http://www.ripe.co.uk/
On opening the homepage, a video loaded and music started playing which was distracting. It would have been much less intrusive if the video was set to 'pause' with the option to play it if desired.
To get to the portfolio, there is a small 'our work' icon at the top left of the page. Once the page opens, there is a 3X2 grid which is slightly misaligned. The the top left spacing is a short description with the strapline 'Our ultimate goal is to produce work that works'.
The work is divided up into five headings: Branding&Print, Web Design, Exhibition&InStore, New Media&TV, Property. Next to each heading is a logo which seem pointless as they add nothing to the design, and de-balance the layout. Some of the category descriptions seem to be written by someone that is trying to sound impressive i.e. 'More and more, people are moved by moving image. That's why we've become specialists at...' but the grammar doesn't seem quite right and they seem to be more interested in creating some sort of pun by using the same word twice. The site uses the word 'move' quite a lot probably to suggest being progressive and influential.
The main problem with the layout is the lack of signposting: to navigate through each category, there is a number to click but there is no way to find out what each number represents until it has been clicked. If a potential client wants to find a specific piece of work they would have to hunt for it. The designer could have gotten around this by creating a rollover on the numbers i.e. where you hover over the number and it changes to a heading. This would keep the layout neat, and make it easy enough to access places quickly.
With most of the pages, a video and music track greets the viewer without prompting. The video isnt a problem, but the music is distracing. It just seems unnecessary as it is essentially a slideshow of words surrounded by vector animations and clips of helicopter shots of big cities and people. It is meant to look impressive with lines like 'life enriched' and 'a kaleidescope of firsts for a city aiming to be number one', but they don't really mean anything and don't make much sense.
In the 'client list' tab, there is a grid of company icons, but a potential viewer can't click through to view the work by clicking on an icon of a brand that they are interested in. There are far too many icons for one page so it fades through to different sets every 10 seconds. There is no way to get back to the previous list; you just have to wait until it cycles round.
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