If you could have anything :-

[L.Culley]

OK you lovely lot, lets have at it.

I am currently designing my second website being commercial specific. After talking over and over with my web designer it got me thinking about how I have these ideas in my head but how difficult it is to express. I am the type of guy that likes 'quirky' unusual and visually stunning masculin designs, its often very difficult to find something I like. For the life of me I couldnt, and still havent been able to describe how I want to present my portfolio.

So to the point. What websites have you seen that you look at and just go: WOW, that looks amazing???

 

[L.Culley]

No one at all?

 

[Lyonspride]

TBH, most websites all I care about is good navigation. A website that looks visually amazing, usually makes me think "oh god, it's been designed for iPad users, this is going to be a nightmare".

A classic example of this is online catalogues, where instead of a simple PDF file, some moron decides it needs the "grab and turn the page with the mouse" thing for a 2000 page catalogue, removes any chance of searching for text and disables PDF downloading.
I'm sure this looks amazing if your one of Alan Sugars fired apprentices, but in real life it just makes you want to watch the world burn.
Flash based websites.... As above.

If you want "stunning masculin designs", i'd have a poke around the web for performace car websites, video game websites, rock/metal band websites and see what ideas you can take from those.

 

[Phil V]

Would I be bursting your bubble if I said - I don't think it's that important!

SEO
Navigation
Clear
Not ugly

Is about the list of important things. Just look at how awful some websites are that are run by successful companies. Gorgeous websites are only useful for web designers. They'll do no-one else any worthwhile favours.

Not to mention the more 'different' to the norm the more chance that as many people who find it gorgeous will find it horrid.