We finally launched the latest addition to the Clash of the Titans VideoGame site. It is a “Stone Your Friends” app, that allows you to basically paint pictures of people to make them look like stone.
Check out my post about it here:
http://visualadvance.com/portfolio/interactive/clash-of-the-titans-stone-your-friends/
Or visit the app directly:
http://clashofthetitansgame.com/stone/
Having some fun messing with Facebook. I may have opened a wormhole.
It took me along enough, a lot of broken promises, and a LOT of design revisions, but I have finally gone live with the new version of Visual Advance. I am almost embarrassed to see all the old versions that never made the light of day, but I am happy with what I landed on.
A couple of my biggest goals for this version was to have it on a CMS system for easy updates, and to integrate the portfolio and blog into one site. WordPress helped me to succeed in both goals. I have some additional things on my wish list that I will get to at a later date.
Some may ask why I choose to not take the Flash route with this version. The short answer; time. The option is not off the table yet, but I had to build the WordPress version to achieve my two main goals, and I wanted to get that live while I figure out my goals for an interactive version. It has crossed my mind to do something similar to Digg Labs where the interactive version is a seperate site that allows you to consume the same information in much more interesting ways.
I want to take a moment to remember the portfolio and blog that kept me satisfied for two years (that is a VERY long time for me). Here are a few screenshots in remembrance.
There is something about the song ‘Pure Imagination’ that always gets my attention. It is seems like a perfect mix of genius, creativity, and insanity.
This version by Jose Battaglio for an Acciona commercial is one of my favorites to date.
Acciona RE from Garlic on Vimeo.
Director: Marcelo Burgos.
www.garlic.tv
Client: Acciona
Agency: McCann Erickson Madrid
Creatives: Juan Carlos Salas (CD), Virginia Mosquera (Copy), David Fernandez (AD)
Agency Exec Producer: Diego Mañas / Luis Felipe Moreno
Production Company: Garlic.tv
Director: Marcelo Burgos
Director of Photography: Pancho Alcaine
Exec Producer: Alvaro Gorospe
Producer: Irene Nuñez
Production Manager: Chema Sayago
Editor: Pablo Plant
Music: Jose Battaglio (Heaven)
Post Production: Serena Digital
VFX Supervisor: Emilio Perez
Lead Flame Artist: Emilio Perez
CG Lead: Fernando Jariego
It seems as if the gaming industry suffers from the same over-compensation issues that the design world does. Game Designer Zack Hiwiller created this series of Super Mario Bros. images depicting what it might look like if it was created by todays standards; and I can’t agree more.
One of my pet peeves with design these days is how often we have to pander to the lowest common denominator. Often times, if not always, it is at the expense of the design, and sometimes at the expense of a big idea. I hate to see something crushed visually or conceptually because we have to put instructions on things, or ruin the natural flow of something that could otherwise be figured out if people were given the opportunity to use their powers of observation.
Humans are quite intelligent creatures. Even our least savvy audience is much more in touch with their powers of observation than we give them credit for. As far as technology goes, it is partly a generational thing, but to say people can’t learn the next generations technology is just lazy. We have a 99 year old lady who have never used a computer, whose life is now changed by an iPad. We are responsible for making the technology work in ways that compliment everyday actions. From there all they have to learn is how to click a mouse.
It is not about making things difficult and then leaving the user hanging. We have to make good decisions in the design, and rely on the human power of observation and instinct. If someone sees a book on screen, and no buttons, the first thing they will try to do is turn the page. You would be hard pressed to find a person that sits there staring at it waiting for a “click here” button to pop up. Even if it takes the user a click or two to get the hang of it, that also means the reward of figuring it out is even greater. If we lead everyone by the hand, the cost/reward system of discovery is destroyed, and the only rewards we are left with are the visuals we create after they “click here”. Keep in mind those are the same visuals we most likely just destroyed by filling it with instructions. We have created such passive experiences in an interactive world.
See more images here: If Mario Was Designed in 2010
When I see a commercial this well executed it makes me think of how poor our state of advertising is, and how many missed opportunities have gone by. Each commercial gives us a 15-60 second window to create a piece of art that will last in someones mind.
I would like to think this concept was one person who had the vision, and was able to dig through the distractions to make sure it got made correctly.
Per commenters request, I have added the source code for the Morse DeCode project. Not much else to say about that!
http://visualadvance.com/blog/explorations/morse-decode-with-the-arduino-board-and-flash/
We have been doing some revamping of our entrance at work (Manifest Digital). I threw together this glorified screensaver to project onto our doors.
Done in Flash CS4, Actionscript 3. You can view the project online here: http://manifestdigital.com/playground/flip/
When I see a product like this, and its named Perky Jerky, I have to ask myself; which came first, the name or the concept? I have to admit many times I will come up with a phrase, be insanely tempted to buy the domain name, and then build a site around that.
Then I realize sites take time to build, and I watch TV instead.
I see hundreds, if not thousands of articles each week now that I am an avid Google Reader user. After a while it becomes easy to identify each bloggers style. Lets take for example Scott Hansen of ISO50. A lot of his posts and images tend to have the same tone, even when he is blogging about other peoples work.
So when I came across this post from NotCot, I instantly wondered why Hansen was styling his post like a typical NotCot post. Then I realized it wasn’t a post of his at all. It isn’t even his work. Just a Scotch tape promotion that is extremely similar to his work. Is it just me?
