TypeKit will still provide you access to a wide range of fonts for a low subscription fee, and will also go a long way to serving up the most appropriate format to different user agents.

Nice to see things moving forward and the industry starting to address the massive market that has been pretty much ignored to date.

I like the consideration for some of the less obvious ways that we use physical magazines and how these might be replicated – like leaving something lying around on a coffee table to make some kind of statement about your taste and attitudes.

Thanks to Dave for sending me the link.

Also check out how they are animating the position of the balloons and clouds using javascript to respond to scroll behaviour. Very nice, subtle touch.

A really good example of this done well is BellamyStudio. I ended up looking at the site after a friend mentioned it. Each template has a very clear hierarchy of information, and the type design makes it extremely simple to scan a page and pick up the key messages. The overall visual design is simple enough to let the detail in typography and content come across without interference.

I love how stunning the overall design is, but also how simple. Little details show just how much thought has been put into this – I love the subtle use of colour to pick out the heading from the main content paragraph on each page.

The main issue that I’ve hit is that Typekit is geared around web licensing and delivery of font files – so a subscription will give you access to a wide range of fonts that can then be downloaded from your site and used to render text. However the earlier stage in the workflow is working on page designs in Photoshop, and a Typekit subscription won’t give you any access or rights around downloading a font definition file to use for design work.

This means that theoretically I have much more freedom around typography, but only when I come to the build stage of the site. I wouldn’t necessarily mind paying for a font separately from the Typekit subscription, but I can’t actually find the same font I would like to use on the foundry site (admittedly this may just be my own stupidity).

I think this is just a teething issue with a new service – it’s being discussed on the support forum…

• Send a font list/library to a designer
• Use a font in Photoshop
• Downloadable versions

After learning that I have at least one occasional mobile using accessing the site (yes Jimmy, that’s you!) I’ve put in place a much more appropriate stylesheet, linked in with the handheld media type. I’ve been testing this against Opera – pressing Shift-F11 will switch Opera to handheld mode and will emulate it’s rendering behaviour when running on a mobile device. I think overall it works pretty well. Some of the features include…

• Only 2 images in the design, and these are mini, mini images (3K each)
• Single column fluid layout
• More appropriate text sizing and margins
• Better sizing of form controls

I don’t really know enough about how widely the handheld media type has been adopted by mobile browsers, but I guess at least Opera crops up all over the place and it will render really nicely. Any feedback from my one mobile user would be appreciated

While I was in the mood I’ve also added a print stylesheet, so think I should now be covered all round. I might have a little rant about Aural media type shortly, but will save that treat for another day.

I freely admit my own background and personal preference is totally based around complete simplicity, with each interface helping you with a single task. I find it fascinating how to approach putting together a coherent design for a much more multi-task interface. I suspect my own bias is partly based in the fact that I haven’t been educated in grid-based design, so should have a go at something similar to the site that is used for illustration.

I couldn’t really find anything that appealed to me (that I hadn’t already seen). However, I did notice that Prince Charles have redesigned their site recently, and the new version is really well structured and easy to use. I think they’ve done a great job of presenting lots of information in one place without leaving you feeling like you don’t know where to look. I tend to be a little short-sighted and tired this time of night, but could intuitively get what I needed without thinking about it at all.

In constrast, the Curzon site manages to incorporate most of my pet hates about design. They have much less information on the page, but leave you feeling stressed and unsure what to look at. There’s no kind of visual hierarchy to guide the eye (everything in upper case), so you have to read most of the content to work out which piece to look at. The cherry on top is a layer of pointless and annoying animation.

I think you really have to consider your situation when making decisions around design. Cinema sites are purely functional, so I’d like to be able to get the information I want as quickly and efficiently as possible. I really don’t think animation works well in this context at all.

Anyway, as you can gather I ended up ranting about design instead of going to the cinema. Fool. At least I get to test out my tasty new keyboard.