Yahoo Games - iPod Touch Ad

Sorry, it's been a while since I posted, but I found my new favorite online advertising campaign, courtesy of Apple, Inc. This is one that you'll definitely want to see in action.

Head over to http://games.yahoo.com and wait for the ad to load. I've included some screenshots below for those too lazy to click on a link.

For those who can't quite figure out 'How They Did THAT?!' I'll include a little info.

The entire ad is Flash, and is laid over the default Yahoo header. I assume it's a single flash file, rather than multiple flash files coordinated through some javascript or some other means. The top of the flash covers the yahoo navigation and logo, except when you mouse over the top. You'll notice the animated navigation elements stop moving and there's even a very slight shift in the location of the elements. That shift gives away that the top of the Flash ad is being hidden to allow the user to interact with and select other pages.

Last, you can right click anywhere on the top half of the page and you'll see that it's all Flash. Lovely.

UPDATE: The ad's gone, but here's a video capture someone posted on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSZ_IAXuSSk

Nike's Interactive Getting Lazy

I was checking out some of Nike's sites over at their jumpman23 site and noticed some interesting things about the Carmelo Anthony site for his new shoe, the M4.

1. As is the case with almost all Nike sites, they do an amazing job with their graphic design. In this case, the great imagery works really well with all the hand-drawn illustrations.
2. Nice, subtle beat doesn't wear out its welcome too fast like you see on so many other sites.
3. I could have sworn I had seen this exact layout and navigation on another Nike site. After doing a little digging I found an older Jumpman 23 site for the XX2 shoe.

Check out both sites and let me know if you think Nike is lazy, or if this is just a good use of repurposing a website with a new look and feel.

My vote = lazy.

P.S. I'm not sure if Wieden + Kennedy spearheaded this site or if Nike went through R/GA. Anyone know?

IKEA - Dream Kitchens for Everyone

Apparently today is cool flash website day. I just found another great site from Ikea. They normally have some pretty amazing video + flash work. Often I find sites like that a little frustrating if you're actually looking at buying something but this one is so enjoyable to use I actually enjoyed looking at the products they were showcasing.

The cross fade for each Kitchen's music is stellar, and the video is phenomenal. Plus, try turning around in each section to see a whole new side of each kitchen. 

Check it out at IKEA - Dream Kitchens

Ultimate Creativity - Sony Bravia Play-doh Bunnies

I saw another blogger post about some play-doh bunnies seen around NYC (supposedly for a new  Sony Bravia commercial) a few months back. Today I came across the new commercial on their website at http://bravia.sony.eu. 

I look forward to one day finding a client who will allow me to do something completely creative with as little strings attached as possible. I imagine the success of the first two videos helped but I've got some ideas for some amazing Flash websites that need only a paying client willing to dream a little.

P.S. Make sure to watch the 'making of' - almost as entertaining as the actual commercial.

New Site Launch - Regal Security

Today we wrapped up a new project. It's a full flash site for a door
to door security sales company up in Tacoma, WA.

Check out Regal Security at http://www.workforregal.com

We were particularly proud of the reflection of the video on the home
page and how seamless the beginning of the video is for each guy on
the meet team section.

Last, I'm thinking of creating an actionscript class to manage the
transitions from one page to another even though the current
implementation is pretty straightforward.

If anyone already has something similar I'd love to check it out. Drop
me a line in the comments.

Leveraging useful resources

I have a tendency to always want to create everything myself, not relying on any other potentially useful code or classes. It's a little easier to reuse code in PHP, but in Flash I normally feel I'd be better off creating (or recreating) something myself.

We have a project we're currently working on that required a Flash movie to preload a number of FLV files since users would be required to disconnect their internet connection at some point during the process. I began searching for some example code similar to my needs so that, once again, I could reinvent the wheel.

However, I stumbled upon a fantastic class from Jack Doyle at Greensock.com. It was easy to implement, and exactly met the needs of the project. You can use it to preload any assets (flv, swf, jpg) for use later.

Well played, Jack. Well played.

Flash Preload Asset Class: http://blog.greensock.com/preloadassetmanageras2/

What is Creativity?

I once heard that creativity is simply a new combination of old ideas.* I just saw a perfect example of this in the new UFC website done by Red Interactive Agency (fellow SLCers). Choose your country, and click on the middle 'Light Heavyweight Division' section in the middle.

What you'll see is a rotating list of the contenders for the UFC vs. Pride light heavyweight championship. You can see rotating lists and menus all over the 'net, but the polish and unique take by Red sets it apart.

Makes me want to stop by the Price is Right to spin for the Showcase Showdown.

* Handbook of Creativity - By John A. Glover

It is the distant future ... the year 2000!

Yeah, so it's 2007 and blogs have been around since before 2000.

I'm such a trendsetter.

I had an old domain name lying around that I had previously used for another venture (as you can tell it was a rousing success) and figured I might as well put it to use.

GetStonered.com now features my scintillating commentary on interactive web media/development currently on the Internet as well as what I'm currently working on with my job at Decade. And maybe some funny videos too.

Our latest project: Keefa

For those interested in the distant future...Episode 1: Sally > Robots