Maelstrom
October descends on us once again, and my site rises from its shallow grave to welcome the turning of the seasons. Why break such a fun tradition! Here we have the fourth annual October Edition of this site (you may need to disembowel your cache). I’ve traded in the past bloodbath for a bit of dust and absinthe. This year’s costume is loosely inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (a dear favorite); the idea being an arcane tome printed many years ago. There should be a rash of posts this month with October and Halloween goodies to ring stab in the best month, season, and holiday the year has to offer. For now, I welcome you to exhume the graves of Octobers past. I’ll leave you with a few Poe-related links to darken your day: short stories and poems, further prose, The Ingram-Poe Collection, and the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA (which I would love to visit someday). Enjoy!
- Posted at 11:06 am in Books, Design, Site
Commentary Closed (29)
love the new look! awesome work as usual.
Very nice! I like it…
I’m loving the book cover… very nice touch!
Nicely done.
Wow. I like the new look.
Oh, this is lovely!
All that’s missing is a roaring fire in the parlour and a thunderstorm in the distance…
Nice work fella
Looks great Jason!
(And Kate’s too polite to spam, but you should see her horror site too!)
Dude. Drop caps. Dude…
You should check out the Poe Projects in Philly. Great Mural of the dark writer as well! Nice design man. I especially like the ornate drop cap!
:)
Neato Bandito!
Very well done. The drop caps are beyond cool. Can we expect to see a “how ya done it” post in the future?
exquisite. the previous “costumes” we’re as nice too. i like your choice of colors
Thanks to everyone for the kind words!
matthew Smith: I have been by that wonderful mural many times… just today in fact!
Merc: I don’t know if there is much to post about as far as a how-to. Just lots of research for the right look as far as time period, finding the right texture and ornaments, and the putting it all together. The drop caps (which I love) are just gifs that I hardcoded in with classes.
I actually like the dropcaps enough with my layout that I may make them a permanent addition. Although, not this font. I will find something a bit more suitable to go with my site’s normal designer after October.
You never cease to amaze me. Wonderful work yet again!
Great work Jason, love it!
Had to clear my cache / hit ctrl+F5 before seeing the changes, other than that great work!
Ah ha! Looks great. :)
Simply stunning.
Simply beautiful. Better than the bloodbath edition, and dare I say it, perhaps better than the regular design too! Love your work.
Michael McCorry: I actually don’t think I like it better than the regular design, but that’s because I know that one feels more like me. This October edition does feel nice and comfortable because it’s a fresh change, but I think I’ll still be going back come November 1st. Don’t worry, this design will be archived for posterity like previous versions :D
Excellent work!
It’s beautiful! The faded leather textures are both innovative and appealing. Excellent job :D
Lovely… I really dig the texture of the worn bookcover. The use of ghoulish green for the links and the subheads is a nice, subtle way of conveying an absinthe vibe, while also brightening things up a bit with a little contrast. The dropcaps are top notch. Kudos!
Quoth the Zeldman… nevermore.
You should have mentioned your Poe-philia when you were in Richmond last spring. We could have swung you by the Poe museum… it’s just a few blocks from the AdCenter.
I swing by this site on a semi-regular basis.. always lurking, never talking…Just wanted to mention that I adore the new design here. Beloved Poe../sigh. Perfect for October!
At first I forgot what link I had clicked on and my first thought upon seeing the new design was, “dude! someone just ripped Jason Santa Maria’s design… really well…”, then I looked at the address bar.
Great work sir!
I really like this, a lot. It seems very tight, and the drop caps are really nice. My only reservation is it’s not as fun as the normal look, so in that respect I don’t think it does as good a job of reflecting who you are.
Very classy. And less “obvious” than a general hack and slash October revamp. Thumbs upsky!