Chanel Slideshow

Chanel’s website is so elegant and modern—just like their clothes. This part of the website beautifully showcases their spring/summer 2009 collection. Each image is numbered and you can navigate by clicking the small numbers on the bottom or putting your cursor to the right or left of the page. The images slide across the screen. You can also click on the image for a larger image and details. From there you can go forward or backward with the little arrows on the bottom. You can even do other things like watch a video of that particular look, send it to a friend, and print it. Then of course there is a back button to take you back to the line of images. The overall experience is simple, clear, and entertaining. There is a good use of white space and the color palette works very well. It does not take away from the images. The images stand out so that the collection is the main focus. My slideshow has almost the same color palette and I am also going for this kind of simplicity.

Flash Banners

Good banner

This modern banner is found on a portfolio site. The loading screen is simple but interesting. This is an interactive banner so there are instructions during the loading process that explains.

When it’s finished loading, an image appears. You can zoom in on the image, zoom out, move it around, and show outlines. I thought this was pretty interesting. This banner is a nice preview to what we can expect to see in this portfolio site. The zoom in feature is my favorite. Banners are usually small in size so the content within the banner might be too small. Letting the user interact and zoom in on details is a nice touch.

Bad banner

Ad for Newfoundland Labrador Canada

This ad has terrible animation. It’s just a photo of the coastline for the background. Then there’s a separate image of two people walking across the coastline. The way they walk is very jagged and not smooth. It looks awkward. They start off really small on the left side of the banner. Then they start walking to the right and get larger (image1). When they are near the far right, their heads turns sideways and gives us a big smile (image2) then walks away and disappears. At the very last frame, the logo appears.  I did not think this was a very good advertisement.

Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary

In our lives today, we think of repetition as a bad thing. Repetition is monotonous and boring. Who can live their lives with repetition? Designers thinking outside of the box use ordinary items repetitively to make something new: a rebirth, a second life. This is when repetition becomes interesting. New objects can be made using everyday items such as buttons, bowls, spoons, quarters, etc. Repetition of parts are what makes a whole. Continue reading

ecomagination

Plugintothesmartgrid.com is a website explaining GE smart grid technology. This site teaches us about alternative energy, CO2 emissions, etc. (Ex. Making the power grid just 5% more efficient reduces 262.1 billion pounds of CO2 which equals reduced emissions on 21.6 million cars or having an additional 32.4 million acres of trees). This is all explained visually using animation. You will also hear a man speaking which allows you to watch the graphics more closely without having to read too much. The colors used here consists of earth tones (greens, browns). This works well since the website is about saving the environment. The motion throughout the whole experience was very smooth. Interaction is 100% necessary here. You need to either pull levers or plug in turbines in order to activate the motion. I enjoyed watching every single animation. 

This site does not directly sell a product. It does however try to promote the smart grid technology. It explains how more people should use it for a healthier planet. It focuses more on how we can make Earth a better place rather than where we can get the product, how much it costs, etc. We can leave the site being more aware of the environment without thinking about a certain product to buy. 

Extra: Check out the augmented reality section. You can see a digital hologram. All you need is a webcam and a printed piece provided on the website. Follow the instructions. It works.

Never Ending Website

“Good Things Should Never End”

Company: Orange

Orange is a phone company with a pay as you go plan that comes with unlimited text messaging. They are promoting their unlimited text messaging with this never ending website.

This never ending website is full of fun little interactive items. You can make things grow out of pots, chat with a furry beast, watch dancing monkeys, make ice cream, draw, learn German, learn Spanish, play word games, etc. You can just click around on objects and see what happens. Turn the volume up and you can also hear some interesting sounds. This website contains many interactive parts. You will find new things as you scroll down the page and the page will never end. However, at a certain point, you will start to notice things becoming repetitive.

Everything catches my attention (the colors, the sounds, and interesting shapes). I become curious and start clicking on every object I see, hoping something cool will happen. The only thing that starts to bore me is when I start seeing the same things I saw a couple of minutes ago. I wish they would have made more interactive items.

How long did you scroll for before you gave up trying to find out if the website really never ends?