Best and Most Inspiring Designers/Designs

[DPC]

Who are some of the best and most inspiring designers/design companies you know of?

Best sites (Stay away from "everything PixelBrick")?

And, most importantly, what makes them so good?

[geoflux]

I hate to be "clicheish", but one of my favorites is Hillman Curtis (http://www.hillmancurtis.com). I think that their approach to projects is so simple and so effective, that it makes the work look easy. I've always thought that the best type of design is the one that doesn't stand out.

[redux]

i'm still quite fond of david carson and neville brody, and some of the designers republic and tomato's work...

[J Lindsay]

I must say that Alex Schleifer at Netymology is really great. He did our corporate branding and web design, for which we have received loads of positive comments about it ever since. He has also been building up a bit of a name over here in Cyprus with some really high profile rebranding design work for major companies.

http://www.netymology.com

What makes him stand out, apart from his design talent, is his ability to judge the mood of the project he is working on. He is very strong on corporate work and has an instinct for work that not just passes on the image that the company wants to present about itself, but also the image that will be most receptive to end users.

For example, with our logo he designed a font that merged the traditionalism of a serif font with the modernity of a sans serif font. This was important for us as we are trying to promote a sense of stability and continuity but also show that we are a modern company. The flying horse is actually the winged mouflon; the mouflon being the national symbol of Cyprus, where we are based. As a foreign owned company this gives us not only a great talking point with Cypriots, but the blue he used is actually Aegean Blue, which is the traditional Greek colour - thus sending a good subliminal message to our local clients but without damaging us in the eyes of more international customers. All in all he did a fantastic job for us and really got under the skin of what was needed. That was what made him great.

[DPC]

Originally posted by J Lindsay
I must say that Alex Schleifer at Netymology is really great. He did our corporate branding and web design, for which we have received loads of positive comments about it ever since. He has also been building up a bit of a name over here in Cyprus with some really high profile rebranding design work for major companies.

http://www.netymology.com

What makes him stand out, apart from his design talent, is his ability to judge the mood of the project he is working on. He is very strong on corporate work and has an instinct for work that not just passes on the image that the company wants to present about itself, but also the image that will be most receptive to end users.

For example, with our logo he designed a font that merged the traditionalism of a serif font with the modernity of a sans serif font. This was important for us as we are trying to promote a sense of stability and continuity but also show that we are a modern company. The flying horse is actually the winged mouflon; the mouflon being the national symbol of Cyprus, where we are based. As a foreign owned company this gives us not only a great talking point with Cypriots, but the blue he used is actually Aegean Blue, which is the traditional Greek colour - thus sending a good subliminal message to our local clients but without damaging us in the eyes of more international customers. All in all he did a fantastic job for us and really got under the skin of what was needed. That was what made him great.

I'd never heard of them before, but I REALLY like their work. I much prefer it to PixelBrick for a corporate site; it's clean and professional but has that interesting, we-can-afford-a-nice-design look.

I can also see the small attention to detail that they have, it's really excellent.

How much does a design done by them cost?

[J Lindsay]

DPC, the simple answer is: 'less than one would expect if one went to a designer in the UK or the US!'

[slandry]

I like http://www.pixelbrick.com

I worked with the owner back when they were VFXUSA. They are professional and have an experienced staff.

I know they are expensive but I think we got our money's worth:

http://www.networkworld.com

[Checkmate]

Besides Pixelbrick.com, definitely 2Advanced.com

www.2advanced.com

[Siltrince]

I've checked Netymology and I must say I like their work a lot.

[Mike]

this one isnt a designer, but a design

www.evilpupil.com

it has the best flash I've ever seen in my life (hint: look at his previous version)

[JohnSaunders]

This site has the best digital imagery and flash effects I've ever seen: http://www.whoswe.com/splashguns.html