The website for Cosmopolitan Magazine has a slideshow that shows the most interesting articles or topics for the present issue. The slideshow is interactive in that it provides both a forward and backward button. The viewer can also pause the slideshow to view details of the slide. I did use a linear timeline for my slideshow but because there are 10 pictures I also gave the viewer the opportunity to choose which picture they would like to view with a non-linear timeline as well. Each slide has a button that leads to the article or even another slideshow relating to the headline of the slide. The slideshow is placed on the website like a stack of post-it that reveals one message after the other. My slideshow was like a poster on the subway wall that changes as the viewer chooses. I like the fade in effect of each slide which I guess is the most common for such websites. The typography is consistent throughout and stands out from the background and pictures to get the viewer’s attention. A range of background colors were used in this slideshow but I kept mine the same and just had the picture changing as the viewer progresses through the selection chosen for the slideshow.

The slideshow that I found is a slideshow about the Sanrio characters on Sanrio.com. I think this slideshow was great because it is easy to navigate and the colors are great. Each character itself is a button where you can click on to read the profile about the characters. When you click on it, the slideshow has a pink flowery transition scene throughout the slideshow. Each character has its own typefaces for the title.

The Joe Wong Photography website has a beautiful slideshow of weddings from different cultures. I like how the slideshow switches from black and white to color photographs.  The black and white photographs are sophisticated, while the colorful photographs make the photographs come alive.  I especially like the children in the slideshow.

The design of the slideshow is simple.  When the slideshow first loads, the photographs change without any user interaction.  However, as the slideshow plays, one can press the numbers or the arrows at the bottom of the show at any time to jump to another photgraph.  Once the user clicks on the buttons though, the slideshow seems to stop playing on its own.  There is also an option on the bottom right side to make the slideshow fullscreen.  The typography that is used on the website looks professional.  Overall, I like the simple, yet elegant slideshow.

The Japan Society

In the home page of the Japan Society there is short slideshow that provides teasers for their current and upcoming exhibitions and lectures. In my opinion it’s quite easy and straight forward that does it’s job without any fuss, and the colors work well with what they’re trying to convey.

This slideshow is on one of my favorite cars. The Lexus Slideshow. The interesting thing is that at the beginning, there is a percentage counter, which is something that most buffering movies have. So another words, this is a slideshow/ movie type of slideshow.  All of the images are simple, but it all relates to the Lexus. Everything is in order, starting out with the luxurious car itself, followed by the interior, followed  by the features, and the engine. The transition is kind of too fast, and it fades in and out. Overall, I think it’s too fast. If I was to buy this car, I would look at this slideshow for information on the look, but not essential information.

http://eu.wrangler.com/ The Europian Wrangler site has a great flash slideshow interface to show off the latest fashions. The most notable aspect to the slideshow on this site can be seen on the denim and footwear section. The scrolling is down by a pushing or pulling interactivity that allows the user to move across the different products at his/her own pace.

This website ducduc has a very clean interface and is very simple, and it doesnt take away from its images. When you hover over the links they change to a light blue color which I dont really like, but I guess its just a preference. The transition between photos has a nice clean feel to it, it slowly fades into each picture.  The tabs to change through the pictures has a sleek and user friendly feel to it as well. I like the use of white and orange, the orange isnt too flashy and the white background just compliments it very well.

A flash slideshow that I found interesting is Jill Greenberg’s photography gallery at http://www.manipulator.com/. It is a rather simple interface but uses flash to show her large amounts of work in a small amount of space. The colors are visually appealing and coordinated. The use of flash, where you can hover over a row and they appear makes the site easy to navigate. I really enjoy the use of as little space as possible, giving it a clean and sophisticated look. The typography is small but fits well with the overall theme of the website.

Overall, a good portfolio site showcasing many talents.

http://www.emmatempest.com/

Photographer Emma Tempest’s website features an interactive slide show of her work. There is two options to view the photos. One is the continuous playing slide show and the other is a clickable feature that lets you view the photos you choose. The transitioning of each photos upon being clicked is a feature I would like to incorporate in my design. The thin san serif font is very sleek and doesn’t take away from the main focus of the photos. I liked the highlighting feature of the mouse when it is position over the photo. This is another feature I would like to try.

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.

              I like the slideshows on Kfir Ziv’s photography website because they are simple, yet interactive. I like the clean sophisticated look. I like the fact that he kept it simple, without many effects, just a thumbnail strip in the bottom and a big picture at the top. This simplicity lets his work speak for itself. His work is amazing and one can see that through the slideshows. I think that if there would be many effects or other animated elements in the slideshows then it would take away the attention from his work. I also like the fact that once you click on a thumbnail the others are dimmed, that way the viewer’s full attention is solely on the photo he/ she is viewing.

               In my slideshow I also tried to keep it simple yet interactive and interesting. I didn’t use many elements around the slideshow so the viewer will have his undivided attention solely on the photos.

For this weeks blog I found a site called the Photographers Gallery. This site is exactly what the name says it is; photographers photos can be viewed on that website. When first opening the site there is a slideshow of photographs for visitors to view before they explore deeper into the website. The photographs on the slideshow are not faced upright when you scroll through them, but rather they are slanted inwards and when you want to see one picture clearer you just simply hover over that picture in the center and it would face upright. When I first saw the slideshow I thought it was a very creative way of making the slideshow for people to view. But as I scrolled through the pictures in the slideshow it gave me a bit of a headache. So beware to not scroll so fast! Other than that minor issue I thought the slideshow was very professionally done. I especially like the mirror effect on the bottom of the images; like a reflection on water. The design of the slideshow also fulfilled its purpose to fit in with the whole website as well because it gives a very simple, clean, and professional feeling.

— http://www.kensiegirl.com/collection is a flash based website with a slide show displaying fashions.  It was nice  to see a designer using tons of scripts and scenes to make this slideshow stand apart from the rest and displaying their flash knowledge. The design and the idea of the website seem to go hand and hand, images, typography and all. Though, a major drawback may be that sometimes too many scripts, images, and colors can be a huge distraction rather than a benefit to the viewer. Not to mention the fpr of the scenes, I felt as if I stared long enough I’d get a seizure.  If the designer made better use of the scripts and the visuals, I think the slide show would have been pleasant to look at. Otherwise, I think it was a wreck. As for my project, I stuck to a minimal and functional design scape, and basic scene transitions.

I found this website http://www.testemale-photos.com/. It’s like a photo gallery and you can click on images to enlarge them. I think the overall layout is really nicely done. The colors used are not too bright and give a warm feeling. They’re pretty consistent throughout the whole website. The pictures are all organized based on categories and are randomly placed on different locations. It actually took me some time to figure out how to use and navigate across the picture slideshow. Sometimes picture’s navigation bar gets hidden under the bottom panel when their height is longer than the screen/browser window’s height. The bottom panel shows different categories of the pictures. I would say this website is very interactive because you need to click on something to go to different pages or enlarge the pictures. In the beginning of each page, lots of photos icons appear randomly at different places. After all the pictures get into place you can choose and click on a specific one. That mini icon will then enlarge and move to the center of the page, and in the mean time, the background fades into a darker color. This brings focus to only the image at the center. On the bottom of the image you can control and click on to the next or previous images. When you click on to the next category, the screen quickly shifts across the background onto another section. I really like this technique because my eyes actually followed the movement of the background and I can feel that the setting has changed. It’s interesting because I can easily picture the whole thing being together as one large image with pieces and bits scattered across different parts. Each of those parts is individually zoomed in as different categories. So even though all the images seem to be separated, they are in fact still connected to one another on the same background.

I think in my slide show I have something similar to the fading effect used in this site. I would like to try that moving and shifting across the background technique in a future project since my layout this time doesn’t really work well with it.  

There was this slideshow I found on Sitewelder.com that I thought it was very simple slideshow of photography with plain text on the left corner, a play and pause button on the far right corner, and the slider with different small photograph buttons were located at the bottom of the flash stage. The slider was easy to navigate around, and you can open any photo you want to see. But unfortunately, I did not use any of these elements in my photo slideshow because I had my own idea for my slideshow. However, I will try to use these elements in my future slideshow when I created one.

*Warning there are some obscene words used at the begining of this slide show*

This slide show was conveniently shown to me by a friend and although it is not in the same type of format as the slide show we are preparing for class I find it to be very interesting and different. I loved how they made a complete cartoon in the form of a slide show and although it is just in plain black and white I love how it is drawn and the story is pretty good too! The typography is a bit crude but I think this was intentionally done and actually suits the general feel of the slide show.  I don’t honestly see anything I can use from this slide show in my own just because it is so different however it has given me a lot of ideas for my final project.

http://balak01.deviantart.com/art/about-DIGITAL-COMICS-111966969

For this week’s blogging, post a link to a flash-based slide show that you find interesting or inspiring. Discuss the relationship between the slide show’s subject matter and its design (including typography, layout, use of color, motion, interaction, sound, etc.). If there are aspects of that slide show that you plan to incorporate into your own work, tell us that, too.

Oh and, you can’t use the NYTime’s “One in Eight Million” slide show as your example!