For my three sites I decided to focus on news outlets.
My first choice is bbc.com because it has a simple design.
The reader immediately experiences these massive photographs with overlaid headlines on a grid. The downside of this site is that there’s not much design variation on the homepage. It does delivers the news without much fluff.
My second choice is the Bloomberg politics page.
It’s much more barebones than the BBC’s page, but it adheres to a more traditional newspaper-style design. I think it shows that they know that their audience is older and less interested in flashiness. What I like most about Bloomberg’s main page is that you can watch videos within the same window.
My last pick is the Guardian’s special section on the Rugby World Cup.
The dark background is easy on the eyes and the photos are amazing. It’s story meets gallery without being traditional. My favorite part is that you can read longer player interviews without having to navigate to a separate page.