Is this Swiss enough?

TAXI Canada Inc. Ad Agency

Source: Communications Arts Advertising Annual 49, October 2008, p.84

With all of our classroom discussion about Swiss design, I thought this was a perfect fit for my blog. Very clean, very crisp, consistent throughout, and nice bold links. I love the arrows that lead you through the site and follow your mouse on drop down menus. The whole site reminds me of a clapboard. And I am amazed how the large font size works. It makes the site really stand out.

The Creative Circus

The Creative Circus

source: Ad in Communication Arts Design Annual 49, November 2008, p245

The Creative Circus is a 2-year educational program for advertising, design, and photography based in Atlanta. Their mission "is to graduate the best-prepared, most avidly sought-after creatives in the industry." Their website does a great job of demonstrating the concepts of creativity. The site is energetic, colorful, playful, fun and informative. I like how it incorporates so many of the issues we've discussed in class - the use of internal scrollbars, the page titles that are purposely overlapped, the way some pages are laid out slightly differently yet the key elements are the same so that the whole site is visually unified. The handwriting, doodles, and paint strokes seem to signify that creativity is a process and they add a nice contrast to the rigid rectangular photos. The site also includes videos, flash elements, pop-ups, and links to graduates' websites. My favorite element on the site is the stringed cups icon used to represent "contact us". (Remember using cups strung together to play "phone" as a child?)

Get the Glass!

gettheglass.com

client: California Milk Processor Board
design firms: North Kingdom, Sweden; and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
source: Communication Arts Interactive Annual 14, p100

This online game is the result of a marketing campaign to increase milk consumption in California. The technology combined 3-D and videos to produce extremely detailed characters and surroundings. The game is based on milk trivia. The goal is to get the milk-deprived family to a glass of milk. The family has rap records of broken bones, bad teeth, etc. If you answer incorrectly, you take a physical challenge and if you mess that up, the family is sent to "Milkatraz". This site is really well done. Check it out!

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Turner Duckworth

Turner Duckworth
Firm: Turner Duckworth
source: Communication Arts Design Annual 49, November 2008, p81

This firm specializes in branding and packaging, putting stock in the smallest of details. Their web site is very clean — a bright white background and small, thin, minimal text which is light gray for information or red for navigation. On each page is an exclamation point logo in bold black with the dot being an eye that winks at you when you rollover it or click on a navigation button. The exclamation point logo was ingenuously kept at just the right size, receiving attention due to it's blackness — not it's size. And it's interesting how the thin "eyelid" stroke on the dot tones down the solidness of the logo by adding a touch of daintiness.
The firm presents their portfolio by placing small, isolated thumbnails of each client's branded package or logo in a simple grid structure. As you rollover each client's thumbnail, a text box pops up to identify the client. Many of the clients' full-size images had "discover the details" buttons. These resulted in magnified images that showed off the small details in their designs — such as a copyright symbol tucked inside of a dog's paw print instead of a basic circle. If you have time to explore, look for these details. They're quite impressive and make you think, "Ahhhh..."

Young & Rubicam

www.yandr.com

Communication Arts Design Annual 49, Nov 2008, p144
Firm: Y&R Advertising, Irvine, CA

This international advertising company does some incredibly innovative work and their website show it off in a very clean minimalistic way. (Steve - you'll like this one.)
The site uses a clean white background with only simple understated text links in vertical columns. Each page has a unique eye-catching image or film and a dividing line the viewer controls that acts as a sliding door to reveal more text or more image.
This site very effectively packs in an abundant variety of their portfolio. Some of the films take a while to load, but be patient — they're worth it. Be sure to check out the Spring Valley promotion under INNOVATION. If you have the time to explore this site, you will be well-entertained and very impressed.

Laurie Rosenwald

www.rosenworld.com

Designer: Laurie Rosenwald
Source: Communications Art Interactive Annual 14, Sept/Oct 2008, p14

After reading Laurie Rosenwald's article about making mistakes on purpose in order to create, I decided to check out her website and was not disappointed. It seems to be so random and off the wall that it just charms the socks off of you. I found myself exploring and exploring until I looked in every nook and cranny. Looking at her site feels like a walk through her subconscious. It's an art playground. The creative thinking oozes out. If you get a chance to check it out, click on the bee image to watch her animated shorts. After listening to her narrate, I've added her to my-people-I'd-like-to-meet list!