Continental Quarterly

Gracing the cover of The Continental Quarterly is John Wick, expert assassin—the man of the hour, the man of legend. The entertainment site for CQ, as it is nicknamed, has been created for the biggest fans of the latest movie, “John Wick.” It builds suspense, draws attention, and brings fans into a stunning digital experience where they can learn more about the work of this central character. Is he good? Is he evil? Does humanity have a word for what stands in between? These questions echo in the dark schematic of the site.

As users navigate across the two issue options, small design features seize the senses. A gentle swoosh simulates the sound of a magazine sliding across a dark cherry wood tabletop in a luxury hotel. Hovering over hyperlinks highlights parts of the site and prompts a slight ding, much like the sound of a bullet casing falling to the ground after a shot. The site is mysterious like the assassin’s own character—intriguing, with a sense of class.

Once viewing one of the digital magazine issues, users are enticed by a range of site options. The crescendos of classical violins and other stringed instruments haunt the backdrop as the magazine cover zooms into view and unfolds on the page. Users are actively involved, and they can scroll through written content from the editor after title headings float onto the page into view.

The fullscreen page layout applies contrasts of white and black and a touch of gold to outline pages, text, and design elements, drawing on the themes of darkness and cultured society to weave a visual narrative. The schematic is consistent with the unique nature of the movie’s main character.

With each movement of the mouse, action shots from the movie shift and move in the dark background of the table of contents, which is structured much like a site menu navigation page. The click of a gun being cocked into place accompanies each user click to a new page or site selection.

Though the site is visually elegant, it also maintains a minimalistic feel. Text moves with each scroll, but it often remains on the fringes of site pages so that striking images and digital features can take up most of the visual space. Videos fill smaller frames, and users can quickly read through transcripts of interviews or other magazine materials. Fonts are large and rotate between black and gold, set against a mostly white backdrop.

With each page turn or scroll, new content comes into view, but not all at once. Text, images, and video content on the site are staggered in their appearances—each comes into view at a slightly different pace. This gives the appearance of each page falling together into place with every turn. The movement keeps the user experience interesting and suspenseful.

This site goes beyond entertainment and videography to capture a singular character in visual communication. The complexity of its central figure is expressed brilliantly through an online experience that creates expectation and mystery.

Continental Quarterly is a best website design in the Entertainment industry.