with its red and blue combination. Toys are shown without ads or special offers—just the essential information.
QVC.com
QVC is a multi-national corporation that specializes in television home shopping. Its name stands for quality, value and convenience, the three pillars of the company’s vision. QVC uses big font size at the top for its navigation and a breadcrumb, helping users find what they want.
Lidl
Lidl is similar to ALDI (mentioned below) with its red, green and yellow combination. Lidl differs with its rounded corners and darker background.
Pixmania
Pixmania is a pan-European e-tailer of digital photography and consumer electronic goods. Pixmania has a colorful layout and broad category list, to the point of looking a bit confusing.
Walmart
Walmart is a US-based chain of large discount department stores. It is the world’s largest publicly incorporated company by revenue, according to Fortune Global 500’s 2008 report. Walmart’s online layout is slim compared to that of the other big online stores, which is good if the user is on a lower-resolution browser. Walmart also has breadcrumbs at the top, helping users remember where they are.
Portals
E-commerce portals are the most common design trend among e-commerce websites today. Shops are using a two or more columns layout, colorful illustrations, sliders and big navigation menus to make shopping online more easier.
ALDI
ALDI has subtle gradients and a simple layout. Clients can easily find what they’re looking for using the simple navigation at the top.
REWE
REWE stands out with its beautiful background and catchy product illustrations. The call-to-action buttons make this store really impressive.
Pigu.lt
Pigu.lt is the biggest online store in Lithuania. The layout is in a Web 2.0 style, with a lot of white space. The left sidebar is a little confusing, and the information is bit too much.
ASOS.com
ASOS is the UK’s largest online-only fashion and beauty store. Aimed at 16 to 34 year olds, it offers over 19,500 own-label and branded fashion goods. The design is minimalist and clean.
Zappos
Zappos is an online shoe and clothing store. It stands out with its “alphabetical brand index” navigation at the top and big footer.
Tesco
Tesco stands out from other stores with its unusual navigation. The design is clean and easy to navigate. The images in the navigation help users find what they want fast.
Macy’s
Macy’s design is minimalist. The small font size is risky because it takes longer to notice the links.
Comet
Comet’s design is fresh because of the dominant yellow. The layout is wide, allowing the company to display more information about its products.
Karstadt
Arcandor AG (formerly KarstadtQuelle AG) is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies involved in mail order and Internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. Arcandor has a big slider on its home page to display special offers. The header has a city landscape, making this store stand out from the crowd.
Best Buy
Best Buy’s layout is slim and colorful. Everything looks good, except the sometimes annoying advertisement at the top.
Carphone Warehouse
This layout is clean and has a lot of white space. The breadcrumb at the top lets users know where they are.
Zazzle
Zazzle has a dark header that highlights the navigation and creates contrast. Essential information is contained in the dark header, and products are shown against a light background to make them pop.
Buy.com
Buy.com’s layout is simple and clean. Effective use of white space and good product pictures make for a simple and professional look.
Eastbay
This layout looks a bit confusing with its small details and busy colors. Its strengths are the modern sliders and lightboxes.
Sears
Sears looks fresh and clean. Web 2.0 colors, a wide layout and white space makes this store easy to navigate.
Shoes.com
Shoes.com effectively uses slab fonts and fresh colors like pink, light blue, orange and green. The simple and minimalist navigation at the top is functional and easy to use.
Onlineshoes.com
Compared to Shoes.com, the color scheme for Onlineshoes.com is similar, but with a dominant orange. The store stands out for its unusual left alignment.
Currys
Red and blue dominate this design. Currys uses Web 2.0-style navigation at the top and various sliders.
Office Depot
Office Depot is similar to Staples in its use of white and red, but different in its placement of the navigation and search field.
NikeStore
NikeStore is a leading online store. Subtle colors, contrast, beautiful typography and Flash elements make you feel that you’re in right place.
Newegg.com
Newegg uses blue and light orange as its main colors. The wide layout keeps the page from looking overloaded, letting users find products easily.
Further Resources
Here are some other articles and resources related to e-commerce:
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About the author
Tomas Laurinavicius is a design blogger from Lithuania. He’s interested in web/graphic design, Photoshop, WordPress and social media. He runs a design blog called WebDesignFan. You can follow him on Twitter.
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, e-Commerce, Inspiration, stores
Propaganda is most well known in the form of war posters. But at its core, it is a mode of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Although propaganda is often used to manipulate human emotions by displaying facts selectively, it can also be very effective at conveying messages and hence can be used in web design, too.
Notice that propaganda uses loaded messages to change the attitude toward the subject in the target audience. When applied to web design, you may experiment with techniques used in propaganda posters and use them creatively to achieve a unique and memorable design.
In this article, we look at various types of propaganda and the people behind it, people who are rarely seen next to their work. You will also see how the drive for propaganda shaped many of the modern art movements we see today. Notice that this post isn’t supposed to be an ultimate showcase of propaganda artists. Something or somebody is missing? Please let us know in the comments to this post!
William Orpen: England, 1917
Orpen studied at the Slade School in London alongside the likes of Augustus John and Wyndham Lewis. He produced some of his best work while at the school and became known for his portraits. A friend of Orpen then arranged for him to paint the pictures of senior military officials, such as Lord Derby and Churchill. In 1917, he was recruited by the government’s head of War Propaganda to the Western front to paint images of war-torn France. It was there that Orpen painted his most famous piece, “Dead Germans in a Trench.”
Dimitri Moor: Russia, 1917–1921
Dimitri Moor (or Dmitry Stakhievich Orlov) changed the face of graphic design in Soviet Russia back in 1918. His work dominated both the Bolshevik Era (1917–1921) and the New Economic Policy (1921–1927). The main theme of Moor’s work is the stark contrast between the oppressive evil and the heroic allies. A lot of pressure was put on Russian workers to rise up against imperialism.
A lot of Moor’s artwork was restricted to black and red. Black was generally used for the main part of the poster, and all of the solid colors for the capitalists. Red was used for socialist elements such as flags and workers’ shirts.
This is a lesser known poster by the artist, appealing for help for those staving from the Russian famine in 1920. It features the single word “Pomogi,” meaning help. The drawing is of an old man who is just skin and bone. The last stalks of barley are barely visible in the background.
El Lissitzky: Russia, 1920
El Lissitzky spent his whole career absorbed by the belief that the artist could be an agent for change and good, and his work in a lot of respects shows this. He himself was a huge agent of change in the artistic movements of the time. He was one of the fathers of suprematism, along with Kazimir Malevich; and along with many of his peers, he changed the look of typography, exhibition design, photo montage and book cover design. Most of the modern techniques we see today and that appear in film and modern Kenetic typography are the product of Lissitzky’s work.
Beat the Whites With the Red Wedge, 1920
One of his most famous pieces, shown below, really embodies Lissitzky’s work. It is so avant garde that even a lay person could recognize the style. The abstract geometric shapes and clear color pallet scream of modernist art, and yet the poster has a real message. It describes the Russian revolution that took place in 1917. The white circle represents the royalists from the old regime, and the red triangle represents the communists moving in and changing opinion. It has been described as a stylized battle plan for communist victory.
You might also recognize it from Franz Ferdinand’s album cover:
Then in 1921, El Lissitzky accepted a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to Germany. His work influenced a lot of the iconic designs of the Bauhaus and De Stijil movements. His last poster, seen below, was a return to propaganda, with a poster encouraging the Russian people to help Russia build more tanks to win the war against Nazi Germany.
Strakhov Braslavskij: Russia, 1926
Braslavskij was known for his posters that promoted the emancipation of women. During this time in Russia, the idea of gender equality was growing. Emancipated women were seen to be supporters of the communist agenda, and so they needed to be freed from their so-called duties as wives and mothers.
The emancipation of women and the socialist movement went pretty much hand in hand. In the poster below, we see almost a confluence of the sexes. The woman is drawn somewhat androgynously, wearing masculine clothing that hides her female figure, and a cold hard stare that hides her emotions. Behind her is her place of work, showing that women can do the same hard labor as men, and she carries the red flag of the communist movement.
The curious thing is that the image shows not so much the emancipation of women as it does a way to turn women into men, dressing them in men’s clothing, showing them as working in factories, and hiding their femininity. It seems the real reason to emancipate women was simply to increase the workforce and thus strengthen the communist movement.
Hans Schweitzer: Germany, 1930s
In Germany in the 1930s, propaganda was in full swing and being used by Hitler’s advisers to call the German people to arms and spread lies about the Jews. One of the most famous artists behind Nazi propaganda was Hans Schweitzer, known as “Mjolnir.” This poster by Hans Schweitzer shows the typical pro-Nazi theme of the German army’s strength, depicting an S.A. man standing next to a solider. The text reads, “The guarantee of German military strength!”
This next poster by Mjolnir, titled “Our Last Hope: Hitler” was used in the presidential elections of 1932, when Germany was suffering through its great depression. Nazi propagandists targeted the German people who were unemployed and living on the breadline, and they suggested Hitler as their way out, their savior.
The propaganda then used the scapegoat of the Jews, blaming them for all of Germany’s problems and the war. Many posters were entitled, “He is guilty for the war.” This was the key message of Hitler to start his campaign of terror and for the ethnic cleansing that ensued. Almost the entire campaign from beginning to end was driven by the artist Mjolnir. Just as the media molds public opinion today, Mjolnir most definitely molded the opinion of the German people through his designs. There is no doubts about the immorality and emotional deception of these designs; they are still worth mentioning because they were extremely powerful and effective at the time.
Valentina Kulagina: Russia, 1930
Kulagina was one of the few female poster artists to emerge from the 20th century. Her art was heavily influenced by suprematism, and you can see the similarity between her work and that of El Lissitzky. This poster, called “To Defend USSR” was created by Kulagina in 1930. It takes a cubist perspective in its multi-dimensional shapes, and it shows the Red army as huge almost robotic figures, marching from the factories to fight the war. They are surrounded by the tiny white airplanes of the royalists, which appear to have no effect on them at all and in fact seem to be flying through the figures.
Phillip Zec: England, 1930
Phillip Zec was probably best known for his depictions of Nazis as snakes and vultures. At the time, Nazis were usually drawn as bumbling clowns or buffoons. But Zec brought out the more sinister side of the German regime in his drawings. Hitler reportedly hated Zec so much that he added him to his black list and ordered his arrest following the invasion of Britain. He blamed Zec’s Jewish ancestry for his extreme ideas.
This poster by Zec was a call for women to join the war effort by working in the munitions factories.
This ugly toad is former Prime Minister of France Pierre Laval, who decided to work closely with the Nazi command during World War II.
This illustration is about the French Resistance, telling Hitler that it was very much alive.
Gino Boccasile: Italy, 1930
Gino Boccasile was a supporter of Benito Mussolini and produced a lot of propaganda for him. His posters became increasingly racist and anti-semitic as his support for the German puppet state increased. After the war, Boccasile was sent to prison for collaborating with the fascist regime. The only work he could find after his release from prison was as a pornographic artist and working in advertising for Paglieri cosmetics and Zenith footwear.
He became well known for his advertising and pornography.
Pablo Picasso: Spain, 1937
Picasso painted Guernica in response to the bombing of the town by Germany and Italy, which were following orders from Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937. The giant mural shows the tragedy of war, using innocents civilians as the focal point. It became a huge symbol of anti-war, and upon completion it was exhibited worldwide to spread the message. The piece also educated other countries about the horror of the Spanish Civil War, which till then most people had never heard of.
Norman Rockwell: US, 1939
Norman Rockwell is probably one of the best known of the propoganda movement. He admitted that he was just a propaganda stooge for the Saturday Evening Post. The newspaper paid many artists and illustrators to whitewash American news with patriotism and propaganda for around 50 years.
His work has often been dismissed as idealistic or sentimental. His depiction of American life included young boys running away from a “No swimming” sign, and happy-go-lucky US citizens going about their business unaware of the crumbling world around them.
Rockwell’s famous Rosie the Riveter poster is shown below, representing the American women who worked in the munitions and war supplies factories during World War II. This was a call to arms for the women of America to become strong capable females and support the war effort.
J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!,” commonly mistaken to depict Rosie the Riveter, conveyed the same message:
Rockwell was always unhappy with the politics of the Saturday Evening Post, so in his later years, he took up the controversial subject of racism in America. He became respected as a painter for these hard-hitting pieces of American culture, much more so than for his work for the Saturday Evening Post. The piece below is called “The Problem We All Live With.” It is not known whether this painting is based solely on the Ruby Bridges story, because it was also thought that the idea came from John Steinbeck’s book Travels With Charley.
The subject was the integration of black children in American schools. Little Ruby Bridges was filmed making her way into the William Franz School at 8:40 am. At this time, a gigantic crowd of 150 white women and male youth had gathered. They threw tomatoes and shouted vile comments at the tiny girl. It is hard to look at this picture without being affected.
Xu Ling: China, 1950
It is hard to find details on these Chinese artists, but we can focus on what they intended to convey with their artwork. This piece is a caricature of the American commander in Korea at that time, General MacArthur. It shows the US as an aborrent evil, and Macarthur is shown stabbing a Korean mother and child. Bombs labeled US are being dropped on cities in China in the background as the US invades Korea.
Ye Shanlu (???): China, 1952
Again, little is known of the artist, but we do know this piece told people to get immunized against any epidemics to combat germ warfare. The Chinese were convinced that the US was planning to use bacterial weaponry against them, so they set about organizing massive inoculation drives to protect the Chinese people.
Ning Hao: China, 1954
Along the lines of Rosie the Riveter, this Ning Hao piece reflects women being asked to work in the factories alongside men, partially to support their emancipation, but mostly to increase the labor force in China.
Jim Fitzpatrick: Ireland, 1968
Jim Fitzpatrick was a well-known Irish Celtic artist of his time, but he is probably best known for his Che Guevara poster in 1968. It is said that Fitzpatrick took the death of the revolutionary personally. He had once met him when Guevara flew into Ireland in 1963 and checked into the Marine Hotel pub in Kilkee. Fitzpatrick was only a teenager at the time and had been working there over the summer. The poster became a global icon during the anti-Vietnam war protests and is now the symbol of F.A.R.C. in Columbia and the Mexican Zapitista who are fighting for their freedom.
The image was also used during the violent Paris student riots in 1968. Across the rest of the West, the Marxist Che Guevara image is overused by any kid suffering from teenage angst.
Huynh Van Thuan: Vietnam, 1972
I could not find any information about Huynh Van Thuan, but I found this piece reminiscent of 1960s movie posters about the Vietnam war and so decided to include it.
Micah Ian Wright: US, 2003
After Micah Wright graduated, he worked a while for Nickelodeon and wrote for The Angry Beavers cartoon. Then in 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, Micah published his anti-war protest book. The book was filled with satires of old war propaganda posters that Micah had reprinted with modern war messages.
Brian Lane Winfield Moore: US, 2009
Brain Moore is a modern propaganda artist who exhibts his work on his blog. He lives in Brooklyn and is probably best known for his promotion of net neutrality and his work during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The posters are based on old WWIII propaganda posters but updated in their message to match today’s technology and Web culture.
This poster was a comment on the 2009 Iran election protests. He borrowed the old “loose lips” refrain and replaced it with tweets.
This next one was about the proposed Internet regulation that would supposedly curb illegal activities on the ‘net and help fight the “war on terror.”
Unknown artist: UK, 2010
I could not identify the artist behind this one but had to include it for its clever use of old Tory values and the play on the Scooby Doo gang’s unveiling of the monster. The Tory party now occupies 10 Downing Street, and David Cameron is now Prime Minister of England. This poster shows the lack of faith in Cameron’s promise to be a force for change and not just another Thatcher.
[By the way: The
network tab (on the top of the page) is updated several times a day. It features selected articles from the best web design blogs!]
Last Click
Nick Griffin is not an artist, he is the chairman of the British National Party (BNP). Just as most other national parties across the globe, BNP is a good example of propaganda techniques being used to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. BNP has used them to build their hate-filled ranks for years. BNP is extremely good at speaking to people in plain, emotional language and affecting those who experience personal problems and want to find someone who can be blamed for these problems.
Just like many other national parties, BNP is blaming foreigners for these problems and uses strong religious metaphors to deliver the message. Very powerful, yet extremely unethical. This is an example of propaganda being used to manipulate people in a very deceptive, unfair manner.
(al)
© Claire Stokoe for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: Graphic design, propaganda, showcases
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Graphic design, Inspiration, propaganda, showcases
We frequently talk about typography here at WDL. Whether it be in web design or print design, typography plays a big part in making or breaking a design, especially if the design’s main focus is typography. In this post we are showcasing 30 typography focused logo designs. In these logos you won’t find any icons or symbols. It’s all about type.
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Inspiration, logos, typography
A while back we published an article showing you 50 Inspiring iPhone Application Websites. Since then, we’ve seen the launch of Apple’s iPad along with thousands of apps designed just for the device. This means that just like the iPhone, many of these iPad applications have their own website for promotion. So in order to bring you more inspiration, we’ve sifted through them and found 34 of the best.
About the Author
Gisele Muller is someone that recently discovered a new career online. A person that really likes technology, design, photography and creativity. An eternal geek wannabe, tech fan and a communication lover! Current location: Porto Alegre, RS – Brazil. Twitter: @gismullr
Tags: - Virtualization, apple, Application Packaging, Inspiration, ipad, web design
It may be small, but Lithuania is the geographic center of Europe, and the meeting of Western and Eastern culture is evident. Lithuania is one of three Baltic countries, so-called for its proximity to the Baltic Sea. In 2009, it celebrated the thousand-year anniversary of its name.
Lithuania is known worldwide for its love of basketball, but today we’ll acquaint you with its Web design industry. In Web design, Lithuania is still a young country; the Internet boom began only about five years ago, and the country doesn’t have a good Web design school.
Most Web designers have studied in Western countries or are self-taught. Most work is done for hotels, rural tourism and real estate websites. Lithuania quickly adopts new technologies, and demand for Web designers and developers is increasing. While preparing this showcase, I noticed that many Lithuanian Web designers like Flash technology. Many websites have Flash elements, which can help present a company’s goals, services and prior work. Flash can help websites look professional, modern and dynamic.
Lithanian web design at its best: Šturmu Švyturio Žuvys
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]
State Of Affairs
To better understand the Lithuanian Web design scene, I interviewed two professional and experienced freelance Web designers about their work.
I spoke with Donatas Vainilaitis, a freelance designer who has worked with companies from Lithuania and Europe, and Osvaldas Valutis, another freelance Web designer and student. Both are based in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city.
Donatas Vainilaitis is a freelance Web and graphic designer. His career began in 2003; since then, he has worked for a number of design studios, advertising agencies and corporations. Donatas’ favorite tools are Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.
Osvaldas Valutis is a 21-year-old front- and back-end Web designer and developer based in Vilnius. Valutis is working as a freelancer while finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Vilnius University.
Bohemieciai
Question: Describe the life of a freelancer, developer and designer in Lithuania.
Donatas Vainilaitis: It’s complicated because you are also an accountant, manager, director and so on! But it’s a lot of fun. Everything depends on you and you alone. When something goes wrong, the blame is yours, but when you make something beautiful and useful, it’s so satisfying. It’s also a huge responsibility. Some people like it and some don’t. I love it.
Everyone thinks that when you freelance you sleep until 2:00 pm, and you work solely with clients you like. That’s not true; you must work a full day to be successful. The client must know that if he calls you at 9:30 am you won’t still be in bed and you will be able to answer all his questions with a clear mind. Of course, when you finish a big project or you’re waiting for feedback from a client, you can have a couple of days off—even in the middle of the week. That’s one advantage to making your own schedule. In fact, there are many advantages that have probably already been covered in thousands of other articles, so I won’t mention any others.
Osvaldas Valutis: Designers design, and developers develop. To each his own. Although I don’t design for print or the Web, I enjoy coding, experimenting with CSS3 and enabling functionality in my own designs (I’m sure I’m not the only exception to the rule). Believe it or not, the thrill of being able to do everything, from A to Z, is like a drug; this is a passion. And filling it up with caffeine increases the thrill!
Yes, you’re right: there is a world outside. I’m also a student, and basketball is my second religion (along with three million other people). I can’t say that I differ greatly from a typical inhabitant of Earth, but we are all unique. (Have you seen the movie K-Pax?)
Mes laimesim 2009
Question: Are there any regular meetings or events?
Donatas: I usually try to meet clients face to face. Of course, if he’s in another country, then it’s more complicated, but not impossible. This isn’t necessary, but it’s how I like to work.
Of course, there are necessary meetings, like when you are working on a big project with a group of people. It’s much better to meet somewhere in person than to hold Skype conferences or write long email threads.
Osvaldas: I wish individual designers and developers had more opportunities to participate in events related to Web design and development, but the offline life isn’t that dynamic yet. I’m not saying nothing is going on in public, but we lack specific events. Bloggers, for example, have a real festival for themselves every year. Should I start blogging or buy a ticket for “The Future of Web Apps: Miami”? Or both?
Funkyart.lt
Question: Where do you get inspiration from?
Donatas: Usually, I’m as far away from the computer as possible when I get inspired. Books, people, events and exhibitions are inspiring, especially when I’m struggling with a project. I turn off the computer and go out for some fresh air. Sometimes I don’t turn it back on for a few days. The Internet is a good source of inspiration, but only when you know what you’re looking for. Browsing websites aimlessly overloads your brain with useless information.
Osvaldas: I don’t have a specific inspirational source. I’m inspired by various subjects: people and their creations (no names—I’m speaking generally); nature (if you check out my website, you’ll see what I mean); pixel-perfect designs; tasteful and carefully chosen colors and fonts (while strong shadows and awkward borders have the opposite effect—they throw me off track). Some avoid recalling the Web design habits from the last decade, but for me it’s dark humor.
Dia Bites
Question: What’s the situation with the market? How much do designers earn?
Donatas: Designers will never earn enough, that’s for sure. I can’t speak for other designers. There are so many of them, and they work at different levels and all have their own principles. For some, the priority is money, and for others it’s the quality of their work. For me, I feel successful when I can eat what I want to eat, live where I want to live, buy things that are necessary and go on vacation more than twice a year.
Osvaldas: Earning a living as a professional designer isn’t an inexplicable phenomenon. Its feasibility depends on your business style and how intelligent—not rich!—your clients are. Personally, I aim for quality, so I will never support cookie-cutter websites. In a capitalist system, there will always be two types of workers: those who fight to survive and those who are financially successful and stable. Freelancers vascillate between these two states until they find their own place under the sun, so to speak. Be brave and find yours!
Title.lt
Question: Is being a Web designer considered high-level, sophisticated work?
Donatas: I think there are too many Web designers right now. Let’s say I meet ten designers today. Only one of them could I call a high-level, sophisticated professional. But I think this has more to do with character than with the profession itself.
Osvaldas: The more experienced you are, the better the results you are expected to produce. Sophistication in this field has to do with personality, with a person’s ability to manage him or herself. Of course, life forces you into all kinds of situations, and one more skill will always make the way easier. It’s hard to believe, but learning something new every day can positively affect your life!
Maltosa
Question: Do designers still use tables for layouts?
Osvaldas: Yes, it happens sometimes. I’m really surprised when some of the top-rated Lithuanian Web agencies use tables for layouts, but I think it’s only a matter of time before <table> is used only for tables. Coding culture is geting more positive all the time, which is good. I know that Lithuanians care about their code.
Question: How do Lithuanian designers handle typography? Are any particular font-embedding techniques widely used? Are many fonts available? How vivid is typography in Lithuanian Web design?
Osvaldas: Typography on the Web in Lithuania is tidy enough. Content is easy to read, so the best word to describe it is “simple” (although I don’t want to leave out “courageous”). Designers aren’t sure (and I have to admit, neither am I) about how to use font-embedding techniques. Typography here is, in a way, static. I believe the inability of CSS2 to embed fonts is one reason for this, but waiting until CSS3 works for all Web browsers is not a solution. From now on, I promise to be more universal. Are you all with me?
Konkursas
Question: Are any features unique to Lithuanian Web design?
Donatas: I don’t think so. There is no Web design school in Lithuania that could teach you more than average Photoshop or Flash skills. Most Web designers here are self-taught. They browse the Web and read tutorials—which, of course, are not Lithuania-oriented—and everyone develops their own style over years of working at the job.
Osvaldas: I touched on this topic in my answer above. Briefly, a few shortcomings are vibrant fonts, forms and textures; these techniques are typically avoided, although I have spotted some changes recently. So the situation is getting more interesting every day. Conclusions? Don’t be afraid to innovate. The first reaction is usually skepticism, but in time people adapt and find benefits.
Moma.lt
Question: How does it all work? Is the situation currently comfortable or difficult? Do most customers want English-language or Lithuanian-language websites?
Donatas: It depends. What do you call a comfortable or difficult situation? If it has to do with money, then yes, you have to work more to earn the amount of money that you earned two years ago. However, there are some good things about the way the business has changed: people have become more careful about the money they spend, and people have to be more serious about the products they sell. The customer comes with a certain amount of money to spend on their website, and they need a good project, a good designer and good service. This is the time to show yourself off and also to evaluate your own skills. If you can make it through this hard time on your own, then you can truthfully say that you are a specialist in your field, and you will have gained a lot of confidence.
Osvaldas: When the economic recession caught us, I thought, “Oh no. Will my income get too tight? Will I lose my current clients, not to mention the possibility of new ones?” Believe it or not, nothing like that happened. Rather, things turned out better than I thought they could. Some say God saves us, but I say everyone is the master of his own destiny.
Lithuanian-language websites are, of course, the priority, but clients in most cases do not refuse a second or even third language on their website. Handling multi-language technologies and concepts isn’t actually that difficult to do.
Showcase of Web Design in Lithuania
Biggest Graphiti
Padekmums.lt
Nfq.lt
Trakai Muziejus
Ziedas.lt
Interjet Aibesaiko
Sodyba Teviške
Vilnius – mano namai
Kaledu stebuklas
Lopšiniu radijas
Estrella Naturals
Augink.lt
suelektradraugauju.lt
Loweage
Omnitel
Turo prekyba
Saugus vartojimo kreditas
Pildyk Bonai
Ecoservice
Algirdas City Hotels
SPA Vilnius SANA
Meškafonas
Valdyk IT
Vesa.lt
Polivarkas
Šviežia kava
Ežio stažas
Tapatybe.lt
Tavo baras
Ozo parkas
Traku istorijos muziejus
Evita
Plazma
Pavasaris
Romantic Hotel
Pieno žvaigždes
Agote
a priori
Bendri krantai
Domino teatras
Tamulynas
Pramogos be narkotiku
Vilniaus degtine
Baltijos prodiuseriu grupe
Vichy vandens parkas
SKC
Pizza Jazz
Floralitos dizainas
Domus Mea
Pildyk
Indance
Geros nuotaikos generatorius
Belvedere
Web Agencies
Kryptis
TAPE dizaino studija
Artogama
Indigo kids
For such a small country, Lithuania has more Web agencies than you might think. The best known are Gaumina, Kryptis, Itema, Profis and Artogama.
Freelancers
Most freelancers in Lithuania are young and self-taught. Some do really great work and are professional enough to represent Lithuania. Not all freelancers have a self-hosted portfolio; most of them use Behance, DeviantArt, Flickr and other networks to display their work.
osvaldas.info
Designbox.lt
daco.lt
Dual.lt
33.lt
Lithuanian Design Galleries
What Do You Think?
What do you think of the Lithuanian Web industry? Have any exceptional websites not been included here? Share your thoughts.
Related Posts
You may be interested in the following related posts:
(al)
© Tomas Laurinavičius for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: showcases
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Global Web Design, Inspiration, showcases
The times when paper was considered to be the primary medium for artistic expression is long gone. Many writers and designers use digital media to improvise and develop their ideas. However, there is something particuliar in this “physical” canvas — something that keeps us getting back to paper when we want to brainstorm ideas in a notebook, doodle around in a sketchbook, collect inspiration in a scrapbook or just draw some sketches for the next project.
In fact, paper is even more powerful than that. It is a very flexible medium. You can use it paper only for giving your ideas and feelings forms, but also as an expressive medium for creative artworks formed out of paper. You can create a sharp-edged paper plane or ship, but also form twisted curves of nature or complicated geometrical shapes. In this weekend’s post we present a showcase of paper art; you wil find many beautiful carved, folded, cut out paper objects and realistic 3D paper sculptures, all using paper, cardboxes or even books as materials. Please make sure to follow the links to explore further works of the artists presented below.
You may be interested in the following related posts:
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]
The Beauty of Paper Art
Apples
Buscando a la serpiente
Paper Tunnel by Jen Stark
Flat Globe Cutting Book Series “AKIRA CLUB”
Golden Swan
Paper flowers
Face
Bijoux
Artists who make pieces, Artists who do books (detail)
Paper art 3 from Jen Stark
Lost At E Minor
Icosahedron
World Books
Custom topography of St. Thomas
Paper Latern
Deep Sea Tango
Sunflower
Flock
Holding on to myself
Helen Musselwhite: Romany Caravan
Paper Drummer
Charles Clary 4
Indian Tree
O Ero He`ll Fight (Detail)
Typography
My Modern Metropolis
My Modern Metropolis 2
Paper Mask
Last Click
Wataru Itou
This paper model looks very impressive with all the little lights illuminating it. Be sure to hit up the link for more pictures of this masterpiece.
Related Posts
You may be interested in the following related posts:
© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: paper, photos
Tags: - Virtualization, Application Packaging, Inspiration, paper, photos
