Amongst some of my favorite design websites to visit, such as Coolhunting, Yankodesign and jocundist, TOXEL.com is the one I go onto the most frequently and hence would be my so-call “most favorite.” Go onto its homepage, explore several of its blog entries and you will easily understand why. Dedicated to providing bit-size daily inspiration and entertainment, TOXEL.com is one of the more highly read design blogs today in the community. Its purposes are to showcase some of the world’s best creative products and designs and encourage people to look at design with an alternate perspective.
Unlike most other design websites, however, which only focus on the more sophisticated product designs, TOXEL.com turns their audiences’ eyes to the most bewilder and fascinating things that they would never expect to see. Some examples are these extravagant shoes and unusual camera inventions. In addition to product designs, TOXEL also discusses various topics such as ad design, technology, architecture and furniture. It is everything art.
For its blog design purpose is to satisfy people’s need for quick inspiration and entertainment, TOXEL’s blog format is created for easy-reading. A general browse over a typical entry would mostly be predominated by pictures with a few sentences sandwiched in between. Pictures are definitely the defining feature of TOXEL’s typical blog posts; they give readers a sense of what is the product or art being discussed. To attract the audience’s interest to read, they are placed at the head of every post. Texts, on the other hand, serve more as a secondary function. Often, they accompany alongside of the pictures to provide basic information on the art. Because a TOXEL blog post wouldn’t usually reveal too much information regarding the subject, there will be helpful links towards the end of each description, linking interested-readers to another site with more in-depth details.
TOXEL updates regularly either with a post focusing on just one subject or listing creative works in a single category (eg. cooking equipments and beds) If a reader isn’t in awe of how smart the designs are, they are laughing at how ridiculously creative the designs are. Some designs may not be pleasing at all, or they are just okay, but that is the nature of art, its value is subjective. Surprises and the urge to learn more allures readers to click on pages after pages. But one thing to be sure is that TOXEL has the ability to invoke our innate curiosity and gets us reading and browsing page after page.
One flaw of the blog though is its way of navigation. Currently, readers would not be able to search for what they’d want to read on the website. There is no search bar, nor does it organizes the arts into categories with the exception of the very board ones like “design,” “inspiration,” “technology” and “popular posts.” They are not quite as helpful.
That does not prevent me from visiting the website though.
So, do take some time to visit TOXEL! You will be exposed to another side of the world that you haven’t seen.
DesignDelight 