Next in the series of photos used for header images on Stopdesign is a candid photo I never would have expected to make use of in any kind of design, let alone Stopdesign’s Company pages. There’s nothing spectacular about this photo at first glance. Maybe even at second and third glances. In fact, any other designer probably would have passed it over. This… is Office Shopping.
Stopdesign’s rent collectors at Adaptive Path and I have been hunting around San Francisco for larger, more flexible office space. A commercial real estate agent (pictured left in the suit, facing camera) was patiently herding us on a guided tour around downtown San Francisco, while we looked at pre-screened office spaces currently available for lease, interspersed with stops at Peet’s Coffee (necessary for the sustained endurance of office shopping).
This, folks, I guarantee is an entertaining adventure. Take a few designers, information architects, and user experience professionals. Show them wide-open, unobstructed office space. And you’re guaranteed to see minds churning, scheming and strategizing forty different floor plan layouts, then debating over every possible scenario for traffic patterns, collaboration models, privacy concerns, noise-level management, and of course, proximity to public transportation.
This photo was taken as we were exiting one of our more popular stops from the multiple afternoon tours. Sharp eyes may be able to identify the shifty character exiting the building behind the real estate agent. (Elvis has left the building.)
As I was using iPhoto to scan available imagery for the site design several weeks later, I accidently stumbled across the series I snapped when we were office shopping. I stopped on this photo primarily because of the muted color scheme which fit perfectly with what I wanted for company-related pages. There wasn’t much interesting about the photo until I zoomed in on the top-right corner, then rotated the image to create more dramatic lines and angles.
Reminds us that we can find potential beauty in the places we expect to find it the least — as long as shifty guy™ is cropped out…
10 comments
Yannick 4 years ago
The picture is nice and simple. I actually like the yellow and blue colour of the building. But what really amazes me is how each of the pictures you used for the site were…well USED. By that I mean, you took something so simple and turned it into a work art. You did an awesome job with each and every header for your site even if it meant cropping out the shifty guy. lol. Keep up the awesome work Mr. Bowman.
Simon Chettle 4 years ago
I don’t how you pulled this one off. I looked at that photo and thought to myself, I’ve never seen that on this site before. But sure enough you had managed to turn such a simple photo into a masterpiece.
As with the others so far, another interesting story behind the design, that’s what i just love about this series of posts.
Remi Prevost 4 years ago
The blend of those colors is very nice. Great picture :)
Scott Johnson 4 years ago
That sure sounds like fun. I wish I could afford a swank office in downtown SF. ;)
Steven 4 years ago
hi Doug
can you explain why you chose to add the effects to the header images, i.e the image of the bridge above?
first what are the effects, scan lines motion blurs…and why you chose to add themt o the headers?
-peace
Attis Bijlani 4 years ago
What effects are you applying to the images to make them look that way?
Gabriel Radic 4 years ago
That’s Jeff Veen in there!
me 4 years ago
No, it’s Jeff Veen.
seth 4 years ago
any chance we could get a bit of a step-by-step?
Richard 4 years ago
Hi Doug,
we’ve been inspired by the designs and graphics you’re using - we just didn’t get such stylish headers into our design (as of yet).
keep up the interesting work! - and would you mind sharing about your thought on all the inner lines/margins in your headers and the effects used to produce them?