Using Flash

I caught this web site http://www.foratthastargerallt.se/kampanj/. I have no idea what company or product is behind the site (the closest I come to knowing German is understanding what "Riesling" means). But, the video obviously caught my eye. I've seen FLV on sites like YouTube, but this is the first site using FLV that I've seen display in full picture.

FLV runs using Adobe Flash Player, which, according to Adobe, can be viewed by 96.2% of web users who have Flash Player installed.

According to the Library of Congress , FLV is a "binary file format that delivers "bitmapped" video, limited to one video and one audio stream per file, over the Internet to one or another versions of the Macromedia Flash Player. FLV content may also be incorporated in SWF files by ActionScript external references."

There are many sites like this one that use Flash navigation for the website. This particular one hides the menu while the video is playing. Thankfully, my ego isn't crushed too easily, or I would be too embarrassed to tell you that it took me 3 viewings before I even realized there was a menu. The navigation bar pops up when the mouse wanders toward that area. Until it appears, the line across the page simply appears as a progress bar as you view the video.

This type of navigation is innovative, and I think it is a reflection of the newer generation of web users (who, would consider me old, although I don't think I am....yet). Are users of my generation used to having everything you could possibly need to access on a website present and visible at all times, and the newer generation knows that it's there...somewhere, so they'll proactively look for it? Are they so used to living in a generation where professionals with a good sense of usability designed most of the navigation in their site, so the users have confidence that what they need will be there? I'm not sure, but I think that usability wasn't always as important as the technology and as a result, you get some pretty crazy designs.

In this particular website, it makes sense that you'd want a clear screen to be able to view the video, so I agree with the web designer's navigation.

Describing Style

Absolut vodka ad design is unmistakable. Absolut ads always feature a bottle, or shape of a bottle of Absolut as the vehicle for a concept. The bottle shape is integrated with a different environment or idea; for example, Absolut Adirondacks or Absolut Americana.

The product is always central to the ad, but each design has a different idea associated with it.

More Absolut ads.

The design of Absolut ads very closely reflects the product. In fact, the words I would use to describe the product would also describe the design – pure, innovative, distinguishable, and refreshing come to mind.

This clever ad campaign was created in response to Absolut’s directive that “all advertising should center around the bottle, the product should not be identified with any particular lifestyle and the approach should have a timeless yet contemporary feel to it.” The Absolut design, in fact, does not try to appeal to a particular lifestyle; no assumptions are made by the consumer that if they drink Absolut, they will be like a person featured in the ad or that they will have the possessions of the person who drinks Absolut. That is not what this design is about. This design is clever and interesting. Perhaps the viewer could make the assumption that they will be considered clever and interesting if they consume this product…

When a design is as distinguishable as the Absolut ads, it’s not difficult to spoof the design. In fact, the Absolut vodka official website has a whole section that displays spoof ads.

And another independent site has a few.

Absolut really hit the target on branding and standing out among other vodka ads. With its minimalist approach,they can carry this design into so many feelings, thoughts and subjects. Compared to Grey Goose (which happens to be my vodka of preference), Absolut ads are much more memorable and viewers are likely to remember the product behind the design.

Just compare the two designs side by side -- Grey Goose has too much text and before finding this ad on a website, I wouldn't have been able to describe any of their ads. Absolut - no problem.

Illustration as artistic realism

I was interested in looking at how illustrations were used in advertising. Wondering what makes a company choose to use illustration rather than photography to communicate their product message.

I like the way Leland Eve describes the use of illustration:

Illustration has always been a powerful and versatile communication tool. It is able to speak in a way that design and photography cannot and is used across almost every industry. Businesses are using illustration more and more everyday to help sell products, attract consumers to services, promote retail stores and even in their identity. Illustrators are able to bring a unique perspective and vision to each project. Where pictures say a thousand words, illustration can say so much more.

The fact that illustrators bring unique perspective and vision to a project I think is the heart of why this medium is chosen. Although photographs can be manipulated in very sophisticated ways now, I think that an illustration's rendering of "reality" can be more eye catching. Some illustrations are so real, it's difficult to tell that they are not photographs. Take, for example, the Ritz cracker web site. They offer the viewer the opportunity to see the myriad ways one can stack a Ritz and get the recipe if one appeals to them. This could have been done as a photograph, but the illustration adds a different level of animation that a photograph might not -- the box glows and ties in nicely with the illustration of the recipe "treasure chest" in the lower left corner and their web navigation. The stacking motion is effectively done as an illustration. Even as I write this, I am questioning whether it is a photograph or not....I think that Nabisco is also trying to appeal to kids on their site by offering games, which are also illustrations. Since this is a product that appeals to both kids and adults, illustrations are an effective way to advertise.

The Picture Grill site features some of the illustration work they have done for product advertisement. Here, it seems that illustration allows for "exaggeration." The illustrator is exaggerating real movement and expression. For example, the lunch, including Doritos, that is "bursting" out of the lunch box. Same thing with the illustration of the person "pouring" two bags of potato chips into his mouth and the Gillette shaving cream "floating" through the clouds. Illustration adds animation to a still picture, often in an exaggerated way that might not be captured in a photograph.

Illustrations are often more eye-catching than photos, sometimes, I think because they are so real that we are intrigued by them (causing us to look at them longer -- particularly helpful if it's a product ad).

Language of Design

I reviewed this very powerful YouTube video posted by "sphereboy" that uses several elements of design in it's demonstration of typography. This video uses an excerpt from Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem, Renascence. The video creator uses a combination of rhythm, texture, and proximity to develop this video.

Rhythm

The video, which is entirely text-based, shows a multitude of movements using the text as it appears on screen. Words sometimes appear suddenly providing its own "verbal beat" and sometimes they spiral in movement, along with the changing of text size from bigger to smaller, giving the appearance of falling from the sky or from smaller to bigger, giving the appearance of reaching for the sky, which reflects the verbal message on screen. The video uses music along with the movement, which makes the viewing experience more intense, but even without the music, the typography provides the rhythm in this case. The text is never static on screen, and often emphasizes the meaning of the words such as big, screaming, and pressing. An example is shown below. The video creator uses very strong, intense movement of those words on screen to visualize their verbal meaning.

Texture

The video creator uses only black text (with some shades of gray to show "fading") on white background. The video changes the texture of the words to emphasize verbal meaning. For example, "Look my fill into the sky" becomes out of focus, like your vision does when you just stare straight into the sky -- you stop focusing on anything specific and it all just becomes a blur. In another case, the video shows letters split into parts that become jagged to emphasize their verbal meaning, "forced back my scream" as shown below, implies rage and fear through the texture of the typography.

Proximity

The use of proximity to create visual tension is extremely powerful in this video. The way the words appear on screen, move, repeat, become jagged or faded, move toward each other and away from each other, etc. provides a level of intensity that matches the verbal message. The words of the poem have their own intensity and frustration, and the way the video creator uses all of this in this "kinetic poem" is fascinating. Even without listening to the music that accompanies the text, the visual typography creates its own intensity.

The video creator very effectively uses elements of design to express emotion and verbal meaning through design.