The Web Designers Idea Book by Patrick McNeil

I’m sure most designers out there have visited Patrick McNeil’s Design Meltdown, it one of the best sources for inspiration and Patricks categorisation of themes, trends and styles make it simple and easy to use.

Well Patrick has written a book which he’s called The Web Designer’s Idea Book and has filled it with a selection of “the very best examples” (quoted from the back of his book) and my Havoc Studios design is featured in the Modules section (page 230).

Havoc Studios on page 230

He’s even mentioned the design directly in the section summary:

…Another site that creates a highly scannable design via modules the Havoc Studios site. By placing the content into clear modules with prominent labels, users can scan for and find the content they are looking for. In this case, the most recent content is appropriately highlighted and easy to find. This helps returning visitors find the fresh content without being distracted by old news.

So as you can imagine I’m very honoured.

Patrick has done a fantastic job with The Web Designer’s Idea Book. I highly recommend it as a handy resource for inspiration. So go out and buy it!

Note: Havoc Studios is no longer live. It was my original blog and collaboration with friend Paul Stanton. The design however lives on in my portfolio and now in The Web Designer’s Idea Book.

OK, I’ve not written one of the six page spreads’ whose titles adorn the front cover (yet), but I am very proud to appear in the Readers’ Sites showcase on page 16. I’ve come across some great designers in this section since I’ve been reading .net and it humbles me to appear alongside them.

My slot in the readers sites showcase

I wrote:

Havoc Inspired is the home of my personal blog and portfolio and has just undergone a major redesign conforming to web standards throughout. My aim has been to link all my online personas into one central hub, giving visitors small snippets of what’s going on in my life as they move through the site. The blog is powered by Movable Type using my own templates, CSS, PHP and jQuery for elements such as the Ajax comments and preview. I used a neon brush set in Photoshop to achieve the flame effect and experimented with gradients and filters for the background texture that is designed to pull your focus towards the centre of the site.

Thanks .net people for including me!