What could Snapple, Nike, and Sony all have in common? No, they aren’t all endorsed by Michael Jordan, but if you’re looking for a fruit beverage, a pair of shoes, and a HDTV then these three businesses have some pretty cool sites for you to visit. The next question you should be asking yourself is what makes these sites so amazing.

Flash animation is the short response, but it’s how effective they use the animation that’s the key . Flash can be one of the hardest programs to learn for web design. But once you’ve mastered the intricacies of Flash then you’ve taken one of the final steps to being a great webmaster.

Here are a few tips to remember when you dive into the Flash experience.

-First, more isn’t always necessarily better. The content of your site should dictate the amount of flash you should use, not vice versa. If your client is wanting a professional site with not alot of “flash” (pun somewhat intended), then maybe just a few simple flash menus would suffice.

- Second, you aren’t going for the academy awards. Leave the epic and long movies to Peter Jackson. Your flash animations, especially your intros should be kept as short as possible while still being effective (no one said it was going to be easy).

- Lastly, don’t be afraid to draw inspiration from others. If you come across an idea while surfing around that looks cool, dont be afraid to use it in your design. I’m not saying to right-click your mouse and save the entire thing as your own. Sometimes though an idea has already been used that fits with what you’re wanting, than to create something totally original.

So have fun tweening and actionscripting out there. Just be sure to hang in there as you’re learning Flash, because the object of web design is to put yourself out there. Then once you’ve mastered it, you’d have put yourself one step ahead of the competition.

Yin and Yang comes to mind when thinking of what it takes to make a successful website. Most people in the world are either left brained or right brained, meaning creative vs. intellect (or in this case a business sense) . Unfortunately for free lance web designers , it takes both sides of the spectrum to be successful.

The trick is finding the great medium between a creative look and the simplicity that will bring users back once they visit your site. Publicis-MK.com is a great example of when the creative flow of the website gets in the way of practical use. The site uses a wonderfully color rich background and a couple of cool Flash menus. For the average person that surfs the internet, their concentration usually lasts around 1-3 seconds. So when visiting Publicis-MK.com, if they can’t find what they want in 1-3 seconds they are moving on.

Simple Website Creations.com is a site that has the exact opposite problem of Publicis-MK.com. Here they are advertising website creation, and yet there just seems to be nothing to make the site stand out. Granted they advertise simple website design; there is still nothing that really that makes their site stand above other design sites.

Five Cent Stand.com is a prime example of the coming together of the Yin and the Yang. Five Cent Stand has an older, grungy look that fits well with the content they are advertising. The site is simplistic in the sense that everything is out there for the user to see. There are no hidden menus and no having to scroll over images to get where they need to go.