Web Design Critique #23: Kuenstler
Every week we take a look at a new website and analyze the design. We’ll point out both the areas that are done well in addition to those that could use some work. Finally, we’ll finish by asking you to provide your own feedback both through comments and by voting in our design poll.
Today’s site is Künstler.co.at.
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About Kuenstler
“Use our website to introduce yourself and your art, you increase your reach and talk to people all over the world, because no matter whether you are a musician, writer or sculptor: künstler.co.at is the right platform for you.”
Here is a screenshot of the homepage:
As always, from we’ll use this as a jumping off point and analyze first the overall design and then talk discuss some specific areas.
First Impressions
Right off the bat, I like the overall look of the site. It’s bright, colorful, contains plenty of whitespace and has a logical, easy to follow layout.
The graphics are definitely eye-catching and the large JavaScript slider is a great way to both make the site feel more dynamic and cram a lot of content into a single page in a completely uncluttered way.
I could tell instantly that the site is using Lobster for the typography. Lobster is a beautiful and bold typeface that is completely free and makes for a great candidate if you’re ever going to embed custom fonts (especially a script) into your site.
Repetition
Another thing that the site does well is repetition. A visual theme has been strongly established and is returned to at various places throughout the design.
Visual repetition is one of your primary tools in design and you should absolutely learn how to wield it. This site includes quite a bit of repetition and in my opinion doesn’t take it too far but pushes it right to the edge. Too much more might have been going overboard and too much less may have not been as effective.
The Logo
The first place you see the Lobster typeface being used is the logo. I’m fine with this as it is a strong, readable script perfect for logos. However, I definitely don’t like that Lobster was also used as the smaller font in the logo.
Mixing typography can be tricky and in the end it’s a very subjective art. However, as a general rule you definitely want to go easy on scripts. They’re much harder to read than a plain old serif or sans-serif typeface and should almost never be used in varying sizes at such close proximities.
In a situation like this, the smaller font is clearly set up as a secondary message and should therefore use a secondary font. Let the bold script take most of the attention and use something subtle for the sub-text. Here’s a quick example that I threw together.
Selectable Text
In my opinion, embedding custom fonts onto a site isn’t only about cutting down file sizes by reducing imagery, it’s also about usability and creating live, selectable text.
This site uses Cufon to embed Lobster into the page. Not only does this solution require JavaScript to function (acceptable but not ideal), it also wreaks havoc on text selection.
The main reason I take issue with this is that Lobster is so easy to embed using an @font-face kit from FontSquirrel. @font-face is a CSS-based solution that has a lot of browser support and results in beautiful, selectable text. Even the Cufon website suggests that using @font-face is the “easiest way to embrace standards.”
Beautiful Buttons
I want to take a second and say that I love the design of this button.
It’s big and bold, surrounded by whitespace, colorful; great design. This is definitely my favorite element on the page.
Tabbed Content
Just as the image slider at the top of the site is a great way to display a lot of uncluttered imagery, the tabbed content near the middle is a great way to have lots of useful information in a very small space.
If you look at this area with JavaScript disabled, you simply see all the various sections displayed at once, stacked on top of each other like you would in a typical site. This gives a better experience to users who want it and doesn’t exclude users who don’t.
Conclusion
For the most part, this is a really well-designed site. Rather than major design overhauls I only suggest making a few tweaks and focusing on functionality and readability, particularly with the use of the custom font.
Just so you can get a feel for the site as a whole, here are a few more shots from some of the other pages:
Your Turn!
Now that you’ve read my comments, pitch in and help out by giving the designer some further advice. Let us know what you think is great about the design and what you think could be stronger. As always, we ask that you also be respectful of the site’s designer and offer clear constructive advice void of any harsh insults.