classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo

flash video/game

http://www.the-passenger.com/

Check out this photo app

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

The Secret of Apple Design

An informative article exploring Apple's unique and impressive product design. About five pages long; some of the most insightful information comes in the last few paragraphs.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18621/page1/

Positive User Experience

A friend of mine recently purchased an item from a Mac store. As she was walking around a sales person asked if she needed help. The sales rep was able to complete the order right there, without the need to go to a cash register or wait on any lines. The rep was able to scan the item, swipe a credit card, bag it and send the receipt to her email address, which automatically displayed once the credit card was scanned, all on the spot. Nice.

The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema

In a director ’s cinematic bag of tricks the long tracking shot is the boldest way of making a statement. Here's a list of some great ones.

http://dailyfilmdose.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-take.html

unclever

something my old writer and i used to talk about was the notion of unclever. it's a hard place to get to - where the idea and the writing seem effortless, focused and on brand. there's nothing worse than writing that tries too hard (see my post a while ago about 'the noble call of hot stones') - whether it's trying to be clever, trying to be funny, trying to gild the lily. sometimes, a simple sentence delivered in the right voice is all you need.

anyway, here's larry's blog, where he ruminates amiably:
http://meansomething.typepad.com/unclever/

Local Design Event

More based on product/industrial design, but could be cool (they're monthly so if you can't make this one, ther'll be another).
I originally signed up to go, but had to cancel. To RSVP check out this site:

http://productdesign.meetup.com/44/?gj=sj6

Flâneur

Wheatpaste stop-motion animation, no digital manipulation.

Different navigation

Kind of cool interface navigation ...

http://www.axesaone.fr/new_index.php

guerilla marketing

An already old promo

Created by Brazillian agency Ginga Interactive
http://www.agenciaginga.com.br/

Promotion for the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Tartarugas Ninja)


A full-building projection

they can sing but we're cuter ;)

hey so this is sort of random but i saw this video a couple weeks ago before we moved upstairs and got super excited for our open office. i think we can have just as much fun as them (though we may need to add a few ping pong tables)
enjoy.

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:173714

Coke Rewards Site

Embarrassingly enough, I've been entering my coke caps faithfully for about a year, and always was amazed at how slow, user-unfriendly and just all-out craptacular the experience was...I mean this is Coke! So I was happy to find they redesigned the experience...until I used it. It's even slower and less user-friendly. I'm now convinced this isn't really a Coke promotion but a bizarre social experiment to see how much the average human will go through to get a free trucker hat or subscription to Popular Mechanics.

mycokerewards.com

kate moss gets a font

this is old news, but i still think it is interesting... kate moss has recently had her own font designed for her topshop clothing line (which is getting good reviews). this identity system will be used for all her product sponsorships. seems like she has people carefully sheparding her brand unlike so many other celebs who end up plastering their faces across everything with no real consistency.


http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/kate-moss-the-brand/

Not the first time, but definitely not the last.

This is not news but it is a barrier to great work that wont be going away too soon in the creative industry. Check out what this man has to say.

http://www.bitchwhocodes.com/archives/2007/05/are_developers.html

Boo-Hoo for You!

Funny vid about how smartphone technology in Japan is better than here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xQVnny0LSg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egizmodo%2Ecom%2F

nerdy tool: vertus imagemask

apparently makes clipping paths a doddle.
vertus imagemask

This opens up some new possibilities...

so now adobe's media player comes with some new offline functionality/capability. check it out.

http://blogs.adobe.com/deeje/2007/05/beettv_explores_adobe_media_pl.html

Lifelong friendship society

some pals over in williamsbeurgh

http://www.lifelongfriendshipsociety.com

designing for sound

quick read. well worth.

http://www.filmsound.org/articles/designing_for_sound.htm

the czechs

the guys in the czech republic that have been working on motodanica - this is their reel. there's some nice work in there. let's rethink the way we think about product experience.

http://www.imagesfx.cz/reel/imagesFX_2006reel_720x405.mov

once motodanica is live, maybe we'll get jan and the crew to come in to show their work, talk about more stuff.

awesome rexona banner

bannerblog never ceases to amaze

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/2007/04/exona_v8.php

reality gaming

Starts off as a website, but with links to wikipedia, myspace and other media you realise that this is actually a very clever game set in an alternate gaming reality.

The pace where gaming crosses into marketing, then out again.



http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/start.aspx

laughing even harder (copywriter heaven)

ok jason, you asked for it :D

http://www.engrish.com/

some highlights below.

laughing so hard i'm sweating

http://www.flightpad.net/cats.htm

INVISIBLE SANDWICH!

bullsh*t line of the week

Maybe this will become a regular feature on the blog. As seen in NYmag, in an ad for the Mohegan Sun resort:

"Tonight I'm switching my phone to vibrate and answering only to the noble touch of heated stones."

Barely suppressing my fury,
-jason

Game of Death

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id1L-nFVlao

i do not want a size 13 footprint on my yellow jumpsuit. :O

are you an art director?

i am an art director

dude serves clients in fourteen different time zones, 24 hours a day.

UN approved Third World robotic patrol support

Have a look at this on

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




Genius. Espcially the voice overs and handheld feel.

sound is everything.

think of the last time you felt a shiver down your spine. why did you feel that? what did it make you feel? was it the sickening crunch of a car accident? was it the sound of a kitchen in full flow? the popping of flashbulbs? the reverberation as your feet clicked the marble floors of an empty church? someone breathing in your ear?

now imagine your favourite movie scenes without sound.
ok. i think you get where i'm headed.

any time something moves, it should make a sound. the rushing of air around an object as it pushes through the molecules will give it weight. the little peeping of an interactive element as you roll over it will tell you that it's clickable. there are a million ways to introduce sound into our work on a conceptual level, as well as the executional.

sound doesn't have to be expensive - we have great foley libraries that are pre-licensed. but most of the time, you get what you pay for. if you're commissioning music, licensing existing songs, designing foley effects or environmental sound, those things aren't easy, and they're not cheap, they're not something that can be rushed. so let's start factoring them in ahead of time.

amazing 3D racing game experience

http://www.bmw-pace.com/pace/

check this one out. super prof. work. cinema like cut-scenes,
a story line, upgrades for your car. maybe one of the most
sophisticated websites so far.
(must have cost a fortune, envy is killing me ;) )

thou shalt always kill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoN6XfyQsr4

resurrect the bunny ...

http://www.10mg.nl/

agency site with a refreshing approach beyond that "our work our clients show show show we are so supercool" approach
(love it as a creative but from a marketing point of view the message itself is a little bit unclear. 10mg replaces mousecursors? hmmm ...)

the sweet sound of your mind blowing

http://www.ff0000.com/universe/

wtf.

got milk?

these guys did a fabulous job, this game is incredibly entertaining and flawless. pretty good example what can be done with solid copywriting, storytelling and a terrific bunch of people dedicated to the job.

http://www.gettheglass.com/

(here is also an interesting making of. and if you are stuck
at the last part of the game, the numbers for the vault are on
the upper right of the screen and the question afterwards is
"Can I Please Get The Glass")

will it blend?

well, just imagine you have to do some kind of buzz marketing or
viral piece for a company that produces blenders.
sounds boring? well, the result isn't, for sure.
check out all the "don't try this at home" videos.

http://www.willitblend.com/

(this is my favourite one)


oh, and of course there is a link to their webshop, too.

video usage as 3D simulation

oh well, so we had full screen video in a post before.
here is a nice car race with some kind of 3D brute force
engine using video, presenting how the the nokia car kit works.
takes forever to load (obviously) but its an interesting
concept. reminds me a lot of the old Dragon's Lair II Laser Disc
game from the 80ies. its kind of a cheesy story and it's way too long, but
the idea itself is nice.

lets put this concept in our head, shake it, mix it, make it shorter,
more crisp and bring the beast to live.

http://www.the-passenger.com/
(make sure to drive in other directions! not only the path the system
suggests so you see that the "engine" actually really works)

afterwards there is a well executed landingpage for the gear, too.

branding in the bloodstream

this is a picture from some friends at burnkit. those are prototype playstations that their client sent them to test on.

i'm not a gamer, so i can't speak to the relative merits of different platforms, but that kind of obsession over branding, that nudge and a wink, is why playstation will always have a more direct connection with me than anything i've seen come from xbox, nintendo, etc.

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.
Your
mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for
survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST

Subject: Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.
If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network
and
there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any
existing network
to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this
number 112
can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

Try it out.

SECOND

Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy
someday.
Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and
the spare
keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your
cell
phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have
the person
at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone
on
their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive
your keys to
you.
Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you
can
reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock
the
doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car
over a
cell phone!"

THIRD

Subject: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys
*3370#
Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show
a 50%
increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following
digits on
your phone: * # 0 6 #
A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to
your
handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get
stolen,
you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will
then be
able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card,
your
phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back,
but at
least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If
everybody
does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

And Finally....

FIFTH

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411
information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a
telephone
directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a
problem. When
you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE
411, or
(800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into
your cell
phone now.
This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass
it on
to your family and friends.

Laser graffiti

http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76

lap it up. so sweet!

Break Dancing (Korean BBoyQ )

Men who dance like they have been made from two halves of seperate people. Both have radically different dance styles.

Breakdancing should be an olympic sport. If not, then at least a matter of grave national importance. As it seems to be in Korea.


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

full-screen video

horses give everything

simple concept. gorgeous cinematography. proper production value. the client is a swedish horse racing company.

chew on that for a little while.

simple is beautiful (sometimes)

links that we forward around are usually totally amazing
in a creative AND in a technical way. with a gazillion effects, videos,
and so on. this one is simple. static. and I love it.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/08/rumsfeld_resignation.html

everything is awesomer in slo-mo

i flipped a cadillac in the air. nike had a dude hitting a golf ball. absolut blows up donuts.

http://absolut.com/pears

Shopping Cart-ography

More akin to a detailed survey map than a shopping experience, www.browsegoods.com uses data live from Amazon but reinterprets it in a highly intuitive and graphically breathtaking way.

Imagine somebody has painstakingly laid out every item available on Amazon on the ground - stretching off into the distance. And grouped them logically. Now imagine you're hovering above the ground about 1 mile up in the air in a helicopter. Now imagine you slowly move over this retail landscape and can elevate or descend at will. You float over to the watch section. You see a large island of millions of watches. You descend further. Of course, the downdraught of air from the helicopter would probably blow the watches away. And it would be really dangerous. And you'd probably need a telescope to spot the watch you wanted. So let's abandon this metaphor entirely.

Anyway. You zoom up and down, and some clever caching and imaging takes care of the rest. It's great. And you can actually BUY stuff with this interface too. The interface links directly to the relevant product pages in Amazon.

Good to see interactive design getting radical again. If this is the future - I want more. Have a look at www.blackdogair.com too.

We feel fine

Building on the web 2.0's current obsession with re-interpreting the blogosphere as art, 'we feel fine' filters the blogosphere on provided terms and uses this nifty interface to display its results.

Jonathan Harris did this. And Jonathan Harris is a genius. He's an artist that works primarily digitally, and amongst other things, he develops programming systems that sample large quantities of data and express them in extraordinary ways.

Apparently, his new project 'Universe' is even more mind blowing. Until then, check out:-

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Visual Blogosphere

What do you you get if you cross Google Earth with the Blogosphere? A 3d map of Earth showing the location of blogs that are being written in real time. At this instant. Precisely at this moment. Like, right now.



More beautiful semi-useful lunacy from the country that invented the Viking.

Download it here: http://www.twingly.se/screensaver.aspx.

Amazing russian agency site

check out http://www.instinct.ru/.

exceptional execution, one of the best agency sites I have seen for a long time (and excellent work, too).

also take a close look how they did the "boring" stuff like preloader,

video navigation, volume setting and so on.

quite impressed I have to admit :)

markus

BeardyMan -- Amazing UK based Human Beatboxing

Human Beatboxing, once the remit of the ghetto unfabulous has now come full circle. A middle-class student from Brighton in Sussex England, with a beard and an accent to match is rising to the top of the BBoy stakes. What next?

I can't get over this guy. He reminds me of a guy I used to know in Aylesbury, England who made funny noises into a pint glass when he got drunk. It may have been unintentional though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7GGkKpBR-g

Check out his appearance at the UK BBOy at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdX8pf3C_wk&mode=related&search=


Thanks to Jason K for this one.

Line Rider

Sometimes something comes along which is so elegant, so attractive and so childlike in its simplicity and charm you just want to hug it and feed it some milk and cookies.

Line Rider, a Flash game created in September, 2006 by Boštjan Čadež, a Slovenian university student.

To play Line Rider, voted the "Best Webtoy of 2006", click here. When you get to the site, just click the handwritten-looking 'Play' in the center of the page.

No 3d graphics. No celebrities. No major music deals. No advertising. But a good idea, some excellent programming and 16,000,000 views.

Twittering On

Twitter. Kind of scary. For the real-time updates your social networks. Twitter keeps you abreast of literally everything that's going on in their lives. No matter how trite. It has the effect of blurring your social circle into a kind of Joycean stream of consciousness. Interesting to pathalogical voyeurs with a lot of time on their hands. And I admit it, me.

I am a Creative

This is the blog of the people who work with, for and around DraftFCB. It's cross company, agency, department, silo and everything else.

For the creatively confident, it's a place to show off and share ideas. For the creatively challenged, it's a place to get good ideas from. For everybody else, it makes an interesting read.

Post what you like. But don't be surprised if you get stuff deleted, abridged, altered, ripped off, copied, changed or butchered. This is the internet. It happens. Deal with it.

Let's have fun out there.

This is a working document containing the random thoughts and unstructured musings of people in a non-corporate environment. It doesn't respresent the views of DraftFCB, or any corporation associated with DraftFCB. You know the score.