Every week at Fueled, our London-based lead designer Rob Palmer shares a handful of inspirational websites with our teams in New York and Chicago. This weekly email acts like a virtual water cooler, encouraging us to congregate across time zones and discuss what brands and blogs are doing to push new trends in web design.

Echoes of the Tsunami

Last month marked ten years since the 2004 Tsunami devastated South East Asia: one moment in time that would cause enough devastation to last a lifetime. International humanitarian organization Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) commemorates the anniversary by letting us relive the memories of those who suffered most: this stunning website takes us back in time, by way of beautiful photography and film, to the four Indonesian cities that felt the wave the hardest.

Echoes of the Tsunami

Haruki Murakami

Internationally renowned author Haruki Murakami is a favorite storyteller to many. His author website is a virtual destination for his fans to peer into his world, even after they’ve turned the last page of his books. Learn about the man behind the words, take a virtual tour of his desk, browse through a gallery of his daily inspirations or discover testimonials from a community of Murakami-lovers: all of this is displayed across an impeccable layout that incorporates Japanese-style contemporary lines and minimalist animations.

Haruki Murakami

Jackaroo Caravans

Leave it to the Aussies to be the best at creating custom ‘vintage retro caravans’ -- and designing a website that makes us actually want to buy one. Jackaroo Caravans presents a website that rings true to their motto: “vintage era meeting meets modern age”. It lets you parallax scroll through appropriately sepia-filtered images that elegantly hide pockets of information and a layout that cleverly mimics the design and colors of their product.

Jackaroo Caravans

Zenvala

There are a lot of young e-commerce boutiques out there like Zenvala, but not many that manage to make their branding and UX design work like theirs. The site’s landing page greets us with a single fixed background photograph as the focal point, complimented by a sunkissed color scheme and a subtle animation that gives the page depth. (We’re fans of the logo, fixed header and newsletter banner that pops up as a footer, too.) The page naturally prompts us to click towards the site’s shop, where a tight grid of photographs display beachy products with a cool-blue scroll over effect. Let’s go surfing, already.

Zenvala

Hum Creative

There’s a ton of ultra cool stuff going on in this Seattle-based design agency’s website, but the coolest is the display their ‘header’ navigation across four corners of the homepage. This magazine-like site is fresh, fun, contemporary and stays interesting with every click.

Hum Creative

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