production company websites: best of

Question

This is tagged as a community wiki.

What I'd like to collect here is a compilation of the best websites for individual companies you know of. Something of a gold standard. The reason is to define a list of best-in-class company websites out there that our companies can look to for guidance and inspiration as we continue to develop our own websites.

I'd also like to define this list away from the boutique sfx sales websites, as I feel those probably deserve their own thread/lists and they need to perform different functions.

Finally, I'd like to specifically exclude blogs. Again, those serve a different purpose and probably deserve their own list.

With those restrictions in mind, anything else goes on this list. Websites from graphic design companies, architecture firms, film editing companies, audio production companies, and any other industry are completely fair game.

Also, if you can please rate the websites you link to on a scale of 1-5 for the following:

• speed
• navigation/layout
• mobile compatibility
• style
• content

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so to recap:

• no mediocre websites, only the best.
• no blogs.
• no shopping based websites.
• please rate on above criteria and offer any other comments.

thanks!

Answer 1

Another favorite is Box of Toys Audio. http://www.boxoftoysaudio.com

I love the flat, boxy visual style that ties back to their name, but I think their text is approaching too small. Great photography and colors. Welcoming landing page with clear selections to bring users further into the site.

• speed - 4, would be a 5 but the "Archive" section chugs hard on too much content.
• navigation/layout - 4.5, persistent navigate at the top, great landing page, I take .5 off only because their showreels aren't as obvious as they perhaps should be.
• mobile - 5, their site is well optimized for mobile. I almost prefer it because it's easier to read!
• style - 5 Though I mentioned the small text, the colors, photography, and graphic design all work together extremely well to create a brand identity that make up for little quibbles.
• content - 5 Showreels, project demos broken out by category, and case studies that provide a writeup of their process and thinking, photographic documentation, and audio samples.

Answer 2

I'll throw ours out there:)

www.wabisabisound.com

Answer 3

I personally love Raidum Audio's website: http://radium-audio.com/ Starts you out with a very clean look with clear navigation and drops you right onto their favorite projects and showreels. It's minimal without being hard to read, which can be tricky to achieve. However, it bugs me that they have sharing buttons all over their site -- I think those are pretty tacky.

I also really enjoy how much production value they put into their "How We Work" and other behind-the-scenes pages. Showing clients how you make the sounds you do goes a long way toward making a lasting impression. Plus it gets them more interested in the process and the art itself -- good for the whole industry!

• speed - 5, all content loads quickly, visitors can move from page to page in single clicks. Some might prefer having a cleaner sidebar, but I appreciate not having to chase drop-down menus.
• navigation/layout - 5, clean, easy to read, persistent navigation, I also appreciate that they have their projects broken out into categories so potential clients can quickly delve into content that is applicable to them
• mobile compatibility - 0, no mobile site and their elements resize strangely on mobile browsers
• style - 5, clean look, simple and effective typography
• content - 6!, they go above and beyond a demo reel and slide shows. They have complete pages and blurbs for many of their major projects and extensive behind-the-scenes views of their facilities, processes, and staff.

I hope this thread gets some legs! I think it's very applicable information and perspective. I'll keep my eyes out for other examples from a range of production scales. I'm personally more interested to see great examples of individual's websites, since that's what I'm in the process of building and maintaining for myself.