As noted in yesterday’s post, I made the transition from a predominantly blue, red, and white design to a blue, beige, and black design for MANOVERBOARD.
In order to take away design elements, though, I lost some things that I’m happy are gone, though it took almost three years. They include:

• The strange, red-colored outline of a man holding up small business cards near a board. He served not so much as a brand but as a mascot and I was soo, soo tired of him. Of course, I have tremendous fondness for him and he’ll make a return someday.
• The shades of transparent color over a photograph of waves that just looked pretty but felt increasingly meaningless. I still adore transparency and the unusual effects it can have on light and image density but I’m done with it for now.
• Too-light gray color text. While I find gray text inherently sexy and sharp, I have a real hankering for darkness (not The Darkness, though) on sites. Douglas Bowman’s Stop Design site is beautifully, richly dark, and his work is always an inspiration.
• The color red. For the longest time, the MANOVERBOARD logotext was treated in a dark, bloody red that registered passion, strength, and ardour. But black is better. Now the the same logotext in black feels strangely impersonal yet more secure and historically oriented. The color black (and I *still* say black is a color and not the absence thereof) lends punch to the overall feeling of the site that was lacking before.