Web and Flow Design loves a great design.  We all do.  Seeing a blank screen take shape into a colorful, thoughtful, elegant website is a great process to be a part of.  We'll keep doing it for a long, long time.

Just like actors on stage, though, sometimes we upstage (either intentionally or otherwise) the main player - the content on a website.  When a design is so big, and boisterious that it takes away from the message, products, or purpose of a website, then something has gone awry.  

Often what really speaks volumes in the end is the photography - the images that are at the forefront of the site.  Great background textures are important but photographs and HD videos are what speak to an audience.  Those powerful tools convey the meaning and the message that a website owner is trying to convey - not validation scores or syntax.

Take for example ColsenKeane.com. (A sneak peak of a coming refresh above, by the way).  This site is the epitome of minimalist design - black on white, simple lines.

But the homepage is compelling because of the big, beautiful, and sometimes raw images there.  Thanks for photographer friends from Charlotte like Lauren Rosenau and Steve Cook, the ColsenKeane design is able to play an extremely important, but altogether supporting role in the overall experience for the user.