Goodby: Specialized Design for Women

The interactive group at Goodby, Silverstein & partners has really been on a roll lately. I first noticed their work had come of age with the ad unit work they did for HP that let you build your own FTD bouquet right in the ad unit. After that it was the sites supporting their new milk campaign with Brittlelactica: Planet in Need and Cow Abduction. I just never got tired of watch that cow fly off into the distance.

Now they have launched Specialized Design for Women. Though clearly I am not the target for this site, it is fun to explore no matter what your gender. The production quality is top shelf, the experience is engaging and it is all done through simple visual designs that never sacrifice usability.

Goodby seems to be the first big ad agency that has figured out how to have an interactive department that can combine engaging and original creative expression with the commercial reality that these sites need to create results. I am so tired of the sites that just create buzz that doesn't go anywhere - subservient chicken I'm lookin' at you here.

Guerilla consumer generated content

Shell Oil company recently found a new avenue to get new consumer generated content in Toronto but wasn't created by their ad agency. The top image is the original Stella Artois beer billboard. The bottom image is the guerilla consumer generated content about Shell. The rouge billboard lasted 43 hours before it was removed and the original billboard was restored.

Play with your FLY

EVB just won't let up as they have launched an update to the Leapfrog FLY Pentop Computer site. I think that the previous version of this site was one of the best web sites on the internet as it was a beautiful blend of design, technology and an incredibly engaging experience. This new version doesn't have as much style as the previous version but does keep a lot of the interaction that made the previous version such a standout.

FLY Pentop Computer

Chewin' with Snoop

EVB has struck again with the launch of the new site for Orbit gum. The site stars Snoop Dogg who encourage you to enter your phone number so he can call you. Interesting idea that is well executed but the site is very thin on content so the experience doesn't take more than a few minutes.

Good Clean Fun

Mercedes Benz Museum

Today I came across this site for the Mercedes Benz Museum. The site is on online version of the museum and explores the history of Mercedes Benz. Mirroring the design of their cars, the interface design is a beautiful blend of flowing organic lines with precise technical elements.

Mercedes Benz Museum

ABSOLUT Search

Great Works from Stockholm, Sweden has launched a new site for Absolut Vodka called Absolut Search. You have to find 82 bottle of hidden in a large illustration within 2 minutes - think of it like a game of where's Waldo for people with a drinking problem.

Check out ABSOLUT Search

Spam Recycling

This is a really cool idea. The EnBW Spam Recycler is the world's first project to convert the wasted data in those annoying spam e-mails into individual works of art. Each piece of spam is broken down into particles and these particles are used to make the pieces of art. The best pieces will be shown in an exhibit at Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe.

Check out the EnBW Spamrecycler

What happens online...

The Las Vegas Tourism Web site has a new microsite that lets you "Be Anyone in Las Vegas". You create your own Vegas persona complete with back story, business card, 800 number and web site by deciding how much smoothness, style, bravery, attitude and creativity you will have. Pick a name and city of origin and you are off and running. The site decides your persona based on the attributes you chose. It is fun to try out different combinations and see who can become.

Create your own Vegas identity

The Vodafone Journey

Swedish interactive design firm The North Kingdom has launched a new site for Vodafone called the The Vodafone Journey. The site uses streaming video to present the company in a new way from the sterile and factual corporate Web site. The last Vodafone site won almost every award in sight and this one looks to do the same.

The Vodafone Journey

Haute couture RAZR

High end Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana are no longer satisfied with making $300 cases for your trendy iPods and cellphones. They have partnered with Motorola Italy to create an exclusive Dolce & Gabbana Motorola RAZR and accessories. This new gold version of the phone is engraved with the D&G logo and has a host of matching accessories that will be released in Italy. No word yet on price but I am going to bet you are going to pay a premium so you too can pretend to be Paris Hilton.

Motorola V3i DG

Sunburned Piano

DDB Brazil has just launched a new site for Sundown sunscreen where you click on a row of young sunburned women to play your favorite tune. You can record your own song or listen to a tune submitted by someone else to the jukebox.

http://www.oooooouch.com

Sorry - no articles here

It started as a trade calendar in 1964 but has grown into the world;s only prestigious and exclusive "girly" calendar. You can only get the actually calendar if you are one of restricted number of important Pirelli customers or celebrity VIP's. But now you can see the entire history on the new official Pirelli Calendar with the intuitive interface lets you flips through the decades, years and months.

Pirelli Calendar Official Site

Macho Mini Coopers from across the pond

Mini Cooper UK has launched aveaword.com (that's translates to "have a word" in American English) to try and get more men to drive Mini's. After the 3D animated intro you fill out a series of questions about one of your male friends including their name, love life and hobbies. The answers to these questions are used to create a custom video clip narrated by a guy who looks like a soccer hooligan in a suit. The fun comes as you try the various combinations of answers and see how it effects the video. It is fun to change the questions and see how it effects the video before sending it off to your friend. I'm 6'4" so you can send me all the funny macho e-mails you want but there is still no way I am fitting in one.

aveaword.com

Primitive premium ice cream?

Like when KFC tried to sell people on the fact that fried chicken was good for you, I think this is a case of a brand stretching a little too far. The print ads in this campaign are much more impactful and believable than the website as it stays with one large simple headline. The web site makes it sound like there is a team of archaeologists on a dig somewhere in South America sifting through 2,500 years of history to "unearth the ancient originals of chocolate". Maybe that is what has been holding up the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate

Hunt for a free Volvo XC90

Volvo has launched a new microsite to support a promotion call "The Hunt" done in conjunction with the release of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Volvo does a nice job of creating an integrated campaign that uses TV and print to drive people to the microsite. The downfall is the URL tagged on the end of the commercials is an extension of the main Volvo US site and is almost impossible to remember. It could have really benefited from a unique URL as we know that only 20% of people can remember a combination URL with an extension. The promotion gives you a chance to win a free Volvo SUV but the catch is you have to go into a Volvo dealer to get a treasure map that has a code you need to enter into the site for your entry.

Check out The Hunt

Radio Shack employees - More than a few batteries short of a pack

I used to debate if Kinkos or Home Depot consistently had the worst employees but tonight Radio Shack stormed into the lead. My wife and I were coming back from dinner with friends and stopped off at the local strip mall supermarket to get a few things for breakfast. It was 11:30 at night and we found a sight that left both of us standing there with our mouths open in amazement. The Radio Shack next door had closed for the night and the employees forgot all about the entire table of merchandise they had sitting out front. It just defies words...

Podcasts worth a listen

There are a lot of prodcasts out there but you quickly find a lot of quantity but very little quality. Here are two podcasts and an MP3 that are worth your time.

There are a lot of podcasts out there but you quickly find a lot of quantity but very little quality. Here are two podcasts and an individual MP3 that are worth your time.

Practical Web Design Magazine
This podcast is out of the U.K. and put together by Practical Web Design Magazine and is hosted by Paul Boag. This is the only web design focused podcast that I have found that is worth your time. The other podcasts on this subject are usually light on information and heavy on self promotion. Amateur and junior designers will get the most out of this podcast as it is filled with smart insight and good advice. Professionals can also find new information, news and some good tips. Topics range from "Holistic design: getting the perfect skillset" to "The top 10 tips to promoting your web site".

In iTunes search for "practical web design" or you can download it here. You can also check out Paul Boag's web site here.

Photoshop Killer Tips
I have been using Photoshop since version 1.0 and have used it about every day since then. This podcast is put together by Matt Kloskowski and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and is a daily video tutorials covering a wide variety of topics. The videos are short and to the point and even the most seasoned designer will find new tips, tricks, workarounds and undocumented tricks.

In iTunes search for "Photoshop killer tips "or you can download it here.

Web Essentials 2005: Beyond Usability: Designing the Complete User Experience
The latest Web Essentials conference was held in September 2005 in Sydney, Australia. They have made 19 podcasts of the sessions and panels available for download. One of these really stands out as something you should listen to and I even sent it to all the designers in my studio. Beyond Usability: Designing the Complete User Experience is presented by Jeffrey Veen of Adaptive Path and takes a broad survey of the challenges designers face today, and how we're all solving those problems with new perspectives on user research, interaction design, and information architecture.

In iTunes search for "web essentials 2005 "or you can download the MP3 here. Download the corresponding presentation slides here.

MAX 2006 heads to Sin City

The conference formerly known as Macromedia MAX will land at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas on October 23-26. Not many details revealed so far but we do know that the six conference tracks will be LiveCycle and Acrobat, Web Development, Rich Internet Applications, Mobile and Devices Applications, Vertical Market Solutions and Web Design. I guess this means I have to get used to saying Adobe Flash by October...

Check out the details

Would you like a Website?

The guys over at Freedom Interactive have decided to pound the pavement of New York City and drum up some new business with an old technique. This thankfully isn't anywhere near as bad as the kiosks in your local mall offering to create your Website in an hour or it's free but you probably aren't going to get your next big account this way. But in the end the After Effects sandwich board does the trick of being entertaining and attention getting. See for yourself.

http://www.wouldyoulikeawebsite.com

PLAT4M - 2Advanced Blog

I saw today that Eric Jordan and the guys over at 2Advanced have launched a new Blog called PLAT4M to go along with new site design. No real content on the Blog yet but there are some categories that could be intriguing like Tutorials and Experimental. The site new design titled "Attractor" is another in their series of seemlingly SciFi Channel inspired designs. I like their commercial work but the last two version of their site just leaves me feeling like they are trying too hard with too many gimmicks or they got an updated copy to Maya they wanted to try out.

PLAT4M - The 2Advanced Blog

VISIONARY DESIGNERS - Yugo Nakamura

I am not sure you can a conversation about visionary designers without talking about Yugo Nakamura. His work on sites like NEC ecotonoha and ITL Interior Designers are examples of visionary thinking. NEC ecotonoha is an utterly unique community experience where the results of the virtual communities work are tied to real world results and actions. His experimental Flash work is just as fascinating and has been for years. I admire Yugo's work not only for it's originality but for the fact that he been able to stay out in front for so many years.

Re-designing you web site? READ THIS FIRST!

Over the past few months I have spent a lot of time consulting with companies who have been duped and robbed by freelancers or web design firms who promise them the stars and leave them with garage web sites and inflated invoices.  I am sick of it and giving us all a bad name.  So before you re-design your web site read this article because I want to shine some light on the common traps and pitfalls that these “professionals” use to get and trap your business. When you hire a web designer or web firm ask these questions:

Will you own the site and all of the code and your URL?
First of all, be sure that you have a contract to protect both parties and be sure that the contract says that you will own the site and all of the code.  I have known companies that are sleazy enough to put clauses in their contracts to keep ownership of the site designs and code.  This way if you decide to change firms you get nothing but the chance to re-do your entire site. 

Also, if the firm is going to purchase the site URL for you make sure that ownership of that URL address transfers to you.  This is just as important as your company name so be sure you own this name.

How do they handle changes to the site after it launches? 
A common trick is for a company to put in a low bid to win your business.  Once you hire them you find out that they will charge you for every phone call, they have huge hourly fees for every small change and may even charge you an annual maintenance fee.  All of this adds up quickly and before long that cheap initial proposal will turn into a total cost that is higher than your highest initial proposal.

Are they using any “proprietary” technology?
The word proprietary should raise a huge red flag.  Unless you are BMW Films who is doing cutting edge work you don’t need it. In the worst cases they use it as a trap to get your site into their “proprietary” technology so only they can maintain and update your site and you have to stay with them.  You want to make sure you are getting the functionality you need without being dependent on just one company with technology only they know to maintain.

Can you run the site or are you going to have to depend on them?
The best designs firms will sit down with you and take the time to understand what the site will need to do and lay out the options for how the site will be updated and maintained.  You want to look for a firm that will be your partner and recommend the best solution to the problem and not just push their software on you.

Are they hosting the web site?
Hosting is a cash cow for web design firms.  Usually they will either host it in house or have it hosted somewhere else and mark up the hosting fee.  You never want to have your host hosted in-house.  Professional hosting has someone to watch over your site 24 hours a day in a building with tight security and big bandwidth.  You will get none of this when a firm hosts sites in-house.

Who are their other clients and will they give your references?
Any good agency that does work will be happy to give you their client list, work samples and even names of clients you can talk with to verify their quality.  If you are a Fortune 500 company and you are looking at a company who’s client list is filled with small business projects then you should be careful.  You want to be sure you are dealing with designers who can deliver a product that will match the quality of your brand.

As professional I am presented with the same situation that the Desktop Publishing revolution presented to graphic designers in the 1980s when new applications told people that anyone with a computer could do great graphic design. Firms that use these tactics give us all a black eye.  I am determined to widen the gap between the self-proclaimed web designer and the true professional.

This is a topic I am going to revisit from time to time looking at both the client and agency sides of the problem.  Let me know what you think about this problem and what we can do to stop it.

A turn for the better - NID Gallery

The site has a fantastic and unique interface created by designer Yugo Nakamura. You can choose from either Work or People. When you make a selection from one wheel the other will then spin so the corresponding work will line up with your selection.

NID Gallery - Collection 2006

DO THIS BEFORE YOU DIE - See B.B. King

From time to time I hope you will indulge a short detour from advertising. I believe in a life well lived and want to share some thing that I think should not be missed.

This week I saw B.B. King for the 8th time. He is now 80 and has to sit for the entire show due to bad knees, back and diabetes but from the moment he walks on stage to the last song you know that you are in the presence of a living legend. He is a pure performer on every level from his performance with Lucille to the stories he shares between songs. In an age when lip syncing has become an accepted part of "live" performances it is wonderful to be able to spend time with a real performer. Next month B.B. will return to Europe to finish his last international tour. He promised one more tour of the U.S. so do yourself a favor and run to get the best tickets you can afford before the chance is gone and you can only experience his music on CD.

Find a tour date near you

Even James Bond would be impressed.

Have an extra 1.2 million dollars laying around? Well then head over to the new Bugatti Veyron configurator and pick out your perfect color scheme for your new 1000 horsepower little super car.

Bugatti Veyron configurator

Integrated advertising doesn't mean "printegrated" advertising

Integration seems to be the hot topic at every ad agency these days. They are all searching for how to create integrated advertising where ad campaigns can work in tv, print and online. It has been my experience that integrated work comes in one of three forms - printegrated, "integrated" and integrated. Let me explain what I mean.

Printegration is a term I use for advertising where the agency took their print assets and re-arrange the elements to fit the various on-line ad unit sizes they had in their media buy. The resulting ads are usually about as compelling as watching paint dry. All this does is allow the agency to tell their client that they have an integrated campaign but does nothing for the brand and drives no real results.

"Integrated" advertising is when the agency interactive group gets the assignment to create an online campaign to support and existing print or broadcast campaign after that campaign has already been concepted and designed. This is better than printegrated advertising because this method will allow the interactive designers to start with the strategy, objectives and existing campaign look to figure out how to best use the medium to create an online ad campaign. The resulting online will be far more effective than those produced through printegation but since interactive was an after thought it is "integrated" and not integrated.

True integration comes when all the agency creatives from every department concept campaign ideas together and are media agnostic. The idea is king. Everything comes out of the idea. Once the idea works then you worry about how to make TV spots, print ads, online ad units and microsites. This way all the medium can work together to achieve the strategy and get results. Print and TV can drive consumers to the web where you can extend the brand and deepen the campaign interactions.

I would love for this to be a dialogue so let me hear from you. What has your experience been? What challenges have you faced in creating integrated advertising? What have you done that worked or failed?

Consumer don't care about the latest version of Flash Player

Every time I go to an event like FlashForward or Macromedia MAX I walk away with the same thought ringing in my ears - we have become too enamored with our own technology and have lost sight of what it is we are doing. The bottom line is that consumers respond to great ideas and experiences and could care less about the latest version and features of Flash Player.

Technology is not an idea. Production techniques are not idea.. We have fallen into the trap where we are more caught up in the tools we use than the story we are trying to tell. Successful and breakthrough work does not focus on the latest video codec but rather lets the technology become transparent so the idea can shine through.

I think that this problem starts with the curriculums I see at colleges and art school who have degrees in web design. Teaching the applications and technology should only be part of the equation. The teachers and students need to look down the road to the fact that if you only focus on applications then you will be nothing more than a commodity. I can find a hundred people who can produce sites in Flash but finding someone who knows how to create great experiences with the technology is a lot harder. The only this is going to change is if we change the way to teach new designers and we have to change the way we approach our work.

Levitated.net - An exploration of computation

I like to think of myself as a pretty good this Flash Actionscript. I can write code for pretty much any idea my little brain can come up with. Then you see the work that Jared Tarbell is going on Levitated.net and you realize just how much I still have to learn.

Levitated.net houses some of the best and most intriguing Flash open source I have found. You can get code that will do everything from generate simple color patterns all the way up to a collection of small, one legged swimming automatons that combine when they collide. My favorite is called Walking Things which generates small, walking computational organisms. Each walking thing is built up from totally random conditions like appearance, behavior, and walking style. These characteristics are all assigned from a range enabling effective, functional mobility. Clicking on a walking thing will permutate its characteristics.

Levitated.net

Dueling windows - Samsung SGH-Z107

I first came across this site a while ago but I wanted to feature it because this does something completely original that I had never seen before. The microsite for the Samsung SGH-Z107 (that just rolls off the tongue) is made up of two separate browser windows that interact and work together to create the microsite. It is an utter original concept that is really well executed. It creates a unique and memorable experience partially for the content and partially for the wow factor.

Samsung - Say It In Style With 3G

Google hires first Visual Design Lead

Love Google but think the it could use some help in the design department? Well, Google agrees as they have hired well known designer Doug Bowman of Stopdesign as their first Visual Design Lead. That wasn't a typo - he is the first. Doug has re-designed sites like Wired, Lycos, Webmonkey and Blogger.com. It should be interesting to see what he can do for Google.

The latest from BMW Films

If you are a fan of early sixties crime dramas then you will love the latest offering from BMW Films - Cool Flame The Game. It is part point-and-click adventure game and part stylish Flash interactive movie. Through the 5 episodes you play Harley Flame who is an entertainment reporter looking into the disappearance of a mega-producer named Seymour Deville. It is entertaining enough and has some of the best 2D animation production value I have seen anywhere. Be warned that like all BMW Films projects it is marketing driven so you will have to register if you want to play.

Be-The-First-One.com