A few samples of work that I did in my first week of a new job, February, 1999. They were done as part of a series of prototypes for a new site. These were 'splash menus' menus found on the home page that delight the user, establish the structure of the site, set the tone of the experience, and are functional. (The 'smudged' parts of the graphics are to hide the company name.)
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras was my first stab. I wanted to make a strong impression, blowing people out of the water with a bit of flash. This really came out like a raudacious party. You can almost see the streamers and gliter dust in the air.
Racing Stripes
Racing Stripes was was actually the third shot. I started out as part of a design that came to me, I think in a dream. Round upper left corner, with a 30 to 45 degree angle pointing out on the upper right corner. The first few versions weren't nearly so active, but adding the extra lines (rules) just made this such a speedy design that I kept them. The font used, an Oblique Sperintine, is great. I really want to use this on the final site.
Steel Wool
The second look, a staid response to Mardi Gras, is my least favorite, but I was happy with how the final graphics came out. The buttons that were on the inside were really well integrated with the background as 3D styling goes.
Each of the graphics are different, unique, and the full sites (although sharing the same file and pages structures) were fleshed out with sidebar navigation, backgrounds, and page headings. I used Illustrator 8.0, Photoshop 5.0, and DreamWeaver 2.0.