Atypical Layout
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — May. 17, 2007
The Design Element
As with any segment of the creative industry web designers are always looking for fresh ideas. New ways of doing old things. Fun ways to mix things up a bit. If only to avoid the inevitable boredom that comes with doing the same layouts over and over again. This set of sites contains some samples that have gone out on a bit of limb in one way or another. Some of these layouts are more practical then others, and certainly some of them a client would not likely approve. It doesn't hurt to get those gears a churning though.
A few of the sites put the main navigation bar at the bottom of the page. Instinct would insist that this is not only impossible, but hard to use. These sites pull it off though. Instead of the hanging from the top like curtains approach, they have a nice stable fixed base. In particular look at
dianastewart.co.uk
and northtemple.com.
Perhaps my favorite from the group is the Eyebeam
site. Not only does it have an interesting layout, but the strange configuration carries throughout the site and actually helps you to understand which section your in. Strangely on this site the navigation has practically become the entire home page. I bet someone in a committee had to be convinced this was a good idea! In the end the results are awesome, and even more importantly for them, memorable.
Another layout which makes me want to look at the source code to see how they made it is
Addicted Flavours. They have the main navigation at an angle across the top of the page. A simple idea, but the web is not setup to be angular. It seems our founding fathers thought in squares only, so breaking out of that is not a simple task. Again, this creates a very unique and memorable experience.
Sample Usage
