South Africa's web design industry is still in it's early stages of infancy, when compared to the caliber of work coming out of Europe and Asia, but that it is slowly changing. The main folly of South African designers are that they either follow a trend too religiously or they completely ignore timeless trends completely. Either way their designs seem dated. I have selected just a few of, in my opinion, the best work South Africa has to offer.
I have selected small business websites from agencies or designer who are not playing really in the big leagues. This first website, Cilla Bloom Photography (http://goo.gl/IJNHT) is a pretty decent website. It takes a minimal approach which is always refreshing, the color scheme follows suit and the large image slider reinforce the idea that this is a photographic website. The only negative comments that I have, are that the designer 9it (http://goo.gl/Rj9E7) has overused the flourishes. They could have toned that down, which would have made them more effective. The other comment is that the font that used for the photographer's name is such that at first glance Cilla looks like villa (It might just be me). They could have still gone with a handwritten font, but something with a more legible approach.
This next one is actually impressive, I know how that sounds. Again a minimal approach, this one should definitely be under your bookmarks as web design inspiration. With loads of open spaces, bold colors, subtle shadows and gradients, Druff Interactive got this one right, visit them at http://goo.gl/QUmUT. The only negative comment I have is that they, Druff Interactive, should have moved those social media icons to the footer, as they detract from the logo and draws attention away from the purpose of the website - social media should be an extension of a business not the sole reason behind it. One last thing is that Druff Interactive need to include a back link to their website along side those social icons as they are not getting any traffic from this killer website.
Now this is a website, pay close attention. The background, using the Bokeh effect, may be seen by some as outdated, but because it works effectively with the rest of the design elements, it does not openly come across as dated. The strong use of blues and white harmonizes the entire concept and draws in the user's attention to the important information. Using a no frills approach, Mammoth Solutions (http://goo.gl/cvfWQ), the agency behind this winning concept gets it right. Check out their portfolio, here - http://goo.gl/oyXKv, for another does of their winning formula.
Well there you have it, a small selection of the best the South African web design industry has to offer. Remember to keep your designs simple, your flash pieces of interactivity to a minimum and incorporate timeless and classic trends into your websites - That is all there is too it. Remember to subscribe, spread the word and keep designing.
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