cardboard robot ninja pirate monkey

how i think websites should be made...

the new nokia n-series site.

ok, it might not be that new, but today was the first time id seen it and i can tell you that i was impressed.  contained inside this clean and simple looking product/brand site, is a mountain of information and functionality.  'experience' pieces arent seperated into microsites but housed within a beautifully constructed flash site, that has attention to detail in bundles.

i dont know who made it but id be interested to find out.  anyone know?  please email me if you do.

what i like is pretty much everything.

ok, there were a couple of things, like maybe a few too many sound effects (a minor distraction i will admit) and some long load times for what should be simple content (although this was probably due to our incredibly pants connection speed) - but the good things made up for those in spadefuls.

what im talking about is stuff like:

- unique URLs:
  each product/section/page and even sub page within each area of the site has the ability to deeplink to through a nifty bit of javascript and ajax ontop of the flash movies to be able to force back an individual appending to the main site URL when the new section had loaded.  very clever beans.

- flash rss feed functionality upfront:
  due to this site almost certainly being database driven (meaning that the whole thing was probably done in a very nice set of content templates and then populated on view - hard to do with fixed size areas) there is RSS feed functionality designed into the main site area.  along with digg, delicious and bookmark tags all in the main footer of the site

- nice touches on buttons and whatnot:
  buttons have clear rollover states that arent too eye jarring. slow fades and the addition of icons show you quite accurately what will happen when you click on something, and even better, what you can click on in the first place.

- nice big clear areas for pictures:
  celebrate the picture!  using overlays and tasteful gallery areas to show big shiny pictures of the big shiny phones to their best

- interesting mash up content:
  make your own version of the 'thing in my pocket' advert.  upload your own video.  chose your preffered soundtrack. or go to the photo experience and see a nicely done flickr mash up of photos uploaded and particular times from n73 phones.  clever, not amazing, but relevant and interesting.  thats the point for me.

- news feeds and useful external links:
  theyve added real value to their brand from external sources.  with a minor disclaimer that 'no information on external links is directly the opinion of nokia blah blah blah' theyve still seen wise to collate information from more public forums about their products.  blogs, news sites, product reviews - anything worthwhile has been included.  canny.

THE ONLY THING THAT I THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT THEY DIDNT...

is make the type selectable.  simple thing.  so easy to do.  but they didnt.  ah well.  suppose you cant get everything right.

shame. 

flickr api documentation

flickr api documentation and api key requests.

stem skateboards.

© 2007

data visualisation project group

it was time to start making pictures out of numbers.  properly.  but now ive got a little help from my friends...

http://cardboard-robot.typepad.com/dba

more rocketnumbernine

best ever tags on flickr...

courtesy of a mr. tommy forbes...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommyforbes/457865805/

made me smile from ear to ear.

graphic design on the cover of the sun

funny to see the sun commenting on graphic and logotype design, like theyd have any opinion worth listening to (maybe that is a bit harsh of me) but extraordinary the lengths that newspapers will go to when jumping on the popular bandwagon.  one of the first comments inside is:

"the issue was not with the logo but a piece of animation that was used during the launch"

brilliant.  quite frankly the design of the sun makes me want to vomit on a regular basis, but hey, who i am to complain.

nice to see theyre keeping ontop of the big brother developments too though.  i know i can rest easy at night now...

forget web 2.0...

the future is handmade postcards.

why am i a designer?

sitting here at work, ive started pondering a lot on the reasons behind my entrance into the world of graphic design.  i know that at least a small part of me chosing this vocation was that i didnt have to wear a uniform.  being allergic (maybe only in theory) to all kinds of cheap polyester and synthetic fabrics - not having to wear high street skirt suits or brown tabards of the dinner lady variety had to only be a good thing.
but as it goes, i think there really is a much bigger reason behind it.  reading "how to be a graphic designer - without losing your soul" recently has reminded me of some of my more youthful intentions.

i really do want to make a difference to the world.  all my heroes - joseph muller-brockmann, le corbusier, jules olitski, pierre hughye, jim henson, thom yorke, squarepusher - they have all made differences to the world. 

i think thom yorke said it quite aptly in his interview on bbc 2s culture show:  the whole point of music is that its life affirming.  thats what its all about for me.  music, art, graphics, photography... its all life affirming.

its easy to hear in music because of evocative lyrics and the fact that as a culture were very used to knowing that there is another level to music that we should appreciate, but with graphics its not quite so clear cut.  i want to make beautiful things.  things that people look at and like an incredible song makes them look again, and again, until they can see something of themselves in it.  i want to make things that make people smile and laugh and feel good about themselves and feel good about the world around them.

but then i wondered why i work in digital advertising...