The 35 Sexiest Designed Websites you've Forgotten, part 3

These titles are starting to get out of hand.

So the big day is nearly upon us - the respective reboots are both right around the corner, so I've decided to refresh your memory with the sexiest designed websites you may have forgotten about.

I still refuse to discriminate between flash and standards based sites - if it wows me, it made it in. That being said: this time around, the standardists certainly have impressed me more. They make up a much larger portion of the 35 than in either of the previous two lists (The First, and The Second).

But still, if the site catches my eye, it's golden. So, without further ado, let me present to you the 35 Sexiest Designed Websites you've Forgotten, part 3. Or Oct. 2006 version (there's really not an easy title here. I've dug my own grave, I fear).

Verdure Thought (CSS). Excellent use of earthtones and green shades, and great contrast between elements. Classy use of lightbox, classy use of reflection.

AngencyNet Interactive (Flash). Very innovative setup, clean and sharp images, great use of video features.

Ronemedia (CSS). I'm absolutely blown away by the colours and the scrolling effect. Excellent contrast!

Satsu Design (CSS). The background pattern, the colour contrast, and the typography all help me feel right at home with this site. It's got a clean-grungy sort of feeling, if there was ever such a thing.

Deluxe Digital Media (CSS, a bit of Flash). Bluegreying the light fantastic. Excellent brand identification, the light blue hummingbird is the perfect paragraph lead-in. Careful use of flash adds to the site quite nicely.

M Studio (Flash). One of my very favourites of the bunch. Alex Motzenbecker has created a unique, highly usable flash menu system, and with all of its minimalism, I couldn't be happier. Did I mention his portfolio is top notch? Because, you know, his portfolio. it's top notch.

Dan Lindop (CSS). Green/grey contrasts usually hurt my eyes, but this is beautiful. Way to catch the user's attention with the word bubble up front, too.

Last Kiss (Flash). Great transitions and easter eggs within the photos and movies. It has a very loose feeling to it, too. I dig it.

John Mills (CSS). Whoo! Now that's how to get my attention. Big bold blues and greens and a nice backlit effect make this a solid choice.

Booreiland (CSS/Flash). At once rustic and modern, the image hover transitions are perfectly suited to this page. Even the click-bubbles keep me entertained. Clever.

Turbomilk (CSS). You'd expect as much from GUI designers, eh? The branding here is powerful, and the muted tones bring out the best of their work.

The Design Portfolio of Steve Leggat (CSS). Strong pastels and contrast shades, excellent typography, and may I just say: one of the finest portfolios of the bunch.

Keoshi (CSS). Great rollovers, great branding, great typography.

Javier Ferrer Vidal (Flash). I could say something, but it wouldn't do this site justice. Everything about it is as perfect as flash gets. Play around.

Mobio Networks (CSS). Slicker than grease! Of course, maybe I'm just a sucker for fading gradients. fadients, even.

Draft Media (CSS). Be honest: Before you clicked the link, you didn't think those colours would go together, either. But they do. So well.

Left Hand Brewing Company (Flash). Great transitions, nice fade effects, classy use of video and motion menus. I dig it.

Expanse CMS (CSS). Great CSS rollovers, excellent typography (look familiar? I referenced Expanse heavily when redesigning philrenaud.com). Great brand identification, and minimalistic web design.

COBA (CSS). Big letters! Big backdrops! Big menu! Big contrast! Big... everything. Looks like something you'd expect out of a print design, transplanted perfectly to the web.

Mein Brandenburg (CSS). Grey-blue shades just aren't getting old anytime soon. Excellent use of both header and footer.

Jonathan Yuen (Flash). Blows me away every time. Great transitions, great rollovers, nonobtrusive soundtrack. One of the best of this bunch.

C-Ville (Flash, CSS). This site should make the list twice: one for the Flash site, one for the CSS version. Rarely does a site concentrate so much on both as C-Ville has. And did they get the sunshine's voice from Zombocom or is it just me?

Dimitry's Blog (CSS). Menu rollover is spot-on. Clever colour scheme, nice gradients.

Chromazone (Flash). Great shades, a hybrid macro-type site. Clever menu system, unobtrusive background music. Cute little transitions, too.

Twisted Melon (CSS). So shiney! And, great use of menu colours. And, the growing-plant thing is really clever, I find.

DPI Vision (CSS). Everything I like about minimalistic design. Has a messy/grungy feel to it, too, which is all the better. Dig the scribbled mouseovers!

Viaduct (Flash). Great stuff! The products page is brilliant, and makes me fall in love with horizontal scrolling (which, in general, should be loathed by all). Clever greyscales, good use of navigation.

Hydra Studio (CSS). Nice greyscales with a good pink contrast shade, nice mouseovers, excellent use of two-tone design.

Ed Merritt (CSS). Very nice menu setup, excellent translucent brand, great typography. I can't find enough nice things to say about it - this site is gorgeous.

SelfTitled.ca (Flash). Wow! Hands down one of the most unique navigation systems I've ever come across. Great information architecture, great use of screen size.

Live on the Coke Side of Life (Flash). Great colours, great transitions, great unobtrusive intro.

Kindness and Humility (Flash). Really great navigation system, good use of greyscale contrast. Minimalistic flash at its best.

PUK (CSS, Flash). Ah, the sunburst. Fun layout, cute hover effects.

Nuwen (CSS). Funky colour scheme, great contrasts. The footer makes me very, very envious.

jp33 (CSS). Excellent use of branding, great content division, great use of bright colours. Can't get enough of the artwork, either.

So, that's that, I suppose! Another six months gone. 23 of the 35 ended up being primarily CSS based, as opposed to 20 last time, and 9 (!) the first time around.

Still, the list is purely subjective - there are bound to be entries you didn't like, and certain to be some that I've overlooked. Can you think of any sites I may have overlooked?

Hope you've enjoyed the 35-sexiest: next edition at the end of April, 2007.

(Digg this post)

Thanks for the comments: Sean, Romi, Jonathan Snook, Christopher, Candice, Andrew, Don.