Costarica.com

I've designed this website three times in the last 9 years, which reflects how the Internet and the market (consumers) are constantly changing entities, and that there is no one right answer. Sometimes just any answer is the right answer.

Below you see the design that ran for about a year, and beneath that you see the website that ran for about 5 years. (Note: not pictured is another design, by a third party, that proved, in my opinion, to be too "corporate" and soulless.)

Above you see the new look, which is much more information dense, with content that is automatically updated and rotated, with a focus on their biggest moneymaker -- real estate -- even though I would have thought their biggest draw would be exotic travel.

A major design factor of this website, that is not apparent, is the information design and hierarchy. A website is a multi-dimensional beast. The navigation has to be intuitive so the user doesn't get lost, and the pages have to be designed in a puzzle-piece fashion so that text, photos and advertising can be added and subtracted without affecting the overall function and aesthetics of the site.

Disclaimer: The web changes faster than the speed of light! So, if you visit any of my websites, expect the client to have made changes that aren't part of my original concept, and that don't necessarily work.