Colour Scheme

From the video game levels I had collected before, I looked at the colours used on those. The main colours used were blues, greens and browns. These colours would be used on the levels themselves in the backgrounf but I could also implement them into my layout colour scheme as well, such as using green on the navigation bar and blue in the background.

Fonts

To fit in with the pixelly theme, I have looked at fonts that are also blocky.
The first one is called Pixelmix

 

This font is thin, and would work well for the main body text on my site.

The second font I found was LL Pixel

This font is thicker and the letters are made up of blocks, It would work well at bigger size so I would use it on something like the navigation bar.

Visual Style

As I liked the Pixelmess site a lot, I have decided to go with a similar idea, although I am going to incorporate video game levels in my design as I like video games a lot, particularly older ones, which would work exceptionally well with this sort of background and style.

 

These sort of levels would work well in the background of my site.

Favourite Site So Far

After more research, I have found a site that I really like the look of. It's a site called Pixelmess.

They use a pixel art style for the background of their site, making it look like a world. I really like this idea, and I think I will experiment with it a bit.

Their site also uses a horizontal scroll, which I have decided I will use on my site. The background scrolls with the site, which is another thing about the site that I really like.

Experimenting

I experimented with how to make a site layout similar to LittlePixel. I wanted to make a similar looking site and fit it to a different colour scheme that I like.

 

After making it though, I don't really like it. Although I like the colour scheme, I don't feel that the visual style is strong enough to make a good looking website.

I'll continue to research sites to find one that inspires me.

Site I Like

After doing further research, I have found a site that I like the look of. It is called Little Pixel

I like the look of this site because I am fond of pixel art, and the boxy, pixel style is reminiscent of that. I also like the colour scheme of this site. The mixture of the bright colours goes well with the plain white background. The minimal use of colour doesn't distract from the imagery on the site, either. I think I may be moving forward with my visual style now.

Looking at One Page Websites

I started my research by looking at existing single page sites. I came across a site called 1 Page Web Design, which showcased single page sites. This site helped me a lot when looking for research.
The first site that caught my eye was called Vanity Claire.

The site uses a lot of bold colours ,and also looks very minimalist. I like this sort of style, it works well for a portfolio site as the layout is not too distracting. The site scrolls horizontally, which is also what I want to do with my site.

Each section is colour coded, and the pages look nice even with the bold background colours.

The second site I looked at was called Fuel.

 The site is very minimalist, it doesn't not have much imagery, but the simplistic style works, as the concept behind the site is interesting. When a link is clicked, the background of the site changes colour, which looks nice. The content simply fades in and out, so there is no scrolling on the site.

 The founders page features rollovers of the two founders, which keeps the site looking minimal until you want to see he hidden content, which is a nice feature.

The third site I looked at is called OwlConcept.

 The site is image-heavy, as the whole background is an image. Content appears in a box on the left, and background of the site doesn't change.

There is a portfolio tab on the right, however, that opens up to reveal light boxes for images of their work, and the background changes to white. This is probably because the main background of the site could distract from the portfolio images.

So far, I am liking the look of the first site, although I am still unsure of where to go with my visual style.