Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Nothing could be further from Laffon's design. Despite
its lushly cinematic first impression, it provides clear
and intuitive visual cues that concisely map the port-
folio space.
In particular, he uses translucency not only as
a setting for his portfolio frame, but to aid in naviga-
tion and as a way to keep visual focus firmly on his
work. Navigation elements react by appearing to
change their amount of transparency. Project briefs never obscure the work, and are
easily dismissed without any distracting motion on the page itself.
Laffon initially hoped to create an HTML-based site, because most of the sites
he admired as examples of clear navigation avoided the Flash temptation. As he says,
“I finally decided to go with Flash because it allows me to be more creative in terms of
layout and the translucency. But there are so many things you can do in Flash that
I made sure that there would be
some symbiosis between the back-
ground picture and the content so
they would enhance each other,
not compete.
—Emmanuel Laffon de Mazières
Information about the design floats above each
view of the project, which continues to be
visible beneath the text. The information is
easily dismissed by clicking "hide details."
