18 May, 2006

Independent goes Red

The Independent on Tuesday welcomed Bono, of U2, as its guest editor and dedicated its front page for his "Red" campaign fighting AIDS in African nations.

The front page syas "No News Today". And there is another message - "Just 6,500 Africans died today as a result of a preventable, treatable disease".

Half its revenue from the Red paper is to be used for the campaign.

I like the Independent's challenging attitude.

» The Independent
» BBC News | Independent goes Red as Bono edits

30 April, 2006

Styleboost, May 1st Reboot?

Norwegian links page, Styleboost, is now under construction. The top page says that the site is going to be "the Web 2.0 generation" and we can expect something very different from what the site used to be.

The site has been closed for more than a month (as far as I know). It's high time to launch a new version. And the 1st of May is just around the corner. The site may open on that day.

4 April, 2006

seven salotti

A website for Italian sofa brand, seven salotti, has been launched.

The website starts with four thumbnails, which emerge on a jet-black marble floor in darkness. Once users click on one of the thumbnails, the website brings them to the world of seven salotti.

The top page focuses on making a strong initial impression at users so that they have an interest in the brand and the site. By adding the unique movement to the thumbnails, it also helps to raise users' expectaion. In contrast to the top page, the content pages display product images in full-screen.

The website is designed with red, brand colour, and jet-black tiles in order to express the brand identity. It also focues on achieving a simple and intuitive navigation and the BGM helps to convey the atmosphere.

I has been an art director on this project, but the website cannot have been complete without everyone's help. Especially, many thanks goes to Akira, who has done a Flash coding and got my idea into shape in such a short time. I guess I was being a hard-core detail stickler for him. Forgive me. But that's me.

» sevensalotti.jp

22 March, 2006

Spike Jonze meets GAP

I came across a GAP commercial, directed by Spike Jonze . Titled "pardon our dust"

In a GAP shop, shop assistants start messing products and displays. They are gradually destroying the shop itself. In the end of the film, a message "pardon our dust, the all-new GAP is coming" appears in the background of the complete mess.

Idea is very unique and very Spike Jonze. Interesting as a commercial. However I could not enjoy watching it comfortably. What do you think of a comapny which vandalises their products produced by the developing countries? The company is GAP, which is always a focus of anti-globalisation criticism. I know that's not the point of this commercial and the company doesn't mean they don't value their products.

I like Spike Jonze, but I'm not convinced...

20 March, 2006

Computerlove Returned

It's been long, maybe almost two years, since computerlove.net was closed. But ComputerLove came back to us with a different URL - cpluv.com. I've made my account. But the server is too slow.