E-Biz MBA's Ten Best Flash Websites

Here is a link to what E-Biz MBA has voted the top ten flash websites of 2010. One that I like a lot is AgencyNet's website which has some elements of inspiration for my own website. Both create a landscape inlaid with buttons, which when clicked, create animations within the landscape.

Another one that I like, which incidentally also uses landscape as part of its design is Advanced Studio's website which is successful in the high-tech tone it creates through illustrated landscapes and general interface design.

Leo Burnett Website

This is another website with amazing design. The concept itself looks to be inspired by Magritte which is made even stronger through the consistency in design. The visual and interactive aspects make navigating the entire site irresistible.

Inspirations for Project 3

As I put Project #2 behind me, I started to look online for website site designs with enticing interactive properties. I found the following website for Wonderwall, Inc. which is an interior design firm established by Masamichi Katayama. I love the wall created with images of the various locations they've designed. The movement it creates when you hover through lends itself to the tactile quality you want to experience with interior design.

Animations Using Light

While not a direct source of inspiration, I found these videos which use action light painting to create these animations.

NYTimes: New Web Code Draws Concern Over Risks to Privacy

Here's an article from today's New York Times discussing the advent of HTML 5 and the concerns it is raising over privacy. In the next few years, HTML 5 will take over as the new face of the internet. In addition to making it easier for users to view multi-media content without downloading extra software while enhancing our ability to check e-mail offline or shop from a smartphone, it will also provide marketers with infinitely more information about us as consumers.

It would be unrealistic to expect such capabilities without our privacy being invaded, since it is this very personal information that allows for the web to acclimate itself to our needs and suggest other sites or products based on our internet habits. So, in essence, it comes down sacrificing one benefit to enhance another. However, the article makes it clear that we should at least have a choice. While many web browsers do have privacy settings, they are not as clear as they should be and more often than not, are not as effective.

Hopefully as HTML5 becomes more ubiquitous in use, there will be enhancements to web browsers allowing for us to protect ourselves to a granular level of specificity.

Some After Effects Videos

As a source of inspiration, I am including a link to a website which includes a hodge podge of videos created using After Effects. After learning how to create a relatively basic Flash animation, I am even more in awe of the animations that I am flooded with on a daily basis. I have imbedded one such example. While it is way more advanced than what we will be producing for the second assignment, I found it to be a nice segue given its use of simple geometric shapes, and typography.

Coca-Cola - Night Visuals 2010 from binalogue on Vimeo.

Here is a link to the Vimeo Website.

Cute Flash Animation (About Flash)

Given our first Flash animations are due today, I thought it was appropriate to post this video I found which somewhat portrays the Flash program itself as a villain. Enjoy!

NYTimes (Again): Expanding the Creative Horizons of Your Printer

In the industry, we constantly talk about the value of print in today's technical world. Some view it as a soon-to-be archaic craft. I found this article to be interesting though rife with plugs for Canon. The article talks about the various uses of the run-of-the-mill home printer and how it can be used to create textiles, boxes, models, books, etc.

Canon has an entirely new campaign on atypical uses for its printers and it's benefits for more crafty projects. You can check out the article here.

NY Times: Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind?

Yesterday's paper had an interesting article discussing the 'digital classroom' of today and how it can destroy creativity and self-thinking in the classroom.

Given my undergraduate degrees in Economics and Computer Science, I spent the past 9 years working in the financial technology sector. At a high level, this means that I implemented large-scale technology solutions for many of the major trading desks and banks on Wall Street. These technology platforms were responsible for creating million-dollar trades in a millisecond, and tracking P&L for the trader, the desk, the bank. Working with such technology forces you to see a dollar value in the system and treat it like any abstract number without fully realizing the value or the power behind it.

Conceptually, this is similar to what Lanier from the New York Times is telling us. A digitized means of teaching, if not carefully harnessed by a teacher who cares, can suck out the meaning and the life in what is being communicated. While we feel constant pressure to keep up with the times and learn to effectively communicate in a digital form, it goes beyond just mastering the latest program. We as designers have a responsibility to keep the human aspect alive in our work and the ability to include this in our designs will propagate a digital world where interacting, feeling, and learning is not just a simulation.

Bouncing Ball

I have been trying to play around a bit with Flash. It is a lot tougher than I had expected but so far,playing around has truly been useful. Per Christie's suggestion, I looked for a tutorial on creating a bouncing ball and it helped me better understand key frames between motion tweens. If you'd like to give it a try, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9FldZkcLPI

INSPIRATION: Catch Me If You Can (Opening Credits)

This is title sequence/opening credits for the movie, "Catch Me If You Can" by Nexus Productions.

Emigre No. 70

With the limited experience I have in design, I often like to start by looking for inspiration from various art/design books. As I peruse the personal book collection that I have been building for the past year, I am finding the "Emigre No. 70" lookback issue especially inspiring.

While the content of the book is not digital (it is a compilation of past print work by the Emigre Magazine), the layout of text is amazingly dynamic. The use of the spatial plane, oblique directions, contrast of text sizes, and the juxtaposition of different typefaces can be sourced as inspiration for the execution of our first project.

I guess being inspired is easy... it's really about the delivery, isn't it? (Maybe I should put this one down and pick up a Flash tutorial instead).

[Image taken from: http://www.gingkopress.com/03-gra/emigre-70.html]