Smashing Magazine
Shalom! Showcase Of Web Design In Israel
Israel is a young country with an old heart. It has been quickly built up over the last 60 years as an independent democratic Jewish state and is shockingly cutting edge for a country so new.
It is a tiny surreal sliver of land smack dab in the middle of the Middle East: a very European, modern civilization… just programmed to Jewish tradition. Israel has great weather, nice beaches along the Mediterranean sea, fresh and tasty food and a warm and friendly culture. It is home to historic holy sites of the world’s three major religions, and buses drive down streets whose stones are older than anything you’ll find in Europe.
Israeli design at its best: ILook, an Israeli street-fashion blog. The text on the left side says: “Send me a good picture of a hipster and win 300 bottles of Maccabi beer” (via Tal Sach).
It feels as if Israel has one foot in Silicon Valley and the other in ancient Canaan — with an undercurrent of Middle Eastern hospitality and culture in this already multi-cultural society. And yet, English is commonly spoken here because many Jews from all over the world immigrate here regularly (not to mention the thousands of tourists from around the globe who pour in for sun, falafel, nightlife and a dash of biblical archaeology.) In some areas, you hear as much Spanish, French, Russian and English on the streets as Hebrew.
Because of its small size and the everyone-knows-everyone effect of being a bunch of Jews, cabin fever (and completion of mandatory army service for the younger generation) drives Israel’s citizens out on frequent travels across the globe, to India, Asia, and South America. As a result, a unique mix of cultural discoveries abroad is woven into Israeli culture.
Tel Aviv is Israel’s most urban, chic city: the capital of all things sexy, secular and spiritual (in alternative ways to traditional Judaism.) You can read more on Tel Aviv’s unique soul in this article by Ehud Azriel Meir.
Much like many of Israel’s cities — hastily built and functional, yet poorly planned — such is the unfortunate state of most of the country’s websites. Most Israeli websites look unfinished, and they probably are. And Hebrew being a right-to-left language doesn’t help! Being victims of circumstance, Israeli Web designers cannot unleash their creative potential to make modern, usable working websites.
agadir, a Hamburger joint.
Even though some cutting-edge technologies are being developed right here in Israel — which is home to former hot startups such as ICQ (which became AOL messenger) and Intel (which is inside your machine… have a look!) — most business owners still putter around in IE6. Israel opened its first official Mac store only last year.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.]
What’s Unique About Israeli Web Design?
Here are some other issues that designers face here (and, I imagine, in most places outside the US, Canada and Western Europe):
- Websites must work in legacy versions of IE (though IE6 is finally almost out). Israeli business owners emphasize this more than getting their websites to work in Safari or Firefox.
- There is a strong liking for Flash-based designs… it must be a cultural thing.
- Little value is given to Web designers (and those in related fields, such as copywriting — although marketers and SEO people seem to being doing okay), and many designers are not taking back their profession.
- Clients care more about cost than usability and standards.
- CSS-based designs are not standard, and many of the people responsible for hiring are not aware of it.
- Big agencies are usually asked to make conventional designs, and although they do quite impressive branding work, the websites they turn out are behind the times. Because they are launched by such big companies, the websites succeed “in spite of themselves,” leading many to believe that this is the formula for wildly successful websites: for Agency X to do our website the way they did for Company Y.
The Lionways website.
- Many entrepreneurs here believe that because they are smart and successful in tech that they know your field as well as their own. They think they can write English better than a US-born copywriter and can design better than a graduate of FIT. Needless to say, this can be frustrating for the person trying to build a new website for them.
- Despite that, usability is starting to be demanded by many website owners, especially the genuinely intelligent tech companies, Web app providers and social media startups; hundreds of these are in Israel, mostly in English.
- Israel is always a few years behind American and European trends and standards, and this is no different on the Internet.
The State Of Affairs
We spoke to key people in the Web design industry in Israel to get their point of view on the state of affairs.
Q: Do you find you have to convince and educate clients a lot to be able turn out the high-end websites that you do?
Arie Zonshine (Lionways.com): “Most people calling for a quote don’t really know what they want. It’s as if they are calling to get the price of an air conditioner. It doesn’t matter if they want a new site or a make-over of an existing site: they usually don’t have written specifications, they don’t know what kind of pages they want and they don’t have a visual concept.
“So, I have to guide them through a series of questions, maybe looking at a few sites together in order to understand their needs. Sometimes, their lack of knowledge leads them ask for functionality that would work against them in terms of SEO, for example. I usually don’t have to work too hard to convince them to do things the right way.”
Q: Are clients surprised by how much you quote them? What buzzwords do you hear most from clients?
Zonshine: “Always! Naturally, customers want the best price and, unfortunately in most cases, are not aware at all of the time and work invested. It’s even more problematic with issues such as Web standards and browser compatibility, because these aspects of the work have no visual impact on the website and are difficult for the client to appreciate. [I hear] SEO, AdWords and Flash. Very few mention browser compatibility, Web standards, semantic mark-up or CSS-based design”.
Q: Approximately what percentage of Israeli businesses are into the new standards of websites written in XHTML and CSS, that are non-Flash and that use minimal JavaScript?
Zonshine: “The numbers are unfortunately very low. I would say about 5%. Maybe less.”
Q: Why do you think most Israelis are into conceptual Flash designs that are hard to navigate, outdated and slow? Is this a cultural thing? Are more people waking up?
Zonshine: “In too many initial conversations with potential clients, I hear requests to make things ‘Move on the screen like in PowerPoint.’ Many Israelis forget that the inside is just as important as the outside, and that foundations are more important than a cool façade (i.e. a flashy home page with clever animation) that has nothing behind it. I do believe it’s a cultural thing: you can see it in many areas. The ‘great façade with no foundation’ combo is very representative of Israeli culture. You see it everywhere. However, I do believe that appreciation of quality grows with time, experience and knowledge. More and more people call in already understanding the disadvantages of a Flash-only website”.
Q: Arie, I notice in your portfolio that you still use Flash, though you seem to have found the middle road between Flash and usability. Please explain.
Zonshine: “Exactly. We wanted to make the point that cool and functional can work together seamlessly and are not contradictory. It was indeed an early decision that I took together with my partner Dana Ronen, who is responsible for the Flash programming on the site. We wanted to show creativity and Flash capabilities but also show that it can be done without compromising the accessibility, functionality and SEO of the site.
“So, on almost every page, there is a small or big gimmick in Flash, depending on the content of the page and its function. On the home page, the flying business card gets center-stage; similarly, on the ‘About us’ page, the laptop CD tray makes an exciting entrance. On other pages we wanted the client to focus on the content itself, so the gimmicks were demoted to a supporting role and, in most cases, done in Flash (e.g. the credit card terminal, the coffee steam and the compass) and in other cases in jQuery (e.g. the changing color stamp on the contact page)”.
Q: How does the fact that Hebrew is written from right to left influence your design work?
Zonshine: “If the site will be Hebrew, you just need to flip your way of thinking horizontally. In terms of layout, it means that the logo would be probably placed in the top-right corner of the page rather than the top-left. You also need to mirror the placement of elements on the page, because the visitor’s eye-tracking patterns are mirrored in Hebrew.
“The issue becomes more complicated when the site has both Hebrew and English or another left-to-right language. A good example of a dilemma that arises is a design that has a large background image, which I use quite often. When the background image cannot be flipped, it usually results in the logo and other elements being positioned on the “wrong” side of the page for one of the languages (Lionways is a good example of that). If, on the other hand, the image can be flipped, it’s much easier, as the Jerusalem Camerata site shows [see below] — the large violin image is mirrored on the English side of the site”.
Another example of this issue is Twitter, which scrambles any right-to-left tweets to an almost ridiculous degree. But again, Israel’s creative minds come to the rescue with Talker, a Twitter API-based… well, Twitter, except in Hebrew and right-to-left. Compare a Twitter Talker right-to-left account with a left-to-right account.
Q: How does Hebrew affect other aspects of Web design?
Zonshine: “First of all, a much smaller selection of safe fonts can be used for live text. Arial is probably the most common, followed by Times New Roman, Tahoma and Courier. That’s it, more or less. There aren’t any equivalents of Trebuchet, Georgia, Palatino or other fonts.
“Also, if the site has both Hebrew and English, choosing a font for titles and logos becomes much trickier, because you usually need to choose two separate fonts — for English and Hebrew — that work well together. The Hiddush logo is a good example of that. I spent hours searching until I found a close-enough English font (Anderson the Secret Service) that worked well with the Hebrew one (AgadaMF), and even then I had to clean it a little to match the other. A few font shops in Israel, such as FontBit, offer quality fonts that are designed to blend well in both Hebrew and English”.
“On top of all this, there are many technical problems with dealing with right-to-left texts in graphic elements, especially Flash components. Small and trivial things suddenly become an issue, such as the inability to control the location of punctuation marks, numbers and other symbols. Sometimes the only solution, as silly as it sounds, is simply to avoid certain characters, but this is impossible to control when dealing with dynamic content.“
Q: Do clients pay on time. And what is negotiating like?
Zonshine: “Negotiating is a part of Israel’s culture. People almost always ask for a discount. I almost always get paid on time”.
Uzi Shmilovici (co-CEO at Netcraft) adds: “A lot of the logos that are designed in Israel have English typography. So the question is, where should the logo appear on the site: the left side or the right side?”
Examining some of the biggest websites in Israel shows that this dilemma remains unsettled.
“The other issue”, Shmilovici continues, “is using English words and phrases (either quotes or special terms) in the middle of Hebrew sentences. They force users to change the direction of their reading, which affects the flow of the article and scanning”.
Israeli web design: Confederation House by bigdesign
Typography
Typography is one of the most interesting crafts related to Hebrew websites and design. While traditional Hebrew fonts are great for creating an ancient or holy atmosphere, Web designers face a big challenge in finding or creating modern (or even futuristic) fonts from an alphabet that was invented for one thing: Torah books.
Typography fans might be interested in the “Torah Scribe,” written by a person who handwrites Torah books and who follows a strict set of rules and guidelines. The slightest mistake makes the book un-kosher, and he has to throw it away and start all over again (which is why Torah books cost so much).
Another trend in Hebrew typography is nostalgic fonts from the early days of the state (the British Mandate). A great example is the Palestina font created by Oded Ezer (see image below), which is an effort to fuse an ancient typeface to a modern design.
Oded Ezer’s website is a great place to look for modern Israeli fonts and experiments in Hebrew typography. A leading Israeli typographic artist, Ezer also runs the blog Spare Type. If you are into typography (and who isn’t?), you must check out two works by Ezer in particular: Ketubah and Typosperma.
Any Israeli knows how hard it is to find beautiful fonts in Hebrew. Lucky we have Oded Ezer, a typographic artist, logo and type designer, lecturer and typographic experimentalist. His studio is located in Israel.
Fontef, Israeli font designers.
Ha’Gilda: Hebrew fonts
Interesting Solutions to Israeli Design Problems
Yotam Hadar redesigned nrg.co.il, Israel’s second-most popular news source and seventh most popular website. The old version had too many boxes, low readability and nowhere to focus the eye, not to mention unconventional and hard-to-use navigation. Since its redesign, the website has continually gained popularity (and the statistics show much longer stays), yielding more income and a smaller team on which to rely for maintenance. (The website was completed while the designer was working at Maariv, in collaboration with NRG’s design team, under chief designer Amir Hadad.)
Efficiency Is A Double-Edged Sword
In a 62-year-old country that is in a constant state of war, where every citizen has to join the army at the age of 18, efficiency (not to be mistaken for productivity or effectiveness) is almost sacred. It has been the most important quality in building this country, and it tends to be the most valued quality in any project. One could say, “It doesn’t matter if it’s good, as long is it works…” Sort of… Close enough. Thus usability, aesthetics and trends are ignored quite often, making the job of the designer secondary.
Another side effect of this harsh efficiency-driven attitude is the de-emphasis on a proper technological education. Because clients only demand that things “work,” standards, trends and aesthetics are the last thing on a developer’s mind. In turn, clients lack a real understanding of the media, which is why so many Israeli websites use Flash. The lack of variety of supported Hebrew Web fonts is also a factor. But fortunately SEO is creeping in and forcing even the most stubborn clients to ditch Flash for HTML and to replace images with live text as much as possible, which will hopefully push typography awareness to the next level.
ha’Sushia has an original navigation menu.
Adam Benayoun (CEO and co-founder of Lionite), puts it very well: “It is a technology-oriented market. A lot of Israeli companies don’t focus on the front end, design, UI, experience, because we are all developing and selling technology to the US.”
Lea Aharonovitch (a senior product manager at Answers.com and a UI/UX blogger) adds: “I would even go further to blame each and every one of us Israelis as consumers for not demanding higher standards from websites that prefer banner spots to design.”
“Just a quick look at some of the 130 Israeli Web 2.0 companies demonstrates how much creative types and services are trying to solve problems and foster new exciting ways to do more on the Web… If we support designers and let them show us what they can really offer, we stand a chance that the next ‘Made in Israel’ design article will boast about how Israel has become the cutting edge of intuitive and excellent user-centered design.”
Lea is also a former manager of UPA Israel (Usability Professionals Association), which recently initiated a series of usability reviews published weekly on Israel’s biggest news website Ynet (the equivalent of CNN in terms of traffic and importance), inspecting a different Israeli website every week.
Q: What other setbacks against designers in Israel can you identify?
“Behind every Israeli designer stands a team of managers who just don’t get it,” says Aharonovitch. “Managers don’t think they can afford to offer simple, less monetized interfaces, so designers are required to add as many monetization elements as possible”.
Shmilovici: “Strong interactive companies lead clients to invest a lot of money in the media (where they have big commissions), and the result is usually less resources for UX and design (because the development part is a must anyway)”
Oded Ezer, whose work was featured earlier in this piece, give us a typographer’s point of view: “Conservativeness. Instead of relying on 3,000 years of documented culture and Jewish heritage, young designers are looking to modern European design for inspiration.”
Local Influences
It’s worth mentioning that the second official language of Israel is Arabic, another right-to-left language with amazing appeal to typographers. But a whole other article would be required for that and for the question of why Israel has so few Arabic websites.
Koloudtof. This website is Hebrew but influenced by local cultures. Remarkably, about 50% of Israelis come from Arab countries.
Let’s Turn To The Future
Web designers in Israel seem to have two choices: find work overseas, or deal with the conditions in Israel, which in most cases mean lower wages and having to dabble in print design and other unrelated design work. This is another reason why finding good examples of Israeli Web design is hard, because most of the work is done for European and American clients or, if done for domestic clients, just doesn’t compare to the quality of design overseas.
But as Israelis, we always look at the bright side and seek solutions. “Clients in Israel are just like clients all over the world,” says Adam Benayoun, putting as much of the blame on service providers. “We need to educate clients on the importance of design,” he says, advice that is as true of designers in Israel as it is anywhere else.
Baboo, a lighting boutique.
Lionite is a great example of Israeli creativity in business model and workflow. The Tel Aviv-based Web shop provides a complete solution for clients in Israel and overseas, combining development, design and even marketing. “Clients overseas prefer us because of our standards, not because of or despite of our being Israeli,” says CEO Adam Benayoun. “We believe you have to be good no matter where you are from, no excuses.”
Netcraft’s Uzi Shmilovici seems to agree with that philosophy: “Although Israel is not the cheapest place on earth, it is still cheaper than Europe and the US. That said, professionally, Israeli designers are definitely on par with European and American designers. Take those two facts together and you’ll understand why Israeli design gives you the best value for your money.”
Q: So, what do you think we have to offer the world in terms of style, influence, etc.?
Shmilovici: “I do think that some of our unique typography issues have led to some nice progress. Because the Israeli font inventory was weak, we had to come up with new fonts quickly. Some of those explorations, done by Oded Ezer for example, ended up in the MoMA.”
Aharonovitch: “Israel is considered one of most innovative nations in the world when it comes to technology. It’s hard to compete with our sense of creativity, our high level of adaptability and flexibility and our high skill level in problem-solving and other traits.
”While at times it may seem that we’re not organized or that our affairs are managed informally or that our processes are not well defined, these are our advantages when considering the Agile or Lean development method that has been gaining popularity recently. The last thing to mention is the emotional strength and maturity that many Israelis develop at an early age — mainly derived from growing up in as challenging an environment as the Middle East and serving in the army at the age of 18.”
Showcase of Israeli Web Design
Keoss Studios (warning: music is turned on automatically!)
Hayehudim, an Israeli music band.
The Red Sea Jazz Festival Website
The Wall, Jerusalem.
Quicheria, one of the many Flash-based websites in Israel (via Wix.com)
Terry Poison, electro-rock and roll band.
Duddi Hasson, Fashion photographer.
halas.am, Holon Art Lab Audio Service
shani bar, Fashion designer.
while you were away, Ben Ben-Horin.
hello supersize, Matty Marianski (Supersize), Motion graphics and interaction design.
Israeli Designer Showcase
Those who are able to rise above the circumstances end up turning out top-notch websites. Some such stars are featured here.
Shual (meaning “Fox” in Hebrew) is a two-person team that churns out modern Web-standard websites. Its own portfolio is startlingly green. Aside from this neon-green page complete with fox howl, the team turns out such beautiful websites as the following:
Netcraft does it right and sets a good standard. It is one of the leading agencies in Israel.
It designed this well-known e-commerce website:
Lionite is an Israeli agency with a unique approach to business.
It also created Octabox…
… and Cubicl.
Itamar Lerner is an Israeli-born graphic designer. He started working as a designer at 2002. In the following three years, he was employed by several design studios around Tel Aviv.
Adam Tal (a collaborator on this article) and the design agency Internetlife created the Gottagettofwa.com website.
Daina Reed is a freelance Web designer in Tel Aviv.
Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company created this beautiful, simple and artistic Flash website, which may be impractical for most in the real world.
nucampaign offers great insight into the real Israel (as opposed to the Israel you know from the news).
Illustrators
Liron Tocker is a talented Israeli illustrator and icon designer who lives in Germany.
Mikimottes is commendable for his sketching of everyday Israeli scenery.
Asaf Hanuka worked on the art for the award-winning animated documentary feature film by director Ari Folman.
hoop: this is just about the end of our journey. If you wish to absorb more Israeli design, you should visit hoop.
Related Posts
You may be interested in the following related posts:
- Showcase of Web Design in Russia
- Showcase of Web Design in Germany
- Showcase of Web Design in Mexico
- Showcase of Web Design in Ireland
About the Authors
Daina Reed is a freelance Web designer and Web project manager in Tel Aviv.
Adam Tal is a Web entrepreneur who believes that code is poetry and design is music. Follow him on Twitter @adamtal, or check out his website.
Sara Eisen is a freelance writer, editor, journalist and “marcom” and Web content consultant. She blogs at http://the-word-well.com.
Also, this article wouldn’t have been possible without the contributions of Joey Simhon and Lior Yair of Netcraft, a digital agency in Tel Aviv that specializes in user experience and Web technologies. Special thanks to Avi Joseph, CEO of SmediaC for helping with the research for this article.
(al) (dr) (at) (vf)
The team here at Smashing Magazine. Mostly Sven & Vitaly.
- 322 Comments
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March 18th, 2010 12:43 amVery great!!
You have also the Israeli Css Gallery here:
http://cssgallery.co.ilfor inspirations..
- 3April 10th, 2010 1:30 pm
It is awful!!!
Even not sites, than design of the folder… Simply horror!!! - 4April 29th, 2010 5:33 am
This is junk. my grandmother could do better
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- 5July 13th, 2010 2:12 pm
Israel’s design is UGLY .. i dont like it .. seems like they’re copying European design, cheap immitations.
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- 6February 23rd, 2010 6:27 am
Great collection ! Thx, Bravo.
- 7February 23rd, 2010 6:28 am
great designs ..!
- 8February 23rd, 2010 9:32 am
Thanks for the complement, especially coming from someone with you name:). Where are you from? Would love to see a showcase of arabic websites, hope it’s coming soon.
- 9February 24th, 2010 1:25 am
hey Adam, design is Art, regardless of where it came from, loving it doesn’t mean supporting any political view other the other, also I ‘d LOVE to see that small beautiful country to be called ‘Palestine’ again!!
Nice work- 10February 24th, 2010 4:55 am
Nonsense. Art often has everything to do with culture, religion, upbringing etc. Don’t try to be politically correct.
- 11February 24th, 2010 10:18 pm
Of course Art will reflect the culture of the artist.. its human nature, but admiring Art and beauty is far beyond political views and conflicts…
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- 12February 25th, 2010 11:16 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 13February 25th, 2010 1:38 pm
Me Too would LOVE to see that small beautiful country to be called ‘Palestine’ again.
SEO is very important for any website and flash is not helpful in this point.- 14February 28th, 2010 11:09 am
Me too ^^
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- 15April 23rd, 2010 11:07 pm
Absolutely true.
- 16May 23rd, 2010 9:18 am
Does anyone know how offensive the name Palestine is to Jews? The Phillistines, from whom the name is derived, were mortal enemies of the Jews. That’s like naming Germany “Land of the Allies” or like naming Russia “Land of America.”
Anyway, cool expose!
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- 17February 23rd, 2010 6:29 am
Excellent showcase! It’s always refreshing seeing other cultures’ designs.
- 18February 23rd, 2010 6:30 am
In the article, you mention biz owners especially want things to work equally well in IE6. Also you say the high Flash prevalence must be a cultural thing. My theory is that the high Flash rate is just the easiest way in many cases to get things looking the same in all browsers for said biz owners. I’m not endorsing it, just floating a theory.
- 19February 23rd, 2010 7:36 am
If you prepared to sacrifice SEO, users time and bandwidth and accessibility to get the page to look the same in all browsers, than go right ahead…
- 20February 23rd, 2010 9:34 am
Unfortunately I don’t think that was the motive, even though you made a good point. Most flash websites are not even aware of any browsers other than IE.
- 21February 23rd, 2010 6:24 pm
If I’m to hazard a guess, it would be a cultural thing in that many web developers who work on Israeli websites may all commonly have an affinity for Flash because it’s heavily taught in their schools. In the U.S., you can see a similar “trend” in a micro level in college towns, where a popularity of a technology, because it’s endorsed by the university/professors, is disproportionately prevalent compared to general usage statistics. For example, where I live, .NET is unusually popular, juxtaposed against nationwide usage statistics.
In short, a simple explanation could be: “It’s what they were taught and what they’re asked to use by managers/decision-makers”. All of this is *pure guesswork on my behalf* – I’ve never been to Israel and I’ve never worked as a web developer in Israel.
I’d love to hear an Israeli developer weigh in on the subject! *Cross fingers they read the comments*
- 22February 24th, 2010 10:36 pm
Well, Israeli *designers* are taught little or no HTML/CSS, because the (correct, IMHO) assumption is that it’ll be too technical for most designers, and they should work with professional programmers for that stuff. So when a client wants to cut costs and skip hiring a separate developer, making a Flash site might be the designer’s only choice.
Is it that different in the US, for example? Is HTML/CSS taught in a serious way in design colleges? I always had the feeling that the best web designers/developers are self taught.
- 23February 27th, 2010 2:40 pm
Yes, flash is what is taught in school here to my knowledge (and I have some). Tho I can’t speak for any advances in education here the past two years when I stopped taking interest in attending a school here or had a friend enrolled. I DO believe self taught is the only way you can be on top of the latest practices and it is way too easy with all the great resources online! There really is no excuse :)
I also think that to those clients who are not web savvy, and especially if their business has to do with something artistic, they do care more about being really unique and conceptual and want to make their website an “experience”. Thus the reason for wanting flash (plus if that has been the norm for sometime with their competitors). They may not realize the benefits of giving the user a easy to use site that they can find what they are looking for. I believe users don’t want to have an “experience” or unconventional way of navigating that takes 5 minutes to learn, or wait for frivolous animations– I think there are ways to still keep something unique and artistic within a usable site that is not in flash. Flash is fine sometimes and adds a unique touch– but just not for navigational purposes. I personally HATE when I can’t right click and open in new tab– I’ll just close the window and stop wasting my time. I also HATE when it’s a beautiful fashion site and I just want to see the goods but have to click around and wait for videos to load in a unique way and still leave my main q’s unanswered…How much is it? What does it look like from each angle? How come I can’t see all 20 at once and pick which one I want to take a closer look at etc? If I forget the url can I find it again via Google?
This is the designers job to educate this type of client and point out all the things they are missing out on and say something like– well we can make a really cool effect with a fixed position design element and some jquery. (but obviously not using all that lingo on them! LOL)
Also I believe designers don’t have to code and they shouldn’t! They should code at least one site just to understand what is possible and what is not and how they can make the coding easier for the person who will code it. To read frequently about the latest CSS trends, cool effects that are possible, how to speak the lingo, what works and doesn’t work in which browser and the hacks– and give these instructions to the coders and converse about these issues with the coders. That doesn’t mean they personally have to code. There are plenty of excellent coding services out there today.
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- 24February 23rd, 2010 6:38 am
Great article, thanks for posting!
- 25February 23rd, 2010 6:40 am
Great article!
Thanks for the Talker.co.il mention :)But where is my devunity.com ?:)
- 26February 23rd, 2010 8:15 am
Better ask where is Hooqs ;)
- 27February 26th, 2010 2:19 am
Hooqs? Is it still on-line? Could not find it… :)
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- 28February 26th, 2010 2:22 am
devunity.com is a great site/tool but a it’s design in a little minimalistic, no?
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- 29February 23rd, 2010 6:45 am
מאמר נהדר. תודה על זה:
- 30February 23rd, 2010 6:46 am
great article. because I have to research right-to-left webdesign for a client, this article has given me some interesting insights. keep it coming!
- 31February 23rd, 2010 7:30 am
Great site for switching text from left to right and back again in Hebrew. Not sure if it would work in other languages.
http://www.pixiesoft.com/flip/default.asp
I use it all the time.
- 32February 23rd, 2010 9:39 am
Hey Sebastian,
If you need any advice or help, don’t hesitate to let me know.
My details are at the end of the article (Adam Tal).
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- 33February 23rd, 2010 6:54 am
Excellent article, very informative and detailed.
- 34February 23rd, 2010 7:01 am
It’s very difficult for me to see the greatness of the designs immediately because of the reading order (or what’s it’s called). I have to study the design, before I can relate to it. Am I alone about this?
- 35February 27th, 2010 2:42 pm
It’s true, it takes mad typography skills to make Hebrew look sexy!
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- 36February 23rd, 2010 7:09 am
Israeli designers are really special!
Impressive post – Enjoyed it very much, keep up the good work! - 37February 23rd, 2010 7:17 am
Great article. Thanks!
- 38February 23rd, 2010 7:26 am
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- 39February 23rd, 2010 7:32 am
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- 40February 23rd, 2010 7:42 am
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- 41February 23rd, 2010 8:15 am
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- 42February 23rd, 2010 8:19 am
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- 43February 24th, 2010 1:35 am
I agree with you
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- 44February 23rd, 2010 10:12 am
[This comment was deleted due to offtopic.]
Anyway, nice article. Always interesting to hear about tech coming from abroad and I’m aware of several interesting Israeli start-ups! Bookmarked lionite. :)
Cheers!
- 45February 23rd, 2010 10:46 am
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- 46February 24th, 2010 1:50 am
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- 47February 23rd, 2010 11:10 am
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- 48February 23rd, 2010 11:52 am
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- 49February 24th, 2010 1:56 am
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- 50February 24th, 2010 2:06 am
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- 51February 25th, 2010 9:14 am
I wonder why Haitham’s (hate’s) comments where not deleted….
Is this fair?
Just because someone answers him to the point?
all of his comments are offtopic
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- 52February 24th, 2010 3:05 am
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- 53February 24th, 2010 3:17 am
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- 54February 24th, 2010 3:29 am
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- 55February 24th, 2010 3:38 am
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- 60February 25th, 2010 9:15 am
Is this on topic?
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- 61February 23rd, 2010 8:21 am
Please keep your political (and racist) opinions to yourself, this post is about web design.
- 62February 23rd, 2010 10:30 am
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- 63February 23rd, 2010 4:17 pm
Showcasing work, no matter what kind of work or who did it, is absolutely not political whatsoever (unless, of course, that’s the intention of the showcase which in this instance that is clearly not the case). If SM were to feature Palestinian design work, would you still be complaining? Of course not.
- 64March 22nd, 2010 10:25 pm
Ryan, everything is political. Even when something is claimed not to be. Now read the beginning again and then read any report from a human rights organization preferably from Israel and then come back and say that these fine pieace of design artical is not also political.
It starts of positioning Israel as modern wounder with european flavour and peaceloving culture and sunny beaches. Not to mention the exceptional technology development. That´s the offical Israeli state propaganda that is now also to be a part of normal israeli citizens´ discours when they travel abroad or come in contact with others.
Just because you can´t read the codes doesn´t mean they are not there. It means that you just don´t know the capabilities of Israel. Wake up!
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- 65February 23rd, 2010 10:49 pm
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- 66February 24th, 2010 2:12 am
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- 67February 24th, 2010 2:34 am
Maybe it´s helpful to realize that we all descend from one religion.
We have the same roots for thousands of years but split over and over and over and over. - 68February 24th, 2010 2:55 am
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- 69February 24th, 2010 3:13 am
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- 70February 24th, 2010 3:59 am
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- 71February 24th, 2010 3:29 am
See? They are offended when we dare to spell “Israel” in public.
- 72March 22nd, 2010 10:20 pm
Why are people offended when Israel is portraited as a peaceloving country, Oleg?
Because it´s not in the words that meaning is created it´s in the deeds. Israel is a colonial, racist country that occupys and has implemented an apartheid structure. Not being offended by Israel is to say that all this is OK. That you support whiteness, exceptionalism, racism, oppression, theft, militarism aso.
All these reactions are and insight that there are people out there that do care about human rights and international law. Your comment Oleg, displays the other side that think they however are an exception to these rules and at the same time a guidelight for the rest of us. History is repeating itself time and time again…
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- 73February 24th, 2010 9:41 am
please keep your political and racist comments to yourself. Oh, and scroll to see the Arabic sites, too.
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- 74February 23rd, 2010 8:55 am
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- 75February 23rd, 2010 9:38 am
Yeah, and the designers are out and killing people? Common. Talk design, not politics. There are better forums for that than Smashing magazine.
- 76February 24th, 2010 1:21 pm
we as designers have a social responsibility that we cannot deny… its not just all pretty colors and frivolity.
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- 77February 23rd, 2010 10:36 am
I knew this would happen as soon as I read the article title. Let’s focus on design, brother. Leave the politics for some other forum.
- 78February 23rd, 2010 2:20 pm
You should stop weeping in public. Get a life.
- 79March 22nd, 2010 10:35 pm
Stop promoting and entity that stands for everyday ethinic cleansing and violations against human rights, Oleg! That´s so 1948.
You should start respecting life, never mind the skincolour or ethinic beloning of that person!
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- 80February 24th, 2010 3:09 am
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- 81February 24th, 2010 3:40 am
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- 82February 23rd, 2010 7:31 am
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- 83February 23rd, 2010 4:12 pm
What does that have to do with design? That’s what the article is about, is it not?
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- 84February 23rd, 2010 8:01 am
I have to nitpick: what the heck is the cd rom drive on the Macbook Pro on Lionways’ site doing with a tray? It’s supposed to be slot loading!
- 85February 23rd, 2010 3:22 pm
Jezzz, no one noticed that?? i must assume that no one knows a macbook for not notice that.
- 86February 23rd, 2010 4:34 pm
The reason the tray was chosen instead of slot loading is the (presumably) cool rotating effect animation, as opposed to the less interesting behavior of a realistic Mac eject operation. Sorry if I offended any Mac users…
- 87February 24th, 2010 5:44 pm
In addition to the numerous Israel vs. Palestine arguments, perhaps we could throw in a little PC vs. Mac debating, too. It’ll be WWIII!! :)
In any case, great designs and article. I’m a Jewish-American, but I find my influences from designers all over the world. I would be happy to see some Arab designs reviewed here. (In fact, I suggest it – not only to see some great work but also so everyone will STFU.)
Anyway, great article.
David
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- 88February 23rd, 2010 8:03 am
Thank you, didn’t know that there such beautiful websites in ISRAEL.
יפה מאוד, לא ידעתי שיש אתרים אלו בישראל.
אנחנו על המפה בלשון זכר - 89February 23rd, 2010 8:11 am
AN AMATEUR ARTICLE, SORRY
- 90February 23rd, 2010 8:15 am
So why don’t you show how professionals do it then?!
- 91February 23rd, 2010 8:29 am
Success: An amateur comment, Caps Lock et al. Sorry. Enjoyed the article
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- 92February 23rd, 2010 8:16 am
You forgot to mention punia net – I’m israeli as well :-)
- 93February 23rd, 2010 8:19 am
Thanks for this amazingly long and invested article.
There are client-side & UX sharks in Israel. Nice to see :) - 94February 23rd, 2010 8:31 am
Fabulous Collection.. Great Post.. :D
- 95February 23rd, 2010 8:38 am
I miss Netcraft :)
- 96February 23rd, 2010 9:06 am
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- 97February 23rd, 2010 9:23 am
I’m surprised you forget to mention the matzot, which are made from the blood of little christian children.
People, please try to leave your racism out, and keep it professional.
- 98February 23rd, 2010 9:23 am
It’s funny how we can have a debate about webdesign in Dubai, Turkey and other islamic cultures, but it’s always the same bullshit and antisemitism when we are presented with Israeli websites and entrepreneurs. Can’t imagine how wonderful the world would be without uneducated and clueless people, damn. it’s a nice thought!
- 99February 23rd, 2010 9:28 pm
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- 100February 24th, 2010 4:57 am
Please don’t feed the trolls…. ;)
Great article, so true about managers – designers ‘relationships’, efficiency < design or UX
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- 101February 24th, 2010 9:44 am
if only…
- 102February 28th, 2010 6:25 am
This is a bit off-topic, but hey :-p ; Let’s just answer!
I don’t agree with most of the comments out there, but the thing is that we’re not talking about religion. We’re talking about a country, with all it’s political history and decisions.
Israël is a country that was built by force and financial/military invasion, and not by any kind of contract or agreement; It’s normal then, to find it outrageous to encense a country were people live the dream (with all this lifestyle that the article author is talking about), while 10 or 20 km from there, people are starving and are chased out of their country.- 103March 3rd, 2010 4:13 am
Hi Ahmed
you got the facts wrong.
Israel was Not built by force, it only survives by force with no better options.
people in gaza are not being chased out of their country, they can do whatever they want in their land as long as they are not trying to murder their neighbours.
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- 104February 23rd, 2010 2:16 pm
When I walk on the streets of Israeli cities I see Palestinian construction workers are building house after house. None of them are dripping in blood. Shame on you and your posting. Go tell Smashing Magazine about contents of Hamas websites.
- 105February 25th, 2010 2:12 pm
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- 106March 22nd, 2010 10:50 pm
Oleg, are you for real?!
Your comment is a replica from a South Africa 30 years ago. Now, the kaffers are fine here. They do not complain as they lawn, build and clean our homes/cities.Have you been to the West Bank? Do you know that happends some km from you in Gaza? Have your house been demolished? Have you passed a checkpoint and seen the “others” waiting? Well if you have not it´s because you live in a segregated country where people are divided up. That palestinians come and work in your hood is because the economy in the West Bank is totally blown to peaces thanx to Israel. Ofcourse you don´t know this then again, how would you? You don´t care, you just walk down the streets in your wounderful country right!
Shame does not attach persons like you Oleg.
And yeah, let´s look what Hamas has on it´s website and then let´s look what various Israelis right-wing political parties have on their website + the Israeli goverment. And why not have a look at the Goldstone report (ooops I said it!). Hamas is an armed force against the occupation and demolishtion of the nation Palestine with an additional social program. They exist only thanx to Israel´s daily politics and israelis like you that do not oppose it´s inherent racist foundation.
Oh, by the way, you know that armed resistance is allowed during occupation of an foreign power. How many neuclear weapons does Israel have now?
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- 107February 24th, 2010 5:56 am
LOL LOL LOL
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- 108February 23rd, 2010 9:09 am
so i’m sitting in a cafe in tel aviv with my computer and, because it’s been a full two days since i’ve logged on, i thought i’d catch up on some smashing magazine… bam, best surprise ever :) i thought i was seeing things.. ha.
the design talent in israel impresses me more and more every day i’m here. i am especially inspired by the print design (and modern architectural design and package design as well). love it! todah raba raba!
- 109February 24th, 2010 5:49 pm
Hey Michelle,
Good stuff. I’ve never been to Israel but my mom was raised there. I plan on making an Aliya in the near future. Truth be told… I probably wouldn’t want to come back. Glad to see a great design community there. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet some of you face to face someday!
David
- 110February 26th, 2010 2:35 am
@michelle I’m always working in Tel Aviv Cafes maybe I’ve seen you before? :) Feel free to contact me (you too David) (ps I made aliyah 6 yrs ago)
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- 111February 23rd, 2010 9:11 am
Very nice articles. It is a shame that although there is quite a large community of high-level web-developers in Israel, the de-facto standard is all about cost, so people would rather get a sloppy ie-only site than a standard-compliant css-layouted site…
anyway – another very cool Israeli designer’s site i think is missing from this showcase:
http://www.bigeyes.co.il/index.html - 112February 23rd, 2010 9:46 am
very nice collection. a lot of quality design. you did it again smashing!
another good web design company is shkedim studio http://www.shkedim.net
I like their clean designs.- 113February 26th, 2010 2:44 am
I agree they do some very nice work! Having said that, I have some gripes with the functionality- the portfolio is in flash and I can’t right click open in new tab to see their websites. I get a tiny mystery meat square so I can’t see if I even want to inspect that piece further I have to click wait for it to load and click all the way back to get back to the portfolio. I’d like to see their lovely work in larger thumbnails so I can see more of the page and to be able to open a bunch in new tabs and then after opening several go and check them out ;) Their sites are really really beautiful tho! They do excellent work!
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- 114February 23rd, 2010 10:07 am
As much as I liked some of the work presented here, I can’t help but see this article as a contribution to the current ”rebrand Israel” campaign, which seeks to counteract growing international opposition to the occupation and to Israel’s recent invasions of Lebanon and Gaza by drawing attention to more positive aspects of Israeli life and culture. I may be wrong, it could be just a coincidence, but if so it is an unfortunate one, as it made the article seem a bit suspect and thus a little uncomfortable to read.
- 115February 23rd, 2010 11:02 am
Yes, this is all part of the Zionist propaganda, I’m sure the writer was asked to publish this by the Israeli ‘Hasbara’…
How about sticking to the design? not everything has to be political. And by the way, some of the designers featured in this article actually have political views not dissimilar to yours, and oppose occupation and the invasion of Gaza. - 116February 23rd, 2010 11:05 am
I can assure you it’s not.
I would write about egyptian design with the same enthusiasm, and would probably do so if I didn’t think there are people who could do a better job than me (hint for smashing mag:)).
So feel free to enjoy this:)
- 117February 23rd, 2010 12:01 pm
“Hasbara”, despite of its menacing, foreign-sounding name, is largely a myth.
Foreign relations, and international PR in particular is a tiny percent of the Israeli government’s budget, and its efforts are appropriately pathetic. Most pro-Israeli campaigns come from independent Israeli or Jewish organizations.
I guess you could say that the author is suspect personally, but he doesn’t hide the fact that he’s Israeli, and there’s nothing sinister about wanting to present your country in a good light. Besides, it hardly reads like propaganda.
So you can stop worrying about dark Israeli conspiracies (at least when it comes to PR :), and enjoy the article.
- 118March 22nd, 2010 1:49 pm
So Hasbara is myth only because you say so Eli the man?! Funny, Israel itself have no problem in boasting how their new propaganda section will work, target the “bias” white people of Europe and how it is funded. Then again, you ofcourse know this but assume that the rest do not have a clue right so you go into “myth” rethoric…
This whole artical is PROPAGANDA from start to buttom. Propaganda means to simplfiy the image/reality for one side or the other. “Israel has a friendly culture”?! Really, for whom? It´s the world most RACIST country and is OCCUPYING the West Bank and starving Gaza. Now, again Eli, is that not a simplifyed image of Israel?! Proberbly not right? Its proberbly the pals fault right? There is no dark Israeli conspiracies right? Just ethnic cleansing, violations of human rights, racism, masscres, hatred aso… What is that? Israeli banality?
It´s not for nothing that Israel has the worst brand in the World! This artical is so FULL of PROPAGANDA and plays into the hands of ignorant americans. Anyone that knows a little bit more of the world and the state of Israel society and history sees through this artical. That´s what you are working against Eli. Make sure you get your Hasbara check at the end of this week!
But how about the editorial crew of Smashing?!
If it´s only webdesign why then are all these imaginary tourist descriptions inserted into the text. There IS NO NEUTRAL POSITION! Especially when it comes to apartheid, masscre, cronical violation to international law, torture, ethnic cleansing…- 119March 24th, 2010 4:39 pm
please.
your such a loser.
the hell with your views - 120August 21st, 2010 10:41 pm
Hi Maria,
are you talking about Sudan, Iran, Cuba, Pakistan, etc?
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- 121February 23rd, 2010 12:53 pm
Just to clarify (not sure if Eli/Adam’s replies are to me or to the concerned designer) – I was joking regarding the Hasbara campaign. To me it seems quite obvious that this article has nothing to do with politics or the Israeli Palestinian conflict, simply part of a series on web design in different countries.
- 122February 23rd, 2010 2:10 pm
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- 123February 24th, 2010 3:52 am
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- 124February 24th, 2010 7:46 pm
A Concerned Designer (if that is your real name), Smashing Magazine has a series of articles showcasing design from different countries around the world. This has nothing to do with “rebranding Israel”. Please do some research before you make ignorant comments that impute political motives into design articles.
- 125March 22nd, 2010 1:57 pm
Louis, how about you do some research and reading up! Israel has the world worst brand and that´s is something the country has built up for 60 years!!! Read the artical again and tell me if it´s ALL about design?!!!!
I can take your through the text and check sentence for sentence where Israel is framed in a positive lightning which sticks very well with guidelines from “rebranding” and Hasbara centers.
You do not come out as ignorant Louis. You come out as very bias and totally irrelevant. You read what you wanna read! How very convenient! And how very pro-Israeli. Biznes as usual. Let´s built some more houses since it´s not about the houses, it´s abou the timing right?!
- 126March 24th, 2010 4:41 pm
your a brainwashed person.
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- 127February 23rd, 2010 10:30 am
You forgot my portfolio :-) narodesign.com, we are a new israeli italian team.
- 128February 23rd, 2010 10:43 am
Babayoff and all the designers !
Wonderful works!! keep up with the creativity..
- 129February 23rd, 2010 10:45 am
Great article and showcase of Israels talent. The illustration is very creative and cutting edge. The flash websites seem to be because they stay a few years behind design trends in the states and flash was all the rage a few years ago. It seems like the next step for them would be web2.0 then css based web design. Great post SmashingMag.
- 130February 23rd, 2010 11:22 am
A politically biased article that shouldn’t carry such a tone in a design magazine. Just sad.
- 131February 23rd, 2010 12:10 pm
I don’t think it’s political at all – unlike some of the comments.
If you’d replace “Israel” with “Belgium” in the article, would it still be politically biased in your opinion?
If not, then your complaints are just a product of your own political bias, and not of real desire for keeping politics out of design (a sentiment that I completely agree with).
- 132March 22nd, 2010 10:33 pm
Eli, Belguim is not Israel. As a matter a fact there is NO OTHER COUNTRY in the world that has the aggressiv military record, cronical violations against international law and human rights as Israel. Maybe except from USA. There are few other countries today that OCCUPY land and have implemented and APARTHEID regim over this land post-South Africa.
Your argument is so irrelevant that you must know this. Israel stands as the world worst brand not because of the outside but because of the everday actions it does to cleanse and take land from Palestine and for the constant violations of human rights.
This is fact! Trying to make Israel an victim and bias critic is just shows the state of the this “thin democracy” country and its avocates!
Beligum has it´s faults as every other country but none reachs the level of Israel. Wonder why? Have a reading in any human rights report Eli. But then again, that would propberbly be bias for you right? It´s not about Israel – it´s about everybody else not forgetting the Arabs ofcourse!
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- 133February 23rd, 2010 2:13 pm
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- 134February 23rd, 2010 1:21 pm
[This comment was deleted due to offtopic.]
Ok, about the design, well yeah, Israel is far behind the US and Europe, but i think this situation is going to change in the near future as i can see the beginning of this changes now days as more and more people are getting in to the advanced CSS, JS libraries and leaving Flash behind.
I enjoyed reading this post from beginning to end. Thanks SM, keep up the good job.
- 135February 23rd, 2010 2:13 pm
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- 136February 23rd, 2010 4:35 pm
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but, again, this article is about webdesign, pity that some people cant just leave aside political issues and talk as simple human being, it will surly reduce hate.
- 137March 22nd, 2010 10:41 pm
How can it reduce hate when Israel is reproducing hatred every day. Some days as new buildings on stolen land, other days as bombs over a closed down area but mostly as discriminationa and humilation.
Hatred does not come from outside towards Israel. Israel is generating this hatred in its banality. Read the beginning again Yossi and tell me how it´s about webdesign and not about the touristic european flavoured Israel with a peaceloveing culture. Waiting…
Acknowledging the state of things is the first step of reducing hatred! Surely, everyone knows this but some…
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- 139February 24th, 2010 2:25 am
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- 140February 23rd, 2010 1:41 pm
I think I’ll stop reading the comments from now on. If I want politics and world affairs I’ll go to the newspapers or tv or books about politics. Art is art. Design is design. I come here to learn about these things not to read about everyone’s individual politics. If it’s included in the artwork, so be it. But I want it to speak for itself. I guess now the next country installment will be arabic/islamic artwork. Bring it on. I need to learn about all the countries and cultures and what they’re doing to express themselves. Thank you anyway, SM.
- 141February 23rd, 2010 2:05 pm
Excellent article and great stuff. Thanks for it. I’ll be happy to see more countries and great webdesigners here too.
- 142February 23rd, 2010 2:11 pm
Good article. Thank you very much.
- 143February 23rd, 2010 2:25 pm
Great article and great showcase of some very cool Israeli designers, but you did’nt mentioned maybe the coolest interactive studio in Israel:
http://www.baconoppenheim.com/
really check out their works - 144February 23rd, 2010 3:00 pm
Any chance the admins could just delete the politics BS? Even if Haitham/Pakistani_Patriot/etc had the slightest clue what they’re on about, it still wouldn’t be the right forum for this.
- 145February 23rd, 2010 3:12 pm
Very nice article indeed, although I know a lot of sites that need to be on that list and didn’t made it.
Funny how every post on the internet about something Israeli, follows by racist quotes.
Also noticeable how the comment on the other side are civilized and calm. - 146February 23rd, 2010 3:18 pm
This blog made me feel really bad for Israel. It makes me feel as though who ever wrote this is not giving them much credit for what they do.
- 147February 27th, 2010 9:12 pm
Very good article. The sad truth is that Israeli design is very accurately presented here. Many Israelis have talent, but very few pay attention to detail or typography, and very few can even afford to do so with such a tiny market (there are only about 100,000 domains registered under the .il TLD in all). And while I am a strict XHTML/CSS guy myself, I can see why they would use Flash to control type, with such a small pool of web-safe fonts available.
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- 148February 23rd, 2010 4:11 pm
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- 149February 23rd, 2010 4:28 pm
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- 150February 23rd, 2010 4:35 pm
Great collection! What a beautiful written language.
- 151February 23rd, 2010 4:44 pm
Let me start of by saying I absolutely love Hebrew calligraphy – some of the designs showcased here are truly fantastic…that said…
Dealing with politics is unavoidable when you’re talking about “Showcase of Webdesign in [country]“.
It’s even more so difficult when dealing with an unresolved issue that deals with an occupied people who’s land is being taken away from them by what is internationally recognized as illegal settlements. You’re always going to get charged responses when dealing with a topic that deals with injustice on a certain group: be it the Palestinian people in the occupied territories under the Israeli war machine or European Jews at the hands of the German Nazis.
but I digress…
Its difficult to simply treat design as pretty pictures without looking at history, context, the designer, and culture (be it of the company or nation).
To avoid the fiasco of comments poring into a very decent design blog – I have one recommendation: When dealing with areas of conflict, try to balance it out by showing designs from both sides. Not politically charged designs of course, but design showing the amazing blend of culture, history and diversity that a few square kilometers can present.
Just a suggestion,
Khaled- 152February 23rd, 2010 9:32 pm
Khaled, when SM will publish an article on web design in ANY Arab state, should we Israelis post polically charged comments mocking the rich and violent history of that state, and it’s oppressive traditions. You want that, troll?
- 153February 24th, 2010 12:30 am
Oleg,
I find trolls are the first to accuse others of trolling. Glass house?I have not accused you of anything nor am I defending “Arab” countries – yet you call me a troll? I couldn’t care less about their oppressive regimes – nor could I care less about your “insightful” comments…specially when you’re asking people to “go away”, “get a life” and calling them “trolls”…maybe you should have a serious look in the mirror before you accuse anyone else of being a troll.
Khaled
- 154February 24th, 2010 3:24 am
@khaled, there are users who comment every article on every subject where Israel is mentioned in a positive light. Comment? no, “pollute” will be a correct word that describes their activity. Such people are called trolls for a reason. The only thing you can feed to such troll is a free advise: “go get a life” or “go away”.
Your posting suggest you’re moderate Israel-haters, among the ones who compare Jews in Nazi Germany with Arabs on Israel territories. There are only so much design shops in .ps domain , and the people suffer from their own kind more than they do from Israeli “occupation”.
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- 155February 24th, 2010 4:27 am
“Dealing with politics is unavoidable when you’re talking about “Showcase of Webdesign in [country]“.” It is not unavoidable! Your are abusing this blog to make political statements. Everybody is aware of the situation and I’m not saying it is right but it makes me really angry if I have to reply to such a post of a hothead like you. Keep out if you just cannot stay on the topic.
- 156February 24th, 2010 10:12 pm
Khaled, does it mean that the Russian design article should’ve included something about Georgian or Chechniyan design, and the British design one – about Iraqi or Afghani design?
Not that I wouldn’t like to see articles about Georgian or Iraqi design, but I don’t see why you have to bind them to the countries they happen to be fighting with.
If I was Palestinian, I’d be insulted if Palestinian design was just a section of Israeli design.
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- 157February 23rd, 2010 4:58 pm
These designs are inspirational. Sounds like its tough being a web designer in Israel/Palestine.
By the way, artists and designers of the world tend to be peace loving regardless of where they are from. So no point talking politics here.
PEACE.- 158March 22nd, 2010 2:02 pm
All Israelis do 3-5 years of military service and therefor are an very active part of the aparthied policy and masscres. What´s peaceful about that? Before they are 22 many of them are killers sanctioned by the state. Have a look at the domestic violence in Israel. Militarism is so deep into the society that peaceful will not mean the same thing in Israel.
No wonder they all go abroad after their military service. Some never come home.
- 159May 30th, 2010 9:37 am
Yes you’re right. 90% of all Israel citizens did army service, including me and including designers. Except they’re leaving country looking for a job, cause local market is very small. )
Sure we’re not so intelligent as so called Palestinians, people who afraid of their own government, cause their government using their own people’s fears to suck more and more money from a rich Arabian countries just to full pockets and send some more brainwashed children blow up in our streets. If you OK with it, I’m happy I was one of those killers. Shalom from Israel designers. )
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- 162February 23rd, 2010 9:25 pm
@Thomas what a poetic nonsense.
- 163February 24th, 2010 5:15 am
@Thomas what a poetic nonsense.
I think maybe SM should add a rating /voting system or maybe an just an irrelevance button…
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- 169February 23rd, 2010 9:33 pm
Why bother to write stupid comments? Boycott Intel and remove ICQ from your computer.
- 170February 24th, 2010 5:35 am
Already have mate!
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- 171February 23rd, 2010 6:38 pm
It’s common that when “Israel” is mentioned among any topic that we see such comments and arguments.
No wonder why, and I’m not here to list the reasons. However, from a design lover perspective point of view, I suggest that SM stop showing cases based on countries and instead show only beautiful design cases NO matter where it comes from.
Peace :)- 172February 24th, 2010 6:24 am
I agree, I see no point in mentioning the country the design is from. We don’t see titles such as “Hey! Showcase of Web Design in America” or “Good Afternoon! Showcase of Web Design in Britian” etc
- 173February 24th, 2010 9:54 am
Actually, if you read the article, instead of just posting your rubbish, you’d see the other “web design from…” smashing magazine articles. It’s under the “related posts” section.
- 174February 25th, 2010 12:04 am
I read the entire article, and all I stated was America/Britian, you will never see those articles.
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- 175February 23rd, 2010 8:52 pm
Amazing timing for this article as I’m moving back to Israel next month (and I’m also a web designer)! Thanks so much for confirming all the strange quirks I’ve been noticing for years. I’m constantly yelling at my designer/web peeps there, “What is it with your obsession with Flash?!?” Anyway, very interesting point to note how attitudes toward web design are a part of the culture in other ways too. Thanks again.
- 176February 23rd, 2010 9:26 pm
The only way to drive a client away from Flash is to charge him more for Flash :) Good luck.
- 177February 23rd, 2010 11:33 pm
I totally agree. Flash design is by far more expensive than any other package. It should be handy and affordable so we can see more around.
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- 178February 23rd, 2010 11:27 pm
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 179February 24th, 2010 1:58 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
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- 180February 23rd, 2010 11:28 pm
Another great Israeli designers site
with horizontal scroll:
http://www.saybrand.co.il/?p=230&s=1033 - 181February 23rd, 2010 11:42 pm
I am waiting for ‘Showcase of Web Design in India’.
- 182February 23rd, 2010 11:57 pm
Real quality work here…thanks! Like always when the name Israel is mentioned in a article (regardless the subject) there are massive comments that have anything to do with the article.
And every time I’m amazed how unbelievable stupid and short sighted some people are.
Well, what else can you except from people believing Allah is watching us.- 183February 24th, 2010 12:14 am
Please keep your bigotry and ignorance to yourself – thanks!
- 184February 24th, 2010 1:03 am
@NicoF: I believe in Allah and I believe that he is watching every single step you/I make so keep your impolite, unfitted speech for your self without pushing religious talk into such topic. I and others have replied to this topic without harming your feelings and crossing your borders, regardless of those who represent Palestinians fellas, so we expect the same from you. If you can’t just ignore what others have said, you simply can report their posts.
You owe us (myself and other believers) an apologies and we are waiting for it. Show some respect.
I never ever expected to write/read such a thing in SM. What a shame!- 185February 24th, 2010 1:51 am
@Firas: I apologize to you if I hurt your feelings. You are right, this is not the place for these posts but I didn’t started them, other ‘believers’ did and it pissed me off.
Got carried away for a moment…
To many people died for signs, regardless what kind of religion. It’s 2010…too me that’s unbelievable.
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- 186February 24th, 2010 2:34 am
and what do you “Believe” in ? let me guess… Nothing?
- 187February 24th, 2010 5:38 am
Science
- 188February 25th, 2010 6:33 pm
Second.
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- 189February 24th, 2010 6:28 am
You say that like someone not having blind faith is a bad thing. It doesn’t affect you at all what others choose to believe or not believe. I will respect you and your right to believe in whatever you want, but that doesn’t mean I have to respect the beliefs themselves.
- 190February 24th, 2010 9:54 am
@laim, Thank you for your comment,I respect that, I do.
@NicoF Said ” what else can you except from people believing Allah is watching us.”, there is not much to be said to such an ignorant, though I agree with what you said, I will “accept” you the way you are not matter what you believe in, because you can think and do what ever you want as long as it doesn’t hurt any one, or ‘kill’ their children.
Dont you agree?
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- 191February 25th, 2010 3:13 pm
WHAT A SHAME you insult our thoughts and believes while we never did for you, I believe in ALLAH and no one ask you to do the sam but you have to apologize if you realy respect others. and SM please respect us and delete his comment
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- 192February 24th, 2010 12:07 am
your all posts is awsome but …………. if u will show indian web design on your site……… i will feel very haapy….. Plz think about that
- 193February 24th, 2010 9:57 am
Actually, I’m surprised Indian design isn’t here, yet! I’m sure SM will get on that soon! Would be great to show India is not just a place for outsourcing!
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- 194February 24th, 2010 12:41 am
Excellent article. I would just like to add that the co-authors, Sara Eisen and Daina Reed, are highly recommended for one-stop, turnkey web design and content projects; their level of dedication, flare and eye for detail are simply unparalleled and generate high-end, cost-effective products.
- 195February 24th, 2010 12:54 am
hey you didn’t mention http://www.kuchi.co.il
which holds a big share of israeli design market in it’s hands
just visit the site - 196February 24th, 2010 1:23 am
None of these websites have anything special going for them, in fact, most appear to have been created in the 90′s. You’ve stated yourself under “What’s Unique about Israeli Web design?” that these websites don’t conform to web standards, many of them are flash-based, and have described them as “[looking] unfinished, and they probably are.”
If these designs are so terrible, why are they being showcased? I thought this was supposed to be a professional article.
- 197February 25th, 2010 6:35 pm
Agreed. If anything, you’re showing that Israel is a country that has fallen behind (from a technological stand-point).
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- 198February 24th, 2010 1:27 am
umm all of you that talk about israel not so nicely :P, come visit here and than speak please :) what you see on you local news not quite truth so…
anyway, real good article.
im a webdesiger and an owner of an Drupal development and design companie.
you can check the home website design and other designs in the out website.
take a look if you like to.
CPO.co.il
CPO.co.il/en < English version. - 199February 24th, 2010 1:47 am
Great collection but there is one of my oldest websites but still a lot of thinking and illustrating on this one..
http://pdsurfboards.com/ - 200February 24th, 2010 1:49 am
Wow, really nice. I especially like portfolio showcases
- 201February 24th, 2010 1:53 am
“Many entrepreneurs here believe that because they are smart and successful in tech that they know your field as well as their own. They think they can write English better than a US-born copywriter and can design better than a graduate of FIT. Needless to say, this can be frustrating for the person trying to build a new website for them.”
SOOOO TRUE!!! I think there is a name for this in psychology – like when people as a doctor for investment advice.
Israeli hi-tech managers consider proofreading ‘insulting’ and would rather send out an email they penned ‘all by themselves’ and full of language errors, than let their marketing writer look it over.
Even the great orator, Barak Obama has speech writers, but an Israeli VP R&D can do it all himself (-: - 202February 24th, 2010 2:00 am
Is CSS ‘new’??? I think I learned about it in a HTML class in 1998.
- 203February 24th, 2010 2:10 am
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- 204February 24th, 2010 2:18 am
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- 205February 24th, 2010 2:14 am
I don’t have the tools to judge whether Israeli web designers are vanilla or unique, sub-par or above and beyond, but the article sure was an eye candy and that’s what matters to me.
The focus on RTL and unique fonts difficulties was an interesting perspective I never considered.
Regional focused articles is a great idea, would love to see more of those. - 206February 24th, 2010 2:15 am
i want to see showcase of china / korea / japan
- 207February 24th, 2010 2:57 am
yep, China article definitely needed. More info on different writing systems and their challenges in webdesign would also be great.
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- 208February 24th, 2010 2:21 am
Some of the sites are great but most have have basic UI issues and overall I don’t feel a WoW,
I think better sites could have been found. Looking at the Israel design and developer community and yes I’m part of that community most of the work that is produced is low quality more then half of the sites are not WC3 valid, most of the Flash sites you see don’t use liquid layout and these are just some of the things that stand out, and I’m not getting into the design aspect.Almog Design
- 209February 24th, 2010 2:32 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 210February 24th, 2010 4:19 am
Who cares? Are your people any better? So shut up!
- 211February 24th, 2010 4:25 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
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- 212February 24th, 2010 2:55 am
Again religion is causing a conflict…
To everyone…
I can´t hear it anymore: “WE”. What does your state do for you?
Everywhere in the world, old grey men decide about “their” countries
and people must suffer.
Get to know the people, not politicians. Politicians don´t mind and
everywhere in the world they are acting the same.Peace to everyone.
- 213February 24th, 2010 2:59 am
yes u r right “peace for everyone & peace to everyone”
- 214March 22nd, 2010 2:20 pm
Religion is NOT the core of this conflict.
Land is!Religion is the make up and the product to sell for europeans and americans that just want to believe the best of Israel.
This is the world´s most uncomplicated conflict.
It´s all ready there and can be summed up in “1948 lines”.
Just stop the occupation and apartheid and return.
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- 215February 24th, 2010 2:59 am
omfg are you people serious? noone cares about your political opinions. SM is a DESIGN BLOG
- 216February 24th, 2010 3:51 am
okay sorry
lets talk about designs………….i think website netcraft is too good…..
plz checkout this site……… really simple very simple but combination of white and shades of blue and purple…….. is looking very good - 217February 24th, 2010 3:55 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
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- 218February 24th, 2010 3:40 am
SM needs to work on their “we hate flash” attitude. its completely bullshit, the author as no clue what he misses out, by abandoning flash. take a look at thefwa.com, there is just no way to convert some of the sites there to js/html/css. and even if there would be a way, no one is stupid enough to do this, since ac3 is much better language (when it comes to animation and interactivity (please don’t think “canvas” will change that)) compared to javascript and 99% bugged DOM.
sure all of those sites are horrible from the usability point of view. but thats not the point. the point is to create a “wow” stunning effect. and flash does this superb.
- 219February 24th, 2010 4:04 am
Great article!
Thanks smashingmagazine for an excellent overview on Israel’s designers.
By the way, Thanks for Israel you Arabs can:
- Communicate with ICQ (first IM ever)
- Transfer data with a Disk On Key (An Israeli company invention)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Systems
- Process Terrorist plans with an Intel Processor (Israel is One of the main developing communities)If we had Belgium as our neighbor it will all be different…But we Have Syria and Gaza.
It is easy to shout from Europe but wait and see when Islam is knocking at your door and let see how you will react, good luck!We are in the front line, protecting of your hypocrisy, wake up!
- 220February 24th, 2010 5:25 am
Thanks for this post.
You are an Idiot Yotam. - 221February 25th, 2010 1:54 pm
I was the first Oleg here and I have not written that post.
- 222February 25th, 2010 3:36 pm
I think if you steal belgium land it will be different too, you should understand your position in PALASTINE its not about relegion its about the land.
- 223February 26th, 2010 12:39 am
You can go back to Belgium and hence occupy there land, kill their children and ask them whether they will like you or not. BTW, don’t forget to mention to them that because of Israel they can chat, transfer file and most importantly they can feel the true pain.
- 224March 22nd, 2010 2:11 pm
Thanx to USA and the annual 3 BILLION Israel can develop and sell weapons and shit and do some technology. The world do not owe Israel a shit but contrary!
You talk about Israel inventions as there are no others? How singled minded can one get? Who cares about Israelis companies since they are not alone in developing new things or technologies. There is not exception to Israel when it comes to creativity, technology etc. Israel is an apartheid country and that´s not a sign of a progressive society!
Islam is coming!
Issslaaaaaaaaaaam is coooming!
So speaks an islamofob.
60 years ago the same thing was said about jews in Europe. Whiteness is ever chaning and new “blackies” are invented. Now the Arabs. Those who want to kill all fine, high-tech jews in Israel. Buuuu…You know what, you are not at the front. Israel is the sum of its racist state structure and as an aggresive, militarised country out for Lebensraum you will get no friends. Hence, Syria is allright and Gaza is allright! It´s Israel that is the sickness in the region. Europe is slowly realizing that and now who knows… USA.
Your blame circus has ended after 60 years of colonialisation and ethnic cleansing. No wonder more israelis leave Israel than the other way around!
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- 225February 24th, 2010 4:21 am
Smashing Magazine should be ashamed of itself for lack of moderating this thread. An article on web design is *not the place* for either side to be weighing in with political arguments and worse. It is not what I, and others in the industry, came here to read.
Smashing needs to clean up its act – fast!
- 226February 24th, 2010 5:48 am
No. You should be ashamed of yourself. There are crimes against humanity going on to our fellow human beings and you think we should all just ignore it and concentrate on Photoshop!!
Shame on you!- 227February 24th, 2010 11:40 am
We don’t see these type of comments in posts about US or UK design, even though the casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan are higher than all the Arab-Israeli wars put together. Neither do we see it in posts on Chinese or Russian design. There’s a place for politics, this isn’t it.
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- 228February 24th, 2010 6:09 pm
Actually, from all the “This comment was deleted due to offtopic.” posts it seems SM is doing the best they can.
David
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- 231February 24th, 2010 5:25 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 232February 24th, 2010 5:32 am
Mr Muslim, I agree. I would suggest putting something together from the Palestinian community and submitting to – Smashing Magazine.
However I would see this could be difficult due to sanctions and blockade of Palestine from the Israel government (checkpoints, apartied wall etc. ).
Mr Muslim, knowing Smashing Magazine, your comment will be safe.
- 233February 24th, 2010 6:20 pm
Seriously? I know checkpoints and walls and whatever are inconvenient, even humiliating to you. But, last time I checked, you can pretty much run a whole web design business from a coffee shop. In fact, I often do. I do work in my underwear at home. You could use a land line phone to upload and download work, if need be. Websites can be hosted on any server on the globe.
Look at the opposition in Iran. Look at China. They still manage to get their message out even as their government is shutting down communications with the outside world.
If you’re using the Palestinian/Israeli political arrangement as an excuse to not produce good design, then you are just being lazy. If you produce good work and a magazine like SM picks it up and showcases it, I’m happy to give it a look.
David
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- 234February 24th, 2010 5:29 am
Yotam, here on smashing mag, I don’t care at all.
- 235February 24th, 2010 5:51 am
Maybe SM should consider adding a rating / voting system or an ‘irrelevancy button’ to there comments, so we can be saved from all this political whining…
[This comment was deleted due to offtopic.] - 236February 24th, 2010 6:00 am
Ugg! This article outlines many of my frustrations about web design here. I’m an American living in Israel, and starting to get into freelancing. My boyfriend (an Israeli) gives me grief because my websites don’t use slash screens. Wow, and writing websites from right to left makes me crazy. I still can’t figure out exactly how to keep the period from flipping to the beginning of the sentence on the last row of text (somehow if I try enough weird different things it tends to work). This article makes me miss home! To the Israelis credit though, there are tons of artistic, hardworking people here, which makes for lots of great web designers, they’re just not very progressive in general.
Oh, and I love While You Were Away, really inspiring work, especially the An Autobiography of a City (the Jaffa project).
- 237February 24th, 2010 6:06 am
@Sabrina… I’m always looking to expand my “Americans in Israel” associations. Please get a hold of me! Especially as a fellow web designer, it would be good to have a chat about things there (I’m moving back next month).
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- 238February 24th, 2010 6:36 am
[This comment was deleted due to offtopic.]
Oh sorry… this piece was about web design… NEAT!
- 239February 24th, 2010 10:21 am
Too bad you missed the Arabic sites in the showcase who are dealing with ending the conflict and racism, and promoting human rights.
- 240February 24th, 2010 10:51 am
Arabic and human rights in the same sentence? :-)
- 241February 24th, 2010 2:39 pm
Do you have a point? or are you being such “a mysterious man”? :-)
- 242February 25th, 2010 9:07 am
I had a point, but you missed it.
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- 243February 24th, 2010 9:52 pm
Of course. B’tselem, Shovrim Shtika, Yesh Gvul and many others. Israeli designers have probably done more against the occupation than you ever dreamed of doing.
Oh wait, you were being snarky (and ignorant).
Go on then.
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- 244February 24th, 2010 11:06 am
Nice article, although I have to disagree about the statement that flash websites are more common in Israel than they are in the U.S.
More and more israeli websites are CSS driven, and use flash only when neccessarry.
The big clients appreciate a good design, and if they are accompanied by a good advisor – they also understand the importance of web standards and CSS driven designs.
Yes – it’s true that most israeli websites look unfinished, but that’s a cultural thing with us..
- 245February 24th, 2010 11:37 am
wonder why the SM article for “web designers in mexico” doesn’t have as much hate-comments. Nothing about corrupt government, corrupt police, drug cartels, human trafficking… Not that it should. This is a design blog, and all the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-semitism on here is shameful.
- 246February 24th, 2010 12:36 pm
well from my israeli client-side developer experience (2 years), we are getting better in the UI area one step at the time.
thx for the article. =]
- 247February 24th, 2010 12:56 pm
The article was so brilliant, but then the comments came along and screwed everything up.
I think the best collections so far are Russia and Israel.
- 248February 24th, 2010 1:23 pm
this was deleted for being off topic… wow, censorship.
- 249February 24th, 2010 2:24 pm
wow.. Great article, very informational and helpful. :)
- 250February 24th, 2010 2:43 pm
the designs are beautiful, Israel isn’t
- 251February 25th, 2010 2:09 pm
um, apparently you haven’t been to israel. it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. and yes, the designs are beautiful.
- 252February 26th, 2010 12:46 am
thumbs up
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- 253February 24th, 2010 2:57 pm
“Vendetta Bold” right underneath Palestina. No pun intended. (Second picture in the Typography section.)
- 254February 24th, 2010 3:27 pm
This article starts off – a lot by promoting the touristic features of israel (not that i would dream of going there) .. I dont see anything interesting in this post.. other than “bigging up” a disgusting country. Lucky Israel doesn’t have anything to do with Britain or else where and there design is very much different.
wow… Smashing Magazine .. run by zionists .. who would have thought.. cencoring certain comments and allowing others…
nothing interesting in this article. .i bet this will get cencored… Im taking SM off my RSS and my bookmark.
- 255February 25th, 2010 5:29 am
I totally agree with you William, I also took SmashingMagazine off my RSS and bookmark~
- 256February 25th, 2010 2:11 pm
how very sad. just because SM decides to feature designs from another part of the world, you stop reading it and delete it from your bookmarks? focus on the design, children.
- 257March 1st, 2010 3:40 am
Great article, interesting web content, thanx SM for posting it.
As for Williams comment, I understand that u r from England? well, we all here in India remember what you did to us during the Raj period, what you did in Falkland islands in Argentina and what u r doing today in Afghanistan, but is this all relevant? not in this case….
Let’s talk design!
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- 258March 22nd, 2010 2:15 pm
Totally agree!
Smashing should be ashamed.
They have just been used as BIDEN was pitted upon in Israel.Just read the beginning and contrast that to any human rights report and any decient person will see what is going on. Then add HASBARA and you get what we have here.
Pathetic!
- 259April 22nd, 2010 2:23 pm
William – go spread your hate somewhere else. You are nothing but an idiot.
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- 260February 24th, 2010 6:08 pm
Very nice article ruined by the comments.
I was actually looking into the previous series about Germany and was surprised that the word “Bauhaus” was actually mentioned more often then the word “Nazi” – which in itself is progress I guess. People just focused on the design and were happy to see the samples.
Some of the comments here, however, are beyond disgusting and I am sad to see the level of maturity tending towards kinder garden level. With the recent events in mind, maybe the timing of the article was a bit off. Or maybe the articles should focus on a certain region like “European” and then feature different countries from that region.
I don’t know…I can’t stand to read about politics on a design site.- 261February 25th, 2010 1:06 am
Agree with your comment! But kits wouldn’t behave like some people did :-)
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- 262February 24th, 2010 6:32 pm
Hey everyone!
I just wanted to tell everyone hot excited I am about this article. I got my passport about 4 years ago with the intention of coming to visit Israel. Things fell through, unfortunately. But I’m certain I will eventually make the trip.
I would love to stay in touch with some of you for when I do come. Feel free to email me anytime!
Don’t let the politics get you down. I’m sure in the future Palestinians and Israelis will settle their differences – maybe even become best buddies! If America and Japan/Germany/Italy can do it, so can you.
In the meantime, keep designing!
David Kaplan
david.a.kaplan (at) hotmail (dot) com - 263February 24th, 2010 8:35 pm
It’s really fantastic article. I like it!
- 264February 24th, 2010 11:53 pm
Thanks for the great article. There are a lot of talented designers in Israel indeed. But you forgot to mention http://www.mantis.co.il/ they are really great and around for more than a decade now
- 265February 25th, 2010 12:28 am
Hey SM, i think it’s better to remove comments posted by hitler and mohamed nagiub and block their IPs forever.
- 266February 25th, 2010 1:00 am
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING
- 267February 25th, 2010 2:28 am
It is a nice article.These kind of article should be published to know the design culture of other countries also. For those who are arguing that this post is political activated, I am a Muslim and I think we should not bring politics in everything. All peoples are not same, why fight for the acts of some peoples. This is a tragedy that the whole community get blame for the act of one.
- 268February 25th, 2010 2:49 am
Great stuff, I really like seeing what designers from other countries are doing. Israel is a really unique example which makes it even more interesting. Look forward to the next one!
- 269February 25th, 2010 3:35 am
an attractive design and of course a good article. I just really do not like the comment that destroyed the point of the article because not related to the article.
- 270February 25th, 2010 4:23 am
This is amazing, here in IL we really know how to create and design :)
- 271February 25th, 2010 5:09 am
Some comments here were deleted “due to offtopic”.
I really think (hope) that through this medium of the Internet, through design that corresponds to cultures all over the world and especially to Israelis & Arabs, Jewish & Muslims we could cross that cultural gap and improve communication between people.
Maybe this medium will do what politicians & diplomats have failed to do through our last 100 years of history in this region.שלום Shalom
- 272February 25th, 2010 5:40 am
I’m Egyptian btw, LOVE YOU PALESTINE =)
- 273February 25th, 2010 11:41 am
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- 274February 25th, 2010 8:15 am
That “lighting boutique” site is awesome…
Did Liron Tocker actually invented that milk character? the one featured in blur’s video? (coffee and TV)and I think that when people starts talking about politics it’s because they don’t have anything to say about design…
- 275February 25th, 2010 12:06 pm
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 276February 25th, 2010 3:45 pm
Smashing has had a number of webdesign in *country* lately.
It is funny, because the whole.. WorldWde Web design thing.
If you can speak english you can make a living designing for anyone, anywhere. Location is irrelevant. Breaking out of the past is what the internet is about. Embrace it.
- 277February 25th, 2010 6:38 pm
After reading all these posts, my biggest concern is no longer how poorly this article was thought out, but the incredibly poor grammar of everyone on this blog. Maybe you should all quit whining and designing and take a d*mn english class. :) xo
- 278February 25th, 2010 10:04 pm
great list….thanks…..
- 279February 25th, 2010 11:12 pm
SM i really want to see indian website showcase…………….plz
- 280February 26th, 2010 12:34 am
pretty coll stuff! typography is a whole different issue for them!
- 281February 26th, 2010 12:53 am
Excuse me sir!
what is the Israel Country?
I don’t Know it
the correct name of the mentioned country is “Palestine”- 282February 26th, 2010 10:49 am
Ashkan means Mongo in which language?
- 283February 26th, 2010 2:37 pm
can’t we all just get along. ridic. focus on the design.
- 284February 28th, 2010 6:08 pm
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 285March 1st, 2010 8:19 pm
dude its just soil – look at australia , they can protest but they dont blow themselves up. You have just shown the rest of the world how you are unable to move forward
this is about web design not some stupid war over land , these religious people make me so mad but do make me seem a lot smarter :)
- 286March 3rd, 2010 4:39 am
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- 287February 26th, 2010 7:11 am
LOL! Excellent article. We have just finished making webisite for an israeli client, and EVERYTHING written here is true!
- 288February 26th, 2010 10:38 am
Great Work by ISRAELy designers! keep on contributing for humanity! love you all!
- 289February 27th, 2010 1:35 am
“Tel Aviv is Israel’s most urban, chic city: the capital of all things sexy, secular and spiritual (in alternative ways to traditional Judaism.)”
Let me rephrase that for you:
“Tel Aviv is Israel’s most uninspiring, overpopulated city: the capital of all things copied with a substantial delay secular or spiritual (The Final Solution in action.)”
- 290February 27th, 2010 11:24 am
re: “The Final Solution in action”
Look it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_SolutionSuggesting Tel Aviv has a lack of spirituality, originality and inspiration is fine, comparing it to the planned extermination of an entire race is abhorrent.
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- 291February 27th, 2010 9:06 am
Thank You so much from Israel SM you`re great !
- 292February 28th, 2010 3:08 am
Has anyone tried to submit designs for Israeli design contests at godesign.co.il or any other sites?
- 293February 28th, 2010 12:09 pm
hey… what about this example of israeli original design with no flash!!
http://www.marshdondurma.com - 294February 28th, 2010 5:55 pm
does anyone see one interesting website in this showcase ??
and all the world believe in one thing.. (( Israel doesn’t use the word “shalom” ))keep on smashing
- 295March 3rd, 2010 4:33 am
i wouldn’t say they are all masterpieces, but there are a few good ones.
if you can’t see that then maybe your opinions on other matters is the problem.
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- 296March 1st, 2010 12:29 am
This is another cool one – http://dostix.com/
There cloth are nicer then the site. - 297March 2nd, 2010 12:29 am
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- 298March 3rd, 2010 4:25 am
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- 299March 2nd, 2010 5:54 am
in fact it is very poor designs with very poor standards with very poor servers ( take forever to load )
[This comment was deleted due to offtopic.]- 300March 3rd, 2010 4:28 am
thats really convincing (and mature).
keep up the good work… - 301March 4th, 2010 8:53 pm
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- 302March 4th, 2010 7:18 am
This comment was deleted due to offtopic.
- 303March 10th, 2010 3:38 pm
HELLO ! This is smashingMagazine and not your washedOutBrainQuarantine! please behave and respect the site. Luckily there is nothing to worry about because all of you blocked ignorant users here sounded quite retarded. Your ugly and childish comments were clearly lacking of any valid facts and real knowledge of the situation. you guys go and educate yourselves, seriously.
[deleted]
Now, learning how to separate all that from the professional eye and mind and understanding how to allow ourselves to judge art, design or any other creation in a naked, fresh and creative way? well… GO through all the websites above and absorb amigo, absorb, oh and yeah, we know you guys stole the name from free willy.. that’s not gonna work yo ;)
- 303
- 304March 4th, 2010 10:00 am
A post on web design in Serbia would be interesting to read here.
- 305March 5th, 2010 9:02 am
Really great article!
It isn’t really true though that Flash sites are problematic – it’s all about how you create them. SEO can be implemented into a Full Flash site without any problems – you just need to know what you’re doing :)
Check out http://www.studioumbrella.co.il – studio umbrella.
Of course, there are so many design studios here in Israel… but another definitely won’t hurt! Thanks again! - 306March 6th, 2010 2:27 pm
Lets tell the true… we (the Muslim people) are very violent humans…
This is a design post, and here we are… post in a comment just to call other designers murderess and other bad words…your really need to be ashamed on your selfs.
Peace for all the humans.
- 307March 7th, 2010 5:42 am
Great Post! it’s about time.
I know it’s kitsch but… no place like home, the colors… the letters… the all package :-)
well done and keep…. designing.Ohh… check this one also http://www.elephantstudio.co.il
- 308March 8th, 2010 10:23 pm
How many “This comment was deleted due to offtopic” …!!
Personally I don’t like these designs. - 309March 10th, 2010 6:45 am
I pity all the racists here slandering Israel. It only means that they are so full of hatred they can’t enjoy a simple design article. You can say you want peace as much as you want, but without opening your heart to the beautiful things in this world no peace can come.
- 310March 22nd, 2010 2:28 pm
Ofcourse, any resistance towards Israel must be hatred right!
There can be nothing else since Israel is only good, has a lovely culture and hospitality.This artical is not simple because you say so. That just flashes your ignorance and bias. This artical is full of touristic views that totally exclude the reality which human rights reports are full of. Masscring Gaza last year and starving it today is not a “slandering” but a fact. A fact that highlights one´s position towards human rights and dignity. Yoav, where is yours?
Peace is a verb that Israelis for too long have used against anyone else. You don´t need to want peace all you need to do is to point at others and claim they do not want peace! Meanwhile, the ethnic cleansing goes on and articals of “sunny beaches” get published…
- 311March 24th, 2010 4:43 pm
maria
is a lost soul
it will be ok
maria
dont worry.
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- 312March 10th, 2010 2:05 pm
Very nice post for the Very nice webdesigner in Israel
Toda Raba
- 313March 10th, 2010 2:06 pm
and very nice post , pleasant to read
Toda Rabba
- 314March 13th, 2010 5:09 am
The problem with web design in Israel is the fact that most customers don’t know or don’t really care how the website looks or feels, they just want the lowest price.
Aside from the fact that employers, don’t really appreciate them (the pay is real bad).
It’s such a shame because allot of talented web/graphic designers just leave the country.
There has to be a change and fast ! - 315March 14th, 2010 5:53 am
I am glad to see that 3 websites i have designed & build get such worldwide exposure, what a great way to start the week :) thanks,
gp.s
i have recently started a debate in the matter of the Israels web regulations quality and standards in cafe demarker at the following if you feel you have somthing to say you are welcome to do so –
http://cafe.themarker.com/view.php?t=1501930 - 316March 31st, 2010 7:11 am
It’s a great country as they take money from US citizens and use it to boost thier country, and butcher little Palestinian kids on the side. Israel is a terror state. Free Palestine.
- 317April 1st, 2010 10:30 pm
Design is design… I like jewish designs as matter of fact, jewish did contribute a lot to art, I think the only problem with this article that the word Israel trigger an old injury between the semites Arabs and Jewish, This Showcase is showing a style coming from a group of designers touched by different cultural background live all in the same place… this is the most interessting part… politic everything has its own time and place… better than agressivity in comments can all the angry comments to be transform some how to a design and that will help to focus on the deisgn matter. Thank you
- 318April 6th, 2010 12:52 am
Great !
Will smashing mag come to visit webdesigners in France ? - 319April 20th, 2010 10:29 am
wow, great article!
Very interesting facts! - 320May 25th, 2010 12:00 pm
For those of you who say “would love to see that small country called Palestine again” do historic research and see if that was the original name? Who came up with it? You will find neither the people from Israel nor the people from Palestine came up with it. As far as this article goes! I love most of the items featured here. I recently visited Israel and these designers are truly talented. Good read! Thanks SM!
- 321June 13th, 2010 10:43 am
Great article!
Come to israel it’s the best country in the world!
- 322July 18th, 2010 3:41 am
Luis Miguel You forget that wan you don’t see 20% of Israel people because they are Arabic or whatever ales you give this apartheid state more crédit to do more and more crêpé dath Policy in This Holly land
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