Welcome to NewActon; a precinct of Canberra, Australia. The area is billed as a modern place to live, work, and play. Trendy restaurants, eye-catching artwork, and innovative design define NewActon. So it’s only fitting that NewActon would have a website that matches its offline personality.
When first visiting the NewActon website, visitors are greeted by a unique design. Playful images serve as a greeting as well as a menu; giving the artwork a function and a purpose above simply “looking good.” Moving the cursor across the images initiates a responsive animation effect as the individual pieces move across each other in a parallax, layered effect. The initial impression the page gives is clean and simple, but the home page has more character than just the illustrations that greet visitors.
Visitors have the option to click through to other areas of the website by engaging with the images or using the more traditional menu on the right-hand side of the screen. Each illustration links to a specific area of the website that it relates to. The strange-looking man above represents the statue that sits in NewActon and falls under the “Arts & Entertainment” category. The illustrations maintain their animation effects throughout the website. Rolling the cursor over the images will, again, utilize the layered parallax effect that is initially experienced on the home page.
One of the most appealing features of the NewActon website is the simplicity. No matter which area of the site a visitor navigates to, they will never be bombarded with a wall of text. Clearly, NewActon would prefer to have their illustrations and unique personality tell their story. The page that describes NewActon only contains a few sentences. The typography is simple and clean. It stands out clearly on the white background but there is no attempt to have the typography become the focal point. The unique illustrations are clearly the star of the show here.
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One of the few pages that steps away from the illustrations is their “Model Citizen” page. This part of the website is a simple, slideshow-style interactive piece. There is some humor used in the copy, and the images are usually vintage images clearly from another era. The page isn’t very complex or eye-catching but the witty copy, fun images, and interactive slideshow make it a great way for NewActon to further cement their brand as a modern place to live or visit.
NewActon is a minimal website design in the Arts & Recreation and Food & Beverage industries.
