The Digital Stew

We've moved

2009-02-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

We're going to keep blogging here:

http://blog.thedigitalstew.com/

Awesome Stop Frame Animation

2009-01-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

Her Morning Elegance
Directed by: Oren Lavie, Yuval & Merav Nathan
Photography: Eyal Landesman
Featuring: Shir Shomron

Customization is still king

2009-01-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Came across this great website today courtesy of AdRants.com...Hoodie Remix. The site is for Champion Sports Hoodies, that good old sweater jacket that never goes out of style. To revive the brand and give it a bit of Web 2.0 twist, they have joined the customization band wagon and is allowing their customers to custom design their own jacket any way they fancy. This trend is something that i believe will be pretty much a standard in the future. As technology in the creation of consumer products evolves, we will be able to ask more from our brands. Instead of just buying the products in the colors and styles the brand feels is best, we will let the consumer tell us how they want it. Even it's peanut butter and jelly colored members only jacket with lumberjack plaid interior.

Brands like threadless have been doing this for what seems like ages. ( More like 5 years) They have created a model where they don't play a role in deciding what designs go on which shirts. They allow their community to not only submit new designs, but also vote on those designs. The highest ranked shirts are the only ones that get produced. This allows the brand low overhead, and less merchandise sitting in their warehouse due to an unpopular design. I read an article about how successful threadless has been since its creation. The company is making millions of dollars a year with not too many employees. Probably because it all started with a killer concept.

The best part about it is that it works for more than just the artists. I found out about threadless because of a good programmer friend that has a thing for crazy t shirts no one else has. From his perspective it was a place to find original t shirts that were a bit racier than your garden variety Macy's brands. It almost has a couture vibe to it. It also appeals to the artists themselves. These guys can make a name for themselves by putting their work out there. If their design gets picked, threadless cuts them a check. It makes sense from every angle, yet its a super simple idea. One that I'm sure a million people had before them, but they were the first ones to truly believe in the model and really "put all their eggs in that basket".

Now that smaller (compared to Nike) brands like threadless start making some noise with this new-found model, bigger brands are riding the customization coattails. Big brands like Converse, Nike, and now Champion are all realizing that they need to invite their customers into the creation of their products. Almost thinking of their brand like a blank canvas that allows people to get creative. Sneaker Lovers have been custom painting Nike's since the days of break dancing, even now people go crazy for certain color combination air force ones. It just makes sense for these brands. Brands will have to realize that consumers want to control their stuff more than ever. The brands that facilitate this will be successful, the brands that don't will become the leaders of the new old school.

Cadbury Eyebrows...Classic

2009-01-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

Gotta love this new one by Cadbury, really great special effects? Or was that the world eyebrow dance champions of the universe...

Nawls - Digital Comic Book

2009-01-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have already seen this, but it is a very visually appealing digital comic book called NAWLS. I used to work for a killer comic book artist after getting out of college. At that time i was already obsessed with the web and wondered how long it would be before comics, stopped being on paper all together, and became full interactive experiences. First time i saw this it sent me right back to that time in my life, when i was coloring in pen and ink illustrations, thinking we should have been doing it in photoshop and flash.

One really great thing to note in this site is the navigation. I realized for being a complex site, it was very easy to navigate. Each next icon was blue, and previous was white. Both with animating arrows that draw your eyes. This is a great example creating a visual pattern with the user, to get them to just instinctively realize what they need to click on, instead of always having to tell them "Click Here".

http://www.nawlz.com/

Pretty Loaded

2009-01-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Last class we discussed the different elements which make up a site, one being preloaders. Well, here is a collection of preloaders aggregated by Big Spaceship.

http://www.prettyloaded.com/

Durex balloon animal

2009-01-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

Super funny Durex commercial. Love the simplicity!

Check out the out takes on Superfad's site

Yet another, augmented reality

2009-01-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

This is a very cool augmented reality using papervision to celebrate the New Year of 09.

Step 1: Print this
Step 2: Go to www09.aid-dcc.com
Step 3: Enjoy

Multitouch screen using flash - say bye bye to Surface

2009-01-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

Cool new multi-touch tech not using microsoft surface.

More Augmented Reality!

2009-01-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

Papervision - Augmented Reality (extended) from Boffswana on Vimeo.

This came from Boffswana.com
This is awesome! Worth trying it out. All you need to do is print it out and set your webcam over it.

http://www.boffswana.com/news/?p=392

Fanta - Augmented Reality

2009-01-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

We spoke a little bit about augmented reality. I mentioned this project done by the guys over at The HyperFactory. Using augmented reality two players are able to play tennis using bluetooth and a printed court. Also they were able to bring the Fanta charaters to life (see below).

Check out the full article at adverblog.com

Christmas Video - AKQA style

2008-12-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty cool video from AKQA. I got the song after hearding it for the second time. Why use microwave? why not...

Try to guess what song it is.

Give up? high light here: Jingle Bells

Yahoo! Banner

2008-12-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

Cool banner for the iPod. It reminds me of the Nintendo Wii

games.yahoo.com/

jizz in my pants

2008-12-11T05:04:00.001-08:00

is that eminem singing at the end?

Mir:ror

2008-12-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

Wondering what to get me for Christmas...well this is it.

www.violet.net

Taking it back to 1988

2008-12-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Really awesome site Anthony sent over my way. It has tons of Christmas shows like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special" shown during 1988. Love the design of the site, it feel like Kevin Arnold's house. The site has a few b-tronics logo, not sure if this is the same company.

To much static.... fix the antenna to get a better signal.
http://betamaxmas.com/

Rap Battle Translated

2008-11-21T07:38:00.000-08:00

thecoolhunter.net

2008-11-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

An aggregator of all the hottest happenings in a slew of different genres including, fashion, design, transportation and music to name a few. Brought to you by people in the know. Be up on the latest and greatest. All from one source. Go to thecoolhunter and check out the "transportation" blog...wow

www.thecoolhunter.net/

Ecomomy is down, why not sell yourself for ad space?

2008-11-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

That is exactly what Jason Sadler did. Is Jason a famous guy? nope, just a regular guy that actually works for www.thoughtandtheory.com. For the whole year you can book him to wear a t-shirt with a company logo and have him do what ever while blogging and taking pictures. January 1st sells for $1 and each day goes up, so Dec. 31 sells for $356. If he sells out the year he'll make $66,796. So far within 5 days of launching his first 2 months are sold out, not bad.

www.iwearyourshirt.com/

Good riddance TPS report!!

2008-11-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

Since work documents can be a bit boring or stressful, why not destroy it in a fun way ? Well this site allows you do just that. This is a pretty cool idea on how to show the Nokia's feature to view, edit, send, and even print any kind of documents.

www.the-unloader.com

MTV MUSIC

2008-11-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Prince |MTV Music

Looking for an old music video? Sick of seeing "The Hills" on Music Television? Want to punch you tube in the face for crappy quality? Well MTV finally posted their archives on MTV MUSIC, it's about freakin time you jackasses. And lets talk about the name for a second - MTV MUSIC / MUSIC TELEVISION MUSIC.... WTF? Anyways, thanks for the videos.

http://www.mtvmusic.com

FAIL

2008-11-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

FailBlog.org
Sometimes you just want to laugh at all the ridiculousness this world has to offer. I seem to crave it daily but then again one of my favorite movies is Airplane. icanhascheezburger.com who owns FAIL BLOG has made a successful business out of user submitted humor. They also own and operate several other humor based user submitted sites. They were even written up in the Wall Street Journal and were panelists at SXSW last year.

Check out my latest...

Experiencing the new Jeep

2008-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

This site shows you the new improvements Jeep have made to their 2009 models. By clicking on the wheel you can drop objects like a log in front of the Jeep to test how smooth the ride is. I really like the detail they added when you grab these objects. Over all the design and 3D animation is great, also the intro does a good job in letting you know what the site is about. I only wish the other sections had the same amount of interactivity as the Trail Rated wheel section.

http://www.jeep.com/en/

Novel Idea - Fiction on your Phone

2008-11-07T05:58:00.001-08:00

Doing some research on Mobile penetration in South Africa, i cam across this company in an article. This company novel idea serves up fiction on your mobile. Every day telling you a little more of the story in nice small digestible pieces. Thought you guys might like to check it out.

http://www.mobfest.co.za/novelidea/default.html

Sprint: Plug into Now

2008-11-05T08:09:00.001-08:00

Sprint has the right idea with this campaign. People are increasingly becoming more and more obsessed with small. Little bite sized pieces of information that can be consumed quickly and easily. This site from sprint plugs you into right now, giving you all kinds of information about things going on around us. How many eggs are bring produced right now, whats playing on youtube right now, whats being talked about most on the Internet right now. As simple as it is, this data seems like magic. Seems like your giving me more information than the average Joe has. Making me feel special. This really makes the brand look smart and pardon the pun, plugged into the Internet. If you cant get enough of it, you can download the widget for your igoogle, Facebook, Myspace, etc.

http://now.sprint.com/widget/

Radiohead House of Cards Video

2008-11-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

House of Cards, one of my personal favorites from the band, was made into a video. The video was made without cameras or lights. It was all captured by 3D 360 scanners to capture the data at close range and then lasers were used to capture more of the environmental data. The effect is raw and impressive. One of the engineers in the making of video describes the difference between the capture to a regular camera is like a broad paintbrush stroke. One of the most impressive aspects is that the data collected can automatically be configured in 3D... unlike film or digital video. Click here to see

Here is the final video:

Make a Baby online with VW and Brooke Shields

2008-10-29T14:09:00.001-07:00

Ever wondered what your kids would look like? Well this new website for VW Routan let's you look into the future and see if your destined to have an ugly child. Who knows in the future we might use something like this to help us pick the perfect mate...I tried it out and luckily i had a cute kid, but the kid looked a lot like the kid on the home page, so not sure how accurate this thing is, but sure as hell fun to play with.

http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/

What are people saying on Twitter

2008-10-29T11:41:00.001-07:00

We have had a few posts about Twitter in the recent months. More and more i think people are seeing it as a valid place to get information from society as a group. I stumbled across this tool through a friend who ironically had a tweet about it today. The tool allows you to search any word or set of words in Twitter and see what people are saying about it. This is a really good place to start when your beginning to research a brand. Find out what people are really saying about your brand. I'm sure there is a wealth of human truths here ready for the taking. I tried searching Obama, McCain to see which candidate is garnering the most buzz, and to no surprise Obama was well in the lead.

http://twittersearch.flaptor.com/search/index.do

Drugs....anyone?

2008-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is a really cool site which gives you simulations of using drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin. I especially love the fact that the whole experience is done with only copy and your cursor.

http://www.trydrugs.net/

Transparent Lisa P. Maxwell

2008-10-28T09:58:00.001-07:00

Over the years i have become more increasingly interested in using my creativity to improve the world of business. Being an entrepreneur, i have quickly realized their is a lot of red tape in the world, and frankly i hate red tape. I think things can always be much much simpler, must be the optimist side of me. This website does something that no company would ever dare do. Give every employee access to the outside world on their website through live webcams. Most companies would be afraid of headhunters stealing their talent. However if your confidant in the company you have then let the headhunters try. After all that's business, people come and people go, we shouldn't try to hide people away. I think in the end people like feeling like they are a part of something, and this really sends a nice message to the world about how much you value the people you employ.

http://lisapmaxwell.com/

Presidential Dance-Off

2008-10-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty well done dance-off with Obama and McCain. Reminds me of one of my all time favorite commercial done for VolksWagen. Where Gene Kelly is seen break dancing to a remixed song of "Singing in the Rain".

Wassup 2008

2008-10-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of the latest videos going around for the Obama Campaign, referring back to the popular What's up commercials for Bud. They brought back all the same characters for the original commercial to emphasize their point and connect with the viewer.

It's apparent that Obama's campaign has been influenced by the current technologically savvy generation, considering his reach in digital media such as:

Twitter - with 111,315 vs. 4,302 for McCain),

Facebook - with one Facebook Group having 839,725 members for Obama vs. 191,554 members for McCain

Myspace - 778,272 Obama vs. ??? McCain ( I would mention McCain's numbers but Myspace had "technical issues" - what a surprise..

...to name a few. Not to mention an iPhone application... Smart on his part, and that of his campaign managers to reach the youth where they live.

Piss Screen

2008-10-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

What better way to get a wasted guy's attention then on the pisser. Saatchi & Saatchi Frankfurt teamed up with Main Taxi in an effort to tackle drinking and driving. Check out their case study on the site.

http://www.piss-screen.com/

Adobe Flash 10 vs. Microsoft Silverlight

2008-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Today in class Silverlight vs. Flash was brought up and here's a pretty good article from takemetoyourleader.com. He basically breaks it down to penetration rate, where "Adobe Flash Player 9 is installed on 97.7% of all computers, and Microsoft has not yet released their percentage".

http://takemetoyourleader.com/2008/10/16/adobe-flash-10-vs-microsoft-silverlight-2/

Patagonia - The Tin Shed

2008-10-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

We talk a lot in class about usability. About focusing not only on how nice your design looks, but also how well it functions. After all, all the looks in the world wont guide someone through your site effortlessly. Which is why a good system for your information architecture is a huge necessity. This site really does a great job of delivering on both things equally. Really great design, and really great usability. As you dig into the site, they use consistency in their buttons to make sure you always know what to click on next. As you dig even deeper a breadcrumb navigation appears to guide you easily back to where you started. Really hard to get lost when so many precautions are taken to make sure i know my way around.

http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp

Honda Drive Every Drop

2008-10-14T11:14:00.001-07:00

Just saw this one on the FWA today, really beautiful site by W+K Tokyo. The attention to detail here is really excellent. Every rollover is rewarded with cool animations and a killer soundtrack. Every section offers something visually unique. For example the engine stories feature some really cool type animations that make the story interesting to go through. Really cool way of taking something that would have been boring, and making it cool.

http://www.driveeverydrop.com/

Pomegranate- the true iPhone destroyer!!!

2008-10-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

Finally a phone that not only makes coffee but also has a projector, global voice translator, harmonica, and (my favorite) a shaver. Well not really but, this brilliant idea shows this, over the top phone, and relates it back to... Nova Scotia?

Will it get me to travel to Nova Scotia? not sure, but I would probably remember this concept next time I'm planing a trip.

The Tag line really brings this idea together:
"Someday you'll be able to get everything you want in a device till then you can get everything you want in one place"

www.pomegranatephone.com/

The Outbreak

2008-10-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

This site uses the "Choose your own adventure" format. It engulfs the user immediately, by placing them in the middle of the action. The point is to get out alive. Every decision you make will affect the outcome. There is only one correct path, all others lead to zombie death. Aside from the acting the video is done well and worth the time to explore.

This also remind me of the "Follow Your INSTINCT" YouTube videos

www.survivetheoutbreak.com/

Hotel 626

2008-10-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

So the guys from Goodby and B-Reel created this awesome site for Doritos called Hotel 626. To add to the experience they've decided to only have the site available from 6 pm to 6 am. So if your easily scared, I would warn you to call your parents and let them know that you'll be sleeping with them tonight. The site takes you through a series of games which don't have any instructions except for the clue before you start the game.

Also check out "Doritos 13 Miedos" - 13 Fears
It was a series of commercial with classic fearsome movie moments done for the Spanish market last year.

Hint: if its not availible while you're checking it out, just change your clock on your computer.

www.hotel626.com

Wario Land and YouTube shake things up

2008-10-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Great concept which takes the experience of the game into the ad used for it. In this YouTube page one starts to preview this new Nintendo wii game "Wario Land: Shakes It" by doing exactly what you'll be doing in the game shaking the wii controller. The site is really well done as well, I love that you have to shake instead of click on things.

http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii
www.wariolandshakeit.com

Diesel - Almost Naked

2008-09-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most hilarious videos I have ever seen. A great video to promote a Diesel party happening in 17 cities around the world. This youtube video had 35 views the other day and today it already has over 5,000. It is growing and I'm sure it's going to be a success.

Link to the Video

Link to the Site

True Blood HBO

2008-09-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

HBO's new show True Blood aired recently, I haven't seen it but based on the trailer, I'm pretty excited to. I loved Lost Boys when I was a kid and there really hasn't been anything well done in this genre, so I'm hoping for the best. They have released a few sites to get people acclimated to the storyline of vampires integrated into modern society.

http://trubeverage.com/

http://lovebitten.net

http://bloodcopy.com/

Eagle Eye Free Fall

2008-09-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what this is for, but the start was pretty cool. The only thing that is sketchy is giving your phone number even though they say they will only use it for entertainment purposes. I already get enough annoying ads through my phone, I don't need any more. Thinking this was an ARG at first and hoping it could possibly be in the future, I was taking notes the whole time however I didn't end up needing anything. Just sit tight and follow along, thanks for the link Big Lou!

http://eagleeyefreefall.com/

Baacode -Icebreaker

2008-09-10T07:43:00.001-07:00

Icebreaker an environmentally ethical clothing company buys wool directly from growers. To show this they've added a "Baacode" where one is able to trace it's origin and meet the actual farmer and their living conditions instead of just stating this.

"For us, sustainability is about transparency and being able to show the whole design of the business, which starts with the growers and continues through every step of the supply chain," explains Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker's founder and CEO.

http://www.icebreaker.com/site/baacode/index.html

Marc Horowitz - The National Dinner Tour

2008-09-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Marc Horowitz got brave and wrote his number in a Crate & Barrel catalog and ask random people to have dinner with him and got more than 30,000 phone calls. He drove across the country and schedule dinners with these individuals, calling it The National Dinner Tour. Simple and great way to bring awareness to Crate & Barrel's brand.

Esquire Magazine Animated Magazine

2008-09-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Damion just showed this to me, pretty amazing. This magazine is for Esquires 75th anniversary.

Charity: water

2008-09-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

Another great and simple idea on helping the 1.1 billion people on that planet which don't have access to clean water. Scott Harrison's concept is simple, Tapping into the "obligation" that your friends and family feel when it's time to gift you on your birthday, and turning it into a selfless and altruistic gift that will help others. The site has a few ways to help raise money, one of them help September babies setup a web page to start raising money and spread the word.

http://www.charitywater.org/index.htm

The WaterBoard

2008-09-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Found this on www.takemetoyourleader.com. This is an amazing idea for a digital billboard done by Mark Burton of Northumbria University’s Design School. I wanted to show you guys other possibilities that can be done with digital billboards. It grabs a natural progress and displays it in a digital form. I saw this and quickly thought of the Tab Water project you were given.

"t is a large, interactive installation that gives the user a chance to play with flowing water without getting wet, and consists of a wall-mounted white opaque board (2.2m x 8m) with four projectors and four cameras providing back-projection and detection. The sound of running water enhances the visuals. Several users can play at once....The concept is playful, yet educational. The water will follow its own course, whatever the intervention. Abstract life forms may appear in some areas of water and where the water is stagnant it will become cloudy and discoloured.”

Ralph Lauren Adopting Mobile in a Big Way

2008-09-03T07:27:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't believe the mobile age is not only among us, wipe the crust from you eyes. Ralph Lauren has launched a full mobile commerce initiative to make shopping as easy as standing in line for groceries. As well as being able to buy clothing, the application allows the functionality to scan QR Codes that will be found in print ads and mailers, that will directly link you to the clothing in the ad. That's what you call instant, see something in an ad you like, take a photo of the QR Code, checkout please. I think i know where I'm doing my xmas shopping this year. Check out the link, its a sample of the application you would see on your phone.

http://m.ralphlauren.com/rlqr/default.aspx

News about the campaign:
http://www.stylehive.com/blog/tag/ralph+lauren+mobile+campaign
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/1545.html

Journalists using Twitter during Hurricane Gustav

2008-09-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am doing some research on Twitter today for a project we are working on in the office. I found this article about how Journalists with the New Orleans Tribune started using Twitter to report the weather conditions. They created an account under the name "Gustav Reporter" and by days end had 670 followers. Others started tweeting with the account letting the tribune know how it was in their area. Here is a quote from the article.

"The upside of citizen eyewitnesses reporting on Gustav is the unfiltered, unedited real-time information they pipe directly to the cell phones and Web browsers of anyone interested in receiving first-person accounts of the storm."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5978328.html

Smarter Madden 09 has Farve on the Jets already...Instant Get-ification

2008-09-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

Now i don't play video games all that much, mainly when my 10 yr old son is over. However i am die hard football fan and always line up to buy the Madden whenever it comes out. So over the weekend i realized something really funny, even though the box has Brett Farve (QB) in Packers uniform on the cover, he is already playing on the Jets in the game. For those that don't follow football Farve was moved to the jets right before the season started. What makes this really cool is that the game updated the roster online so that its up to date with current rosters in the NFL. Now how cool is that, a game smart enough to keep its players and teams updated as the season progresses. Stuff like this is a really good example of how available all this information is to improve products and make them constantly evolving.

The Commercial is Beautiful - Audi

2008-08-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Shawn White HP Crash Course

2008-08-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

The site reminds me of Clearification with Demetri Martin - if you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and go there now - http://clearification.mekanism.com/ When you are done, come back and read the rest of this post.

The site starts off with Shawn White talking to you encouraging you to look through some video clips and photos of his friends. The campaign is geared to Shawn's life lessons with his friends who are actually pretty funny. I didn't initially expect it, but I was pleasently suprised. There is nothing here that's super innovative, but there are some funny videos.

http://www.hp.com/hho/shaun/#

Obama embracing web 2.0 with a bear hug

2008-08-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Just visited the popular site Twitterholics to do some research on a new project. Realized that Obama has over 60K followers. I thought to myself that it was pretty smart of him to start a twitter account. It could be a way to communicate with the country. I mean how cool would it be if you could tweet the president? Then i visited Obama's site for the first time and found this area below called Obama everywhere. It has him represented in almost every form of social networking and content sharing sites across the Internet. Really smart, i can see now even better why he is so liked as a candidate, he seems way more relevant to us. Whoever planned out Obama's web strategy was a very clever person, really getting him to embrace the core beliefs of web 2.0.

Penguin Books and Match.com Finding you Love

2008-08-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

Now this is an interesting cross promotion. It seems Match.com has partnered up with Penguin books to create a new kind of Dating Website. In this website instead of stating what your looking for as far as personal attributes, this site lets you tell the story through the books and authors you like. This might be an interesting way of bring people together.

http://penguin.match.com/matchuk/cp.aspx?cpp=en-uk/landing/penguin/index.html

Coma on Crackle with Michael Madsen

2008-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

It seems like the new trend in Internet video will be big production companies getting big name actors to star in Internet only videos. This kind of method obviously has its financial benefits to the production companies, but the jury is still on whether the content will be good enough, big actors and all. However the catch is that it's still being sponsored by a couple brands trying to get their products in our face, let's see if they do it tastefully. Right now the show is being sponsored by Sony Vaio and Microsoft.

Little Big Billboard

2008-08-28T10:23:00.001-07:00

This is pretty cool idea for the new game LittleBigPlanet for the PS3. The billboard itself is tiny representing the games name very well. This is a really cool guerrilla way of getting the word our there about this game. Props to Deutsch/LA for dreaming this one up.

Kill repuplik's old website

2008-08-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Now this idea is pretty funny, what better way to launch a new site than to let people kill your old one. This new site for Republik allows you to pick a gun and shoot the shit out of their old design. This somehow reminds me of Office Space.

Once the site is officially killed they take you to the new site which looks pretty damn sweet. Once you enter they allow you to enter in some details about your self to make the experience a little more tailored to you.

http://www.therepublik.net/DestroyOurOldSite/

Hellboy ARG - The Secret Device

2008-08-28T07:19:00.001-07:00

For you ARG lovers here is a new one promoting the Hellboy Movie. Here are the links you will need to get started, happy hunting...

http://www.thesecretdevice.com/
(Main Site)
http://www.cracktsd.com/TSD_BG.html
(Beginners Manual)

Bioshock Video Game - Virtual Walk Through

2008-08-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

Remember a while back we posted a little site called Halo 3 Believe? (Which just so happened to win almost every award known to man last year) Well this site for Bioschock to alot of learning's from that campaign, and probably for good reason. The similarity comes from the site creating a very long video clip and allowing the user of the website to move forward and back in the video. In Halo it made it look like you were moving through stopped time, here it allows you to move through the levels of the game. Same concept different execution. What makes it almost better here, is that as a consumer who might buy this game, allowing me to see some samples of the levels and making me feel like I'm walking through it, is kinda cool. So although the interactivity is pretty simple, and there isn't much to do more than watching videos, i really think this site gets the job done.

http://www.bioshockgame.com/ps3/

Race against Jamaican Runner Usain Bolt

2008-08-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

So if you didn't get enough of the Summer Olympics Puma has released an uber simple game where you get to race against Usain Bolt from Jamaica. The game is very easy to play and pretty addictive. Just be careful, i had heads popping out their offices to see where all the tapping noises were coming from. The best part about the website, is that Bolt's competition is just two fingers with a wristband...priceless...

http://www.pumarunning.com/#EN/running/content/side/youVsBOLT

Draw what you want Navigation

2008-08-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

We talk about navigation alot on class. It's one of those things that can be done simple clean with just some text on the page. But some websites like this one think that's far to complicated. With this site the idea behind the navigation is to draw what you want to do with your mouse. So if you want to go to the next page you can draw an arrow pointing right, if you want previous same concept in the opposite direction. Now this might not be the most user friendly approach to navigation but it sure is unique.

http://www.red-issue.com/#/campaign/

NOKIA uses Oddcast face tech on new site

2008-08-26T10:22:00.001-07:00

We posted about this a while back when Oddcast released this technology. The technology allows you to upload a photo and map it to a 3d model that looks kinda like you. This kind of stuff all though its still in a very rough state, you can really begin to see the potential in something like this. The site overall does a really great job of moving you through it to create your own little character and sing a song with it. You can call in to record your voice, or use the terrible sounding Text To Speech. Either way the site in itself is nothing revolutionary conceptually, but the work is visually beautiful, and the flash is grade a stuff. Check it out and post your screenshots, i would love to see how it works with others.

http://europe.nokia.com/musicalmighty

IKEA - Wait till September live webcam stream

2008-08-26T09:52:00.001-07:00

Somewhere in Germany there is a guy sitting in house being recorded 24 hours a day. Now this guy isn't crazy, he is just part of a new IKEA campaign called wait till September. The concept is that this guy is waiting for the new catalog to come out to buy all his furniture for his drab apartment. That part of it is a bit of a stretch for me personally, but i do like the execution. There is something quite fun in watching someone a la Big Brother. The site is pretty damn simple, not a whole lot of content, but they do have a little bit of Web 3.0 Goodness going on with links to the guys twitter feed towards the bottom, and a way to embed the feed onto your site. Check it out tell me what you think...

http://www.warte-bis-september.de/

Image Metrics - Really Real looking 3d animation

2008-08-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Saw this last week and was pretty impressed by the realism of this 3d animation. Have a look, at first glance you wont even believe it is animated but towards the end they actually show it in wireframe. Pretty damn amazing

USA's Burn Notice try's to impress Emmy judges

2008-08-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Now although this may not be digital, its surely interactive. This is a really clever idea from the show Burn Notice. They created "For Your Consideration" kits to send to the Academy of Emmy judges for the upcoming awards. The kit was meant to give the judges and idea of what the show was about, sample episodes, and 4 DVD's. The interesting part was when the judges received their kits, they were all blank. The kits were printed using some kind of invisible ink. Judges had to take out a little black light which was included in the kit in order to read the messages. Since the show is about a spy this seems to be a really cool way to get the judges into the world of the show. This coupled with the cool site we posted about a few weeks ago, the people behind the Burn Notice work are really doing something right.

IDEO Website

2008-08-14T14:00:00.001-07:00

Its not everyday in the web world where you come across an idea that is truly unique visually. This site for IDEO is really interesting at first glance. Although it seems a bit scattered and confusing its actually really clever. Each little pink box links to some sort of mini site that has a unique design. The overall format of each section is similar, but they vary in colors and graphic treatments. Each section contains something different, some have work, others have case studies. The interesting thing is its just fun to browse and poke around in. Every section teaching me a little more about the company. Really cool, wish i would have thought of this.

http://www.ideo.com/

Mad Men on Twitter

2008-08-14T10:55:00.001-07:00

Now this is a great idea, someone at AMC had the bright idea of making a twitter account for Don Draper. This is the creative director for sterling cooper from the show Mad Men. They actually have someone sending messages out to people and twittering about what Don would be doing. It's kind of weird cause the Internet is surely long ways away from the Mad Men days, but it still does the trick. It tells me more about a show i like. Tells me more of the story. That's what consumers want now more than ever...a story told in a different way than before. Imagine whole shows told this way, all through a twitter feed. People who don't really exist but its like a book you can go through in real time.

http://twitter.com/don_draper

Kluster

2008-08-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a bunch of you have heard Juan and I talking about Kluster mostly because we are obsessed with it. It started off with a user based site where the community can contribute to an idea for a brand or a project and if there idea got picked up, that user would actually share the revenue for their contribution. Recently, they have changed the site a bit and have spawned namethis which does something very similar. Kluster has now expanded to letting people form their own Klusters and track collaborative internal ideas with a sweet analytics back end to associate and rate flexible feedback. Watch the tour... it will explain it better than I can.

http://www.kluster.com/buy/tour

Interactive TV hits Summer Olympics

2008-08-11T06:12:00.001-07:00

We have spoke quite a bit about interactive TV in this class. It is something that is already in full swing in other parts of the world. It was one of things that impressed me the most on my first trip to London. Well while watching the summer Olympics this weekend i realized that it finally hit prime time in the states. As i was watching there was a little Call to Action on the screen that said press the red button on your remote for more info and sure enough, by pressing it , i opened a bunch of little interactive components that told me more about the event.

The screen above was a shot of the current medal count. I though this was really cool, you could still hear the audio from the show, but you could drill down to find any other information. Right now the options were limited to three things (Medal Count being one of them), but i think you can see the potential. Notice at the very bottom of the medal count screen you see a little geico ad. Once clicked you can see below a simple little banner ad that shows up on your TV. In the UK even these little screens were interactive. Look to see alot more of this on TV in the future. And also look to these to get much more interesting and interactive.

Ecodazoo

2008-08-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ecodazoo is a cute and clever site that gives tips about how to be eco-friendly through simple storytelling. The site is beautifully designed and well executed. I love how it has the 3D element with the pop up books and the main navigation between characters. I wish it had narration during the pop up book stories, I think I might put me right to sleep. I'm still not sure what this campaign is for or who it is aimed at but none the less, a beautiful site.

http://ecodazoo.com/

Truth about Smart

2008-08-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

I always wondered about these new smart cars. Are they good cars? Are they safe? Well this site does a great job of answering all those questions. Honestly i actually looked into one right after seeing the site. The site itself is pretty much 100% video and tells the story without a drop of copy on the pages. It really relies on the words being spoken in the video and the subtitles. Every once in a while a little interactive part comes into play where you have to make some choices and answer some questions, but the whole time its all video. It is really only a matter of time before websites start looking more like this and less like the websites of the past with the famous about us buttons.

http://www.truthaboutsmart.co.uk/

Twix.com

2008-08-05T08:08:00.001-07:00

These commercials have always been good for a laugh. Now they have created a website that allows you to go on this choose your own adventure journey with the same character from the TV Spot. Now the site itself does nothing to spectacular besides being pretty funny. However whats cool about the idea is that they took the very same character they use on TV for the website. This allows the website and the TV to play together as partners in the brand experience. This is a good example of interesting integration. The site continues the story rather than coming up with a whole new one online.

http://www.twix.com/

New Ford Ka

2008-08-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

This new site is promoting a new Ford Car in Brazil. The site employs a really cool side scrolling navigation that allows you to see all the contents of the website without having to click on any navigation buttons. This technique was so overused in the early days of web design that people stopped using it all together, but even now you can see how this technique proves to be a great way to display your content and really put someone in your brands world pretty elegantly.

http://www.itsclicktime.com/2008/fordka/website/

EOS

2008-08-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just cant beat simplicity. It's like since there isn't alot to mess up its really hard to get it wrong. Now this site isn't going to win any major awards, but its very nice. The video work is really clean and very well produced. The website just allows you to watch this video and learn more about the product. The videos feature really hot woman putting moisturizer on their legs in a very classy way. Really love the music selection also, really gets you in this chill mood.

http://www.evolutionofsmooth.com/

The Art of Collecting Stories

2008-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Harris is an artist and computer scientist He is a contributing creator of We Feel Fine. In this video he explains a few projects that he has been a part of. He does an exceptional job at collecting information and representing it in an unrivaled manner. This is a great example of how to take a story or information and display it in a concise and compelling way while juxtaposing the content with highly advanced technology. This struggle between accessible, unique material and complex technology is one that faces us daily within the field of interactive advertising. Jonathan does a fine job of understanding this issue and blowing it out from within to create relevant and artistic work.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html

Shark Runners

2008-07-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

The Shark Runners debuted last year as a promotion for Discovery Channels Shark Week. They are now back for more with a season two release. It is a game where players are given a boat and set into the ocean to research and document Sharks. Now what makes this game so damn cool is that the sharks in the game are REAL sharks. Sharks that have been tagged with GPS markers for further research in the future. That is the same data that feeds this site. So remember when we talked about dynamic content, this is a supreme example of that. Content that is part of game, that we have no control over. However it keeps the game feeling alive.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/shark-runners/shark-runners.html

Burn Notice Covert Ops

2008-07-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite types of projects to work on are really hard games. Whether ARG's or just really complex advergames, its something that has always intrigued me as a creative. I guess its the movie maker in me, that just loves coming up with the story. This website does just that, provide a great story. Its for a show called Burn Notice (Which ironically enough is shot a few blocks from our office). In the game you get to be a spy and work with the team from the show to fulfill a mission. The game doesn't really have amazing transitions or even killer creative, but the story is great. The games you play are really smart and simple games (but really freaking hard). The different missions are released over time to add a repeat visit stickiness, wonder if that works better than launching them all at once?

http://burnnoticeops.com/

Face the Task

2008-07-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

New site for Nokia N65 where you can enter to win one before everyone else gets it. The site features alot of nice video work, in the essence of crouching tiger hidden dragon. The videos are very well produced and pretty neat to look at. They might have used the phone a few times too much but overall nice piece. One thing i want to make sure you guys notice is their consistency with buttons and headlines. Always the same to make sure and avoid lost users. This site does a great job of making sure you don't get confused.

http://www.facethetask.com/index.php

JCPenny - Get that look

2008-07-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Saw this great new site today on the FWA, it's an ad for JCPenny where they re-visited the 80's classic the Breakfast Club. The best part is that it looks like they used the exact same school from the movie to make this project. The whole idea behind the campaign is that each member of the class has a little story they tell, based on what clothes you pick to dress them with, the story changes. In between all this you are prompted with cool little mini games to keep the interest flowing. Must say pretty freaking cool. The site keeps with the same theme as the movie even borrowing some scenes. It's amazing to see it fitting into current culture. Then again maybe it only makes sense to me cause i love the movie. The video production work here is pretty damn good. Much props.

http://www.jcpbrands.com/getthatlook/

Twitter in plain English

2008-07-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't gotten on Twitter yet, this is a great video to explain how it works. Love the art direction here..reminds me of Guinness hands.

Frank Sorbier Virtual Fashion Show

2008-07-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

Really cool site for Frank Sorbier where you get placed in some sort virtual fashion show. Upon entering you will see some really interesting illustrations of his work. You can move the entire room 360 and view the show from any angle. This is a great example of what Papervision can do for a project. By creating the space for your site in Papervision you can give the user control which vantage point they wish to view your site in. Pretty neat.

http://www.francksorbier.com/

Nike Labs

2008-07-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

This is a really killer site from AKQA for the new Nike Labs. Now when you first see this site you might not see anything technologically revolutionary, but if you pay close attention and you will see just how revolutionary it is. The site itself it all created in flash, but the agency decided to format it like if it was an HTML site. What makes this cool is that the format allows for better viewing of large amounts of content. However using flash allows us to really get a slick interface with the package. The little 3d rotating buckets in the forefront are just awesome, i really don't get tired of looking at it. The other thing that is unique about this is its dynamic-ness. Keep an eye on your scroll bar as you navigate the site. You will see that the flash is communicating with the browser to adapt the size of the page to the amount of content needed. This kind of style really makes the possibilities endless. Look to see more sites designed like this in the future. Who knows if Google really does start crawling flash, why would we ever need HTML again?

http://www.nike.com/nikelab/site.html?en_US#/

Worldwide Wave

2008-07-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

So the Olympics are almost here and their are plenty of sites im sure to start hitting the surface to get us all ready for the big event. This one is for Panasonic where people are asked to participate in a virtual wave around the stadium. When your ready to begin you can upload a video of you doing or a just use your webcam. Later all the clips are stitched together and played in the correct sequence. Notice how they even found a way to stitch out the background.

http://panasonic.net/olympic/

Varmints

2008-07-17T07:51:00.001-07:00

Varmints is a short film based of a book that Studio AKA will release in September. It is about a creature who is trying to save his world from the reckless behavior of others. Sound familiar...

http://www.studioaka.co.uk/

Diesel Genes

2008-07-17T07:29:00.001-07:00

Diesel always seems to be coming out with some interesting online campaigns. This one features 3 Swedish artists that make and alter diesel jeans to their liking. The site also gives users the ability to design jeans with some coloring tools and a fabric upload ability. The fabrics weren't working for me and looking at the gallery of others submitted, it doesn't look like anyone else could get them to work. Props to Diesel supporting the arts.

http://www.dieselgenes.se

Neil Perkins on Media Futures

2008-07-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

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I got this presentation from the blog of a friend of mine. The presentation talks about how consumers interactions with brands and media is steady evolving to something vastly different then the days of Mad Men. Consumers are no longer enjoying be spoken to, but would rather them being the ones doing the talking. Consumers are looking for more and more places to gain control over how they consume various media.

iPhone Applications

2008-07-15T12:18:00.001-07:00

Some of you might have been lucky enough to score one of the new 3g iPhone's. I know a guy who waited in line over night. One of the major updates to the phone is the application store. You can now from your iPhone get custom applications for download. Some are free and some you have to pay for but overall there is some very cool stuff out there. The way its relevant to this class is that iPhone has released the ability for developers to come up with their own 3rd party applications that can be served up through the app store. So alot of brands are creating more advanced mobile applications as part of a campaign launch. So browse through the list of apps, it might give you some ideas...

http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/

McD's Animated Billboard

2008-07-15T12:10:00.001-07:00

McDonald's with the help of Leo Burnett Chicago created this very cool billboard to promote the breakfast menu. Up to now billboards have been used in a very static and traditional sense. Implementations like this one though really make you think that we haven't even scratched the surface with whats possible. This billboard for instance is only open up between 6am and 10.30am. All other times the egg is closed, and opens up when breakfast is being served. Pretty clever, however I'm not sure how weird it would be to have a closed egg in the sky all day.

http://commercial-archive.com/node/144485

Honda Screensaver Japan

2008-07-15T11:27:00.001-07:00

Everyday people need increasingly better reasons to go visit your website. It cant just be cool anymore. More and more websites use tactics to try and create some leave behind effect. Some way of letting people feel like the brand is giving them something. Whether its a desktop background, a mobile application, or even a facebook app, brands want to be always within view of their customers. This site allows you customize your own screen saver and download it for use on your own PC or MAC. This is cool because as well as giving you a leave behind, but you can customize it to.

http://edix.editscr.com/summer/

IKEA KOMIN

2008-07-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

So ikea does it again with yet another interesting site. Although i couldn't make out at all any of the Swedish literature, the design and thought behind this site is a pretty cool one. What i like most about it is the ability to see your products in context. Too many sites allow you to just view their product with a white background. I think nowadays people need to see it in action. Video will replace those static images before we know it. It wont be long before most websites resemble TV stations. Creating customized content and experiences for interested web surfers, skiers or snowboarders.

http://kominigarderoben.se/

Converse This is the Index Page

2008-07-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

If you have time to kill i think you will really enjoy this site. Very strange and bixar, how it makes sense with shoes I'm still not sure. However its really great. The idea behind this is that they created several small tiny initiatives spread across the Internet that all tell some kind of little story. Like this one for example http://www.atleastyourenotlostatsea.com/ its almost just wrong...lol

http://thisistheindexpage.com/

Name This

2008-07-03T14:20:00.001-07:00

This a cool new site from the Kluster.com people the site is geared to crowdstorming on ideas for products and companies. Really interesting way to get your brain some exercise. I have been a member of kluster for a while now and visit it semi regularly when i need a disconnect from thinking of websites. So i highly recommend it to you guys.

http://namethis.com/name_this/

CHOOSE YOUR PATH

2008-07-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

This is a really interesting idea. I remember thinking of something like this a while back with a colleague from the UK. The idea consists of making a ton of videos on youtube and finding a way to link them together in some kind of choose your own adventure movie. Well this guy did just that. I could totally see the potential in an ARG game being designed this way on a seriously low budget.

Uniqlock Case Study

2008-06-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

Cool little case study video on the Uniqlock from Creativity. This project won just about every major ad award this year. Well deserved, very interesting idea on an old piece of media like a screensaver. Just goes to show there is always new and interesting ways to skin the cat.

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=e44a03bd

Iminlikewithyou

2008-06-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

Very cool site with a bunch of games you can play with other people in the community. The games are all games you can play multiplayer. The version of pictionary is really fun, you all should really try it. The site design is really simple and slick, looks like it was developed with Flex. Great IA and interface elements that make navigation uber simple.

http://www.iminlikewithyou.com

MoodStream by Getty

2008-06-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

This is a very cool application created by getty. It is a very simple way to pic images by mood and create mood board out of them (With music and all). Now this is pretty neat, the more and more i see entertaining things that serve a purpose, the more i think this year will be the year of utilitarian interactive work. It cant just be fun and silly any more...the time has come where we must do that and provide a value, a service, a benefit...Something you can walk away from the site with. From the BFD, the pizza tracker, Nike +, and now this..Cool ads with a higher purpose than just being an ad.

http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/

Crazy Coca Cola Spot

2008-06-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the cleverest approaches to shooting a commercial i have seen in a while. When i saw this at cannes my jaw dropped, so damn cool. It is such an interesting way to depict motion with actually little motion at all. (Besides the camera) Love the ending..

HP Maestro

2008-06-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Imagine working on digital ads that would be used on this PC, its like a PC version of an Iphone. Im sure this would take a minute to get used to, but something like this would be awesome in a home.

Unicef Tap Project

2008-06-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this presentation at Cannes with Droga 5 and Unicef. It was so inspiring...Not only was it a great presentation about what an agency can do when it devotes its creative power to something good for the world, but it also shows what can happen when you get every major agency in the world involved in the same cause. This tap project in my mind was revolutionary not because the idea created was great, but because Droga and Unicef got every major agency in the US involved in the cause. From Goodby, Wieden and many others they all got behind this cause and gave it their own spin. This is great example of what happens when we drop the egos, and put our collective power to good use. So the link below will take you to the presentation, and i also got an email from the unicef people if you want to get involved. The project is great and any agency/person will get total creative freedom to create whatever they want for this effort. Its a truly great cause.

http://www.canneslions.com/features/video.cfm?id=490
Unicef Email if you want to get involved : smiller@unicefusa.org