I just started reading http://ffffound.com and came across an interesting visual design exercise called an Internet Soul Portrait (ISP). While I couldn’t find a formal written description for an ISP at http://mazamedia.com/isp/, one can clearly see the idea illustrated by looking at a few them. I characterize an ISP as a website’s visually designed layout and form elements. The portrait is devoid of all foreground content, including most importantly, the logo. There is no text, and no images.

Fascinated, I decided to make one for the current Songbirdnest’s design, and the new Songbirdnest’s design. Comparing the two ISPs yielded a few interesting observations about both designs.

Current:

New:

The current design is wider, built for our traffic who is predominantly in 1024 x 768 or greater resolutions. Still, we want the nest to also look good when viewed in Songbird, so we decided to go back to the long-standing 800 pixel minimum for the nest.

From a visual design perspective, we’re moving up from our ‘kiosk at the mall’ to something with a cleaner, modern design aesthetic, with room to grow and fewer dead ends. Our new nest will have more pages and a bunch of new features. As such, we’ve designed a navigation scheme to help you find your way around.

While these portraits, in my opinion, do not fully capture the soul of the nest (not a trace of a bird anywhere!), they certainly capture the soul of its medium. Boxes, boxes and boxes. Nonetheless they are a great exercise for any visual designer looking for a different way to look at their own website design.