Firstborn

Design and technology consultancy with offices in New York and Los Angeles. A very usable Flash experience with simple, but sexy navigation, clean URLs, selectable text and flexible sorting features on list/gallery pages. The 11/2007 redesign is much bolder than the previous design (the white bg). An instant classic.

http://firstbornmultimedia.com

QBN

QBN (aka News Today) sports a superb, clean design with a bolder front page. There's minimal use of JavaScript here, but where you see it, it's simple and useful as in the collapsing/expanding left sidebar divs. Be sure to check out the filter page. Easy to sticking around here a while. I miss the "News Today" welcome sound though--the only startup sound I've ever liked on a home page.

http://qbn.com

Viget Labs

Design agency with offices in VA and NC. Superb interactions to transition from page to page make this site feel like it's done in Flash, but it's all javascript using JQuery. Looks like it's mostly all in done in 1 XHTML page with a few AJAX calls for the dynamic stuff like jobs. Lovely colors and art direction make this site feel warm and human.

http://teamviget.com

MONOCLE

Magazine covering international affairs, business, culture and design. Edited by Wallpaper* founder and International Herald Tribune columnist Tyler Brule. You'll find superb photography, well-crafted iconography and infographics, and excellent graphics and video production, a clear hierarchical order of information, and simple to navigation.

http://monocle.com

smashLAB

smashLAB is an interactive services firm that creates meaningful, memorable and easy to manage digital experiences.

Reversed white text on black and large photographic elements ared used to dramatic effect.

http://smashlab.com

30 Elm

Community for showcasing home design, remodeling, and renovation work.

Task-oriented navigation, clean lines, nice use of red as an accent color, and the general airiness of the design. I would have liked the layout to be centered in the page.

http://30elm.com