Given the way visual trends work, one of the easiest ways to stand out is to simply not comply with the trend 100%. Perhaps that’s not what the multi-disciplinary San Francisco-based designer Beth Dean was going for, but the result is that her portfolio site is truly attention-grabbing. She deployed certain elements that feel at home in the current style: the circles, ribbon-based theme and chiseled text. But the bold colors do not fit the current norm. Most often, these trendy web design elements are paired with subtle colors and textures that create a sort of tactile quality to the page. Dean’s use of intense black, white and red make her site more of a smack in the face then a subtle presentation. Of course, what really makes this an example of beautiful web design is that the elements support, and don’t obscure, the content.
