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Best of the ‘Wooden Look’

Posted by Andrew Faulkner on December 10th, 2007.

Andrew Faulkner is the admin at fadtastic. Andrew prides himself on standards-based, accessible web design in the city of Nottingham, UK. He believes in aesthetically pleasing accessible design and that 'standards compliant does not equal boring.'

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The ‘wood look.’ It’s been around since the late 90s. It always used to look tacky and forced. You’d guess right if you suggested I wasn’t a fan. But over the last couple of months I’ve noticed real gems of design with a wood effect used to frame the site in question. Before taking a look at the differences between the ‘wooden’ sites of yesterday and those of today, get a load of the eye-candy below to see what I’m referring to:

Best of Wooden

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A massive background image. But it sure is pretty.

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Subtle dark wood against the deep orange oozes class.

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With a scrawling effect to bring personality to the design.

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Photorealistic and tiled? Brilliant graphic design skills to pull this one off.

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Going against the grain with a horizontal effect.

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The yellow laminate flooring matches the cool blue highlights.

Why is it not tacky any more?

Imagine, if you will, those sites of old which first toyed with the wood look. They used incredibly small background images tiled across the background. The result? It was obvious to the average user that the background repeated every fifty pixels or so and it lost its realism.

Another factor may have also hindered these designs of yesteryear - concept. The wooden look was often used on a site because it could be used not because it should. Not unlike some of the gradients/shadows of today. It didn’t add anything to the design as it wasn’t thought through.

The designs above all work with the wood effect, rather than against it. Colours are matched to the wood and textures have been carefully chosen to be complimentary. The wood look has grown up.

What does it bring to the party?

I’d love to hand this over to you. What do you think wood does for you? Does it work? Do you view it as just another trendy effect or can it offer more to a design? Fill out a comment and get debating.

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( 21 so far )

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21 Responses to Best of the ‘Wooden Look’

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wooden background is the new ‘wet floor’ ;)

Sean Johnson
December 10th, 2007
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I love wood, it gives warmth and some sort of natural effect in our age of plastic gradients. - however i guess it has to have relevance to the company or individual using it…

Matt Davies
December 10th, 2007
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[…] otra parte en fadtastic mencionas los mejores sitios con fondos de madera “Best of the ‘Wooden Look’” (inmediatamente recordé a Nudonation), y realmente están muy bien los ejemplos que […]

i have used it as well here www.artofwood.grIt gives a nice texture and it gives straight away the feeling of the company. 

petros
December 11th, 2007
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Hehe http://www.cssartillery.com got wood to!

John Decembar
December 11th, 2007
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I think the real question is not whether it works, but is it appropriate for the client/site/audience. This applies to any visual metaphor choice of background (grass, concrete, balloons, flying monkeys, wood, etc) While it looks pretty, when used as a purely decorative element I can almost guarantee it will lose it’s appeal sooner than you like, but if it communicates meaning (as in if you choose it for a carpenter/woodworker, furnitre company, or other related subject) then it will retain it’s purpose and always communicate something meaningful.

Jeff
December 11th, 2007
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Jeff,

Fully agree with you on the visual metaphor point. There has to be a reason to use such an effect, or its magic is lost. The examples in yours (and preceding) comments are all related to wood manufacture/process/usage and it works.

The examples above in my article all ‘work’ for me but they are not anything to do with the wood industry. So why do they work for me? Most are web design portfolios and the wood effect looks reminiscent of a desk. They’re work sits on their desk. Simple, but effective. Whether someone outside the web business looking to hire a designer will make this leap I cannot tell.

Andrew Faulkner
December 12th, 2007
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I like the buffalo one.  Its web2.0 meets…..um wood.  Cool idea for a post. Just found you on 9 rules.  Will be back for more.

Danny Outlaw
December 13th, 2007
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Another good example is:http://www.spikeproductions.co.uk 

Ricardo
December 13th, 2007
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http://www.alitabatabaei.com/ and http://www.chamadigital.com/ are the best! Im not much of a fan of the other wood website examples however! 

Jermayn Parker
December 14th, 2007
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I love the idea of using wood image for background, but I have one unanswered question: what is the justification [ie: direct connection between digital media and wood] for using it?…

Tag Directory
December 14th, 2007
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Nice to see the wood look back in vogue.  I’ve had it on my site for a few years now, and just retooled it into two-layer color from a bleached out ‘patina’.  This worked as a metaphor for the place the site’s for.  I just got through bleaching and refinishing the wood on the sides of our theatre and bringing out a lot more color, washing off 50 plus years of patina and rot.  That, and new paint, made the place look a lot newer, so I figured it’s time to do the same to the site.  www.thebarnplayers.org .  I’m a bit of a standardista, and I’m still trying to learn actual "design", so I’m glad I found this site and its great ideas.

kc_showman
December 25th, 2007
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I have just designed my little web studio with the wood look as well. I actually give visitors three different looks to choose from. You can choose the wood look, concrete or ice. Check it out here: http://www.gripcreative.com Thanks for showcasing those great sites! 

Josh Tilton
January 20th, 2008
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The fourth example is amazing..

Adaptiv Media
February 2nd, 2008
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[…] Of course, it’s nothing like the designs I showed you the other day, but I decided last night that I wanted to try and pull off a ‘wood effect’ design. As I browsed around, I came across a few wooden designs, but most of them were using a tiled background image, and were dangerously close to looking rather ‘tacky’ (you’ll find the best of them here). […]

The Garden Fence
March 7th, 2008
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Great examples. Thanks for these ideas list!

Paolo
March 13th, 2008
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[…] Best of wooden look […]

This web page have a lot of kinds of parkets, and you can ask many question about that.

Charles Parkingson
May 15th, 2008
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I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but your screenshots have been replaced by notices by Artviper about registering an API. I looked at their site and it’s free. But it’s not clear whether it’s you or me that has to register. Surely I don’t have to work that hard just to see a pretty collection of screen shots? I’m just researching wood effects is all. :)

Soo
November 5th, 2008
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[…] Best of the 39 Wooden Look 39 fadtastic a multi author web Posted by root 22 minutes ago (http://fadtastic.net) Fill out a comment and get debating share this make a comment 19 so far your comment sean johnson december 10th 2007 i love wood it gives warmth and some sort of natural effect in our age of plastic gradients powered by wordpress listed on technorati get Discuss  |  Bury |  News | Best of the 39 Wooden Look 39 fadtastic a multi author web […]

Автор, а скажите а куда написать по поводу обмена ссылок (на какое конкретно мыло)?

XAKER
October 24th, 2009
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