A Source Of Inspiration

Update (06/03/08) : The international version is now live at http://www.cokezerogame.com/

North Kingdom is getting ready for more awards (after FWA Site Of The Year with Get The Glass). Robert Lindström unveiled the work they’re doing for Coke Germany a few days ago, and we now have access to another making-of, this time for Coke Zero Game.

In 2 big posts, Robert gives us a sneak peek at the whole creative process, from storyboards to the latest draft, with a special demo site documenting the advergame concept and execution.

I greatly admire those ⁽¹⁾ who share their creative process in similar ways North Kingdom is doing, as it inspires young creatives to improve their skills and practices, learning from the masters. This kind of attitude is another great difference between traditional agencies and digital agencies. Kudos to Robert and crew.

(1) Fantasy Interactive has also a nice video about the creative process on the Porsche Cayenne site.

It’s not always about the visuals. Once in a while there comes a campaign that reminds us that we have more senses to be delighted. While audio advertising had his glory days with radio, it now is starting to fade, increasingly becoming an underrated medium.

The Internet is now offering a new stage for audio experiences, and following the previous post on Arcade Fire’s music video, we now have the latest work from Fantasy Interactive: Porsche Bloodlines, a countdown site for the new Cayenne GTS.

The site is largely based on the concept of the commercial (click video above to play), highlighting the remarkable sounds produced by the historic Porsche models. The 3 week project developed in Flash, has also inner sections including downloads, wallpapers an a audio challenge.

Enjoy the site. With headphones, please.

In one of those “duhh” moments, i became aware of a new feature on the New York Times. It happened while reading the priceless piece about Radiohead, and incidentally double-clicking a word. Surprise, surprise, a new window opened with a reference search on the highlighted word.

The feature is powered by Answers.com, although i’d love to see a Wikipedia powered one (perhaps with a Greasemonkey script ?).

In web design, it’s a best practice to gracefully conceal power-user features, and this one is a really useful life hack, specially if you’re used to Firefox’s context menu search. Take note of this simple and effective idea, and if your site has specialized or dense content you can use it as a cross-reference shortcut to provide enhanced interactivity and semantic help.

(Cross-post from Osocio.org)

Tired of putting your name on web forms? Don’t give up yet as you can do something different for a change and unsubscribe.

Amnesty International UK is inviting people to do just that, on a message to governments that citizens are no longer quiet while human rights are attacked under the false pretext of ‘the war on terror’. And while most petitions ask you to sign up, the British AI is asking citizens to take your name off.

The campaign uses email and social media to encourage others to spread the message, and at the same time building a humanitarian life-stream conscientiousness.
With a subscription process that feels like a regular social network service, you’re invited to write your views on the subject and share it to your friends.

Data visualization is also one of the main features of the “true” social network, with live updates on the progress you and your friends have made to stop the government manipulation of public opinion, with a call to action against such acts as the ones being perpetrated at Guantanamo.
It then extends itself to other networks, such as Orkut, MySpace or Facebook, and links to other online media activists, again building on the concept of networks and how these can make a change. With such a magnitude, I guess we could call it human-rights crowdsourcing.

And of course, with a widget that you can use to share the campaign latest film:

Credits
Client: Amnesty International UK
Link: unsubscribe-me.org
Agency: Drugstore

(Reposted from Osocio.org)

From Canada, an update on the workplace safety campaign by WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario).

The ad invites us to visit the website prevent-it.ca, where users can learn more about workplace safety.

The recent addition on the website uses the desktop metaphor as a quick access to many resources on workplace safety, such as rights and responsibilities, downloads or WSIB videos.  Or you could play the prevent-it challenge, a linear narrative where we must spot the hazards on the workplace, with helpful tips on safety.

If you’ve enjoyed the site, there’s plenty of sharing tools to spread the message.

Advertiser:
WSIB

Agency:

DraftFCB Toronto

This month i became a fan of two great brands: Miro and Mixx.
Miro is the free, open source internet tv player, formerly known as Democracy Player, and hell yeah, way better than Joost.

What’s most remarkable is that my average daily tv consumption dropped from 1 hour a day to practically nothing after having installed Miro. Now i’m addicted to internet tv channels such as Ze Frank show, Wired Science, Ted Talks or UbuWeb, besides my YouTube subscriptions.
If you already use Miro, let me know of you favorite channels.

With features like instant video search for major online video websites, lots of HD channels, access to independent media and support for BitTorrent, Miro has become the iTunes of video.

Mixx is Digg done right. With a beautiful web design, the whole service just feels nice. You have your own mixx, with selected tags appearing upfront, and best of all, a twitter-like feature so we can follow other users.
When you bookmark, you can set to multiple tags (unlike digg) and define a location. This way, anyone an subscribe to either topic or location, a great way to get niche updates.

The unique selling proposition for Mixx is the opportunity to filter those digg spammers and subscribe only to users or topics that actually deliver great content.

You can follow me at http://www.mixx.com/users/armandoalves.

It’s kind of peculiar to notice that these two brands make extensive use of the colors red and orange. Perhaps the next magenta and cyan for the web have just been found.

The web has just lost one of his most inspiring members: Pixelsurgeon.
The webzine and design publication, that was there for me in the beginning of my web days, has just closed after 7 years of fresh design content.

To editors, authors and collaborators, my sincere admiration and respect, with the best of luck to future projects.
Let’s hope that DesignIsKinky and Kaliber10000 manage to stay afloat, or else i’ll feel like i’m getting really old.

Last week i was amused with a drinking challenge, with one shot for each time that “2.0″ was spoken. While the other challengers were all geeks, i suddenly realized that we have to let go of this naming. And web designers are also starting to get fed up, as pointed out by Elliot Jay.

Presentation at FOWD

Sure we have a problem, but is anyone trying to figure out a solution ? My 2 cents would be to to look at the edges to find new paths to creativity. Art, interactive installations, local events or underground culture seem to be the most promising exit strategy to this 2.0 thing.

With everyone doing and looking the same, the web is starting to look kind of dull. And before you start rumbling, i know this site’s design is all about the 2.0 trend, but i’ve been working on a new template, avoiding rounded corners or gradients.