http://www.monet2010.com/
Stunningly beautiful site, my jaw was dropped the moment I got past the typographically rich loading system. The perfect meeting point between gestural painting and sleek modernity. The ability to merge Monet's color pallets to the black and white system couldn't work better. I dig the type choices, and the website is pretty straight forward.
My main complaint is in the "journey," where we are required to perform some gimmicky performances to view paintings. It's not very intuitive, nor is it particularly enjoyable.
http://www.diesel.com/freshandbright/
A novelty site for a Diesel product. Some interesting juxtoposition between video/photo and a cartoon-like style. Art direction works pretty well, but it's annoying that a new tab opens when you click many of the buttons. Some pretty funny concepts, but there's little depth and merely surface thought. No reason to come back, but I suppose they just want you to laugh and pull out the credit card. There are options to send it to your friends, but I don't see the incentive. No "rewards"
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Website critiques
http://www.levislaundry.com.hk/
Interesting website from levi's in Hong Kong. It's music-driven, and focused around a little set. Personally, I think it's a little hard to understand, and even though it's from a different culture it should still be intuitive and easy to navigate. Everything is flickering, and I suppose it's an interesting balance of noise. The website isn't intended to keep people visiting for long, as it's more of a novelty. The integration of video and animation is actually pretty cool. It's a little difficult to understand what the main point of the site is, and what they're really trying to get across.
http://ecodazoo.com/
Wow, this site is amazing. It connects with it's target audience, educates through a very unique medium (using traditional pop-up and illustrations in a 3-D rendered world). Some strong forced connections, as the characters are animals representing the things they are teaching (light conservation is an angler fish, bag recycling is a kangaroo
An amazing perseption of depth, and the fact that you can scroll up, down and around the scene creates a very interactive learning enviornment. Without this sense of interaction, people get bored and don't feel like they're learning- this is the future of education. No longer would kids be day-dreaming in their desks, as they are launched into an interesting world that they could speak about and return to without dread.
My only issue is that there's no sense of reward, and there's a large opportunity to educate further, rather than simply reinforcing ideas we hear daily. As such, it's a little less memorable. Cool art direction none-the less.
Interesting website from levi's in Hong Kong. It's music-driven, and focused around a little set. Personally, I think it's a little hard to understand, and even though it's from a different culture it should still be intuitive and easy to navigate. Everything is flickering, and I suppose it's an interesting balance of noise. The website isn't intended to keep people visiting for long, as it's more of a novelty. The integration of video and animation is actually pretty cool. It's a little difficult to understand what the main point of the site is, and what they're really trying to get across.
http://ecodazoo.com/
Wow, this site is amazing. It connects with it's target audience, educates through a very unique medium (using traditional pop-up and illustrations in a 3-D rendered world). Some strong forced connections, as the characters are animals representing the things they are teaching (light conservation is an angler fish, bag recycling is a kangaroo
An amazing perseption of depth, and the fact that you can scroll up, down and around the scene creates a very interactive learning enviornment. Without this sense of interaction, people get bored and don't feel like they're learning- this is the future of education. No longer would kids be day-dreaming in their desks, as they are launched into an interesting world that they could speak about and return to without dread.
My only issue is that there's no sense of reward, and there's a large opportunity to educate further, rather than simply reinforcing ideas we hear daily. As such, it's a little less memorable. Cool art direction none-the less.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Semester troubles
For the last blog, I've been requested to post a summary of main issues I've encountered over the semester.
First, I think it's extremely important that everyone gets a place-holder voice as soon as the project is started. You don't need to do anything fancy, just record yourself in the way your actor will present the text and you'll avoid A TON of revisions a few weeks into the project.
When it comes to drawings, pen is much, much more forgiving than pencil. I wasted an entire week of work and drawing because of the grainy aspects of pencil. Made me want to rip my hair out!
Your storyboard shouldn't be 5x as long as the rest of the class, as the animation is much easier said than done.
File management is extremely important, and I regret not taking account for this earlier because you end up with exponentially more files than any other process of design I've worked with.
Transitions are the stitching of animation, without them your work will fall apart at the seam and be very unappealing. This is mostly important because many students felt it was alright to leave transitions until they actually animated and found themselves SOL.
Accept evolution, the finished result is usually unlike anything you started with.
Staring at a computer screen for so long gave me pretty bad headaches (especially when masking frame by frame)...not sure what you can do about that, but it makes it hard to work on other homework.
Unlike most, I never had too many issues rendering.
First, I think it's extremely important that everyone gets a place-holder voice as soon as the project is started. You don't need to do anything fancy, just record yourself in the way your actor will present the text and you'll avoid A TON of revisions a few weeks into the project.
When it comes to drawings, pen is much, much more forgiving than pencil. I wasted an entire week of work and drawing because of the grainy aspects of pencil. Made me want to rip my hair out!
Your storyboard shouldn't be 5x as long as the rest of the class, as the animation is much easier said than done.
File management is extremely important, and I regret not taking account for this earlier because you end up with exponentially more files than any other process of design I've worked with.
Transitions are the stitching of animation, without them your work will fall apart at the seam and be very unappealing. This is mostly important because many students felt it was alright to leave transitions until they actually animated and found themselves SOL.
Accept evolution, the finished result is usually unlike anything you started with.
Staring at a computer screen for so long gave me pretty bad headaches (especially when masking frame by frame)...not sure what you can do about that, but it makes it hard to work on other homework.
Unlike most, I never had too many issues rendering.
Video Critique 14
Cool after effects project of simple forms and vectors. Lots of stroke effects, and apparently a usage of “shine and form?” Not sure what the is, but the pacing suffers from the fact that it’s merely a study. It leaves me wondering why he didn’t try to piece together a concept instead of just making things look cool. There’s a consistent usage of natural things in a vector setting (leaves, fish, birds, strokes), but it doesn’t really say anything.
Hierarchy and scale works well, he’s obviously got a keen eye for composition. Music isn’t too exciting, but it works alright with the pacing of the piece. Some transitions leave my mouth a little dry and I find myself bored after a couple of views.
In summary, it’s pretty, but not much more.
Video Critique 13
http://lookslikegooddesign.com/animation-we-are-seventeen/
Cool combination of Vector and 3-d graphics. A surreal piece, but the 3-D and 2-d comes together in a beautiful harmony. The colors are great, and though I have no idea what the concept is, it’s lovely. The music moves along with it stellarly, and I find it almost essential to the pacing and feel. Hierarchy is great, the classical type moves along very waell with the music. I also love how it’s arranged in chapters, yet the transitions don’t seem wasteful, yet classy.
A great project that showcases both execution and creativity, with many elements coming together to form a truly abstract video. My largest complaint is that some things are pushed to be a little too shiny- as if they got overly excited with the lights, everything looks glossy. The textures are beautiful however. Great juxtapositions between timeless and contemporary styles. I also enjoy the inclusion of real footage (the arm).
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Video Critique 12
http://lookslikegooddesign.com/meet-buck-teamcerf/
Funny animation, though it's definetly created with some 3-D rendering software. Must have taken a really long time to render! Character and set illustration is very painterly, but with a contemporary digital and vector feel. Some nice texture going on as well, and I'm curious to learn how they set up lights. Music creates an excellent sense of pacing. Type color and hierarchy works fine in credits, and is seamlessly integrated as signage throughout the animation.
Conceptually it was a little lacking for me, specifically the end. There was one forced connection in the tunnel, but that's about as creative as it got. More of an execution project than concept.
Funny animation, though it's definetly created with some 3-D rendering software. Must have taken a really long time to render! Character and set illustration is very painterly, but with a contemporary digital and vector feel. Some nice texture going on as well, and I'm curious to learn how they set up lights. Music creates an excellent sense of pacing. Type color and hierarchy works fine in credits, and is seamlessly integrated as signage throughout the animation.
Conceptually it was a little lacking for me, specifically the end. There was one forced connection in the tunnel, but that's about as creative as it got. More of an execution project than concept.
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