Layout 143 - Alethiometer of Truth

Website Ambition

Theme Alethiometer Shapes

Design
November 01, 2007. The entire layout was centered upon one image, the vectored Alethiometer done in Illustrator. I wanted to have something simple with a different navigation than normal. The textpattern backend was something to play around with.

Challenge Besides tying the layout into textpattern and Enthusiast both, the hardest part was working with the antique look. It was the first time I had done it. The hover links were also quite difficult and I really loved how that turned out. The hover animations were really different and looked brilliant.

Process
This layout entirely revolved around that Alethiometer vector. I first vectored it nicely in Illustrator, and then I worked with in it layout format. The layout itself was put together really simply. I wanted something more antique looking with very solid colors and little blends. So, I came up with this. I added the top header first, and then decided I wanted something more than the usual repeat. Hence, I thought it would be interesting to put some of the links up there and navigate sublinks in the header, since I didn’t see it done very often. I used a brush for the swirly thing around the box, and then the rest I just did it by myself.

After that was done, I added the bottom, and the footer I actually got that idea from Suzumi and her Yoh layout. I really liked how she did that with boxes and tried that similar thing here. I wanted the search box to go down there, so had no problem keeping it that way, making sure to repeat it of course :). Overall, I really loved the outcome. It was simple, nice, and great to put into textpattern.

Description
A vectored layout featuring the Alethiometer, an item found in the His Dark Materials Saga by Philip Pullman. Alethiometer is on the top, and on the side of it is navigation, and with mouseover, you see a cap being put on the alethiometer with the words on it.