What appeals to me is content – the quality, the ease of access via multiple platforms, and intuitive and simple UI.
Feedly
feedly.com – Essentially a cooler version of the now-defunct Google Reader; a content aggregator.
Songza
songza.com – Offers curated playlists to you depending on your mood, the time of day, or by genre.
It’s also fashion week in NY right now. One of the sites that I find really well done and quite different yet stark, simple, and intuitive is by Victoria Beckham.
Victoria Beckham
victoriabeckham.com – Her site has two parts – Shop and Look. Shop is eCommerce but the GUI is simplistic yet intuitive. Look is showing her latest fashion show in a view not often seen by non-fashion folks. It almost feels like you’re security with 4 points of view on a screen. Each quadrant shows a different angle of the fashion show. When you click on the PLUS icon, it maximizes the quadrant and plays the sound. The site is true to the brand’s design aesthetic – minimal but luxe.