I'm putting together material for a website where I want to show my writing, photography and short films, since I think it's about time I try to do some marketing for the things I really enjoy doing.

I have a vague idea of what I want the website to look like. For example:

Lots of black that your eyes can rest on but also deep red, yellow, blue and/or other strong base colours. Not much white as I think it's too glaring.

I'd prefer the website to fit in a "box" that you can view without scrolling.

I don't want it to be too busy with a whole bunch of different texts and links all over the place.

I love shades, the illusion of 3D or glass and other design details that elevate the impression.

I prefer text links to be properly designed and not just be in a standard skinny font.

So far I think it's really hard to find sites that fit this description that I can use as examples when I turn to a web bureau. One example that I like (although I wouldn't want mine to look exactly like it) is www.lerouge.se.

The only Swedish web bureau I can find where their own website kind of sort of fits my description is www.magknip.nu. I think it's important that I find designers that will "get it" right away when I describe what I want so if their own website is busy and in bright pastel colours, it probably won't work out...

Do you have any examples of websites that fit my description? Or maybe you know websites that don't fit my description but that you think are really stylish? I'm not looking for good content here, only nice visual style and "feel".

Thanks!

www.lotusflow3r.com ....... oh wait.... never mind...

Cerebus said:

www.lotusflow3r.com ....... oh wait.... never mind...

Oh come on, doesn't anybody know of a single stylish website?

retina said:

Oh come on, doesn't anybody know of a single stylish website?

In all honesty, the websites I visit everyday are Ain't It Cool News, American Songwriter, The A.V. Club, Billboard, Clash, Huffington Post, NBA, New York Magazine, New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Spin, Spinner and YouTube. Secondary sites would be Box Office Mojo, IMDb, ebay, Amazon, Discogs, NPR and Photobucket. None of those are particularly stylish. In fact, most of them are very utilitarian in their design. The only one I go regularly that I think cares about design is the Warp Records site. But it's kind of overly done in my opinion, and it still involves A LOT of scrolling. http://warp.net/

I know LOADS