SAVAGE DESIGN GROUP | www.savagebrands.com
The website for Savage HR Brands grew out of a realization that the Houston firm was doing several branding projects for corporate human resources departments. Sensing a nascent business opportunity, Savage decided to put its freshly minted expertise into the form of a field guide, first in print, then online.

“We wanted to have fun with this concept, so we designed it in a kitschy, campy style with all the clichés you’d expect to see in a field guide,” says Savage partner and design director Doug Hebert. The sense of fun is evident in the site’s graphics, quizzes and an animated bird that pops up from place to place. The nonlinear experience of the web was an asset, too. “I like it that the site encourages the user to explore as you would with a real field guide. And on the way, there are some interactive surprises.” While the field guide project offered a departure from the firm’s standard branding, the designers managed to build connections through selection of colors and type. “This is very much in the spirit of what we do,” Hebert notes. “Our tagline is ‘Smart, Fresh, Human.’ This project is smart in that it’s results-driven, fresh in its quirkiness, and human in its focus.”
Tom Biederbeck

SAMATAMASON DESIGN | www.samatamason.com
“We are who our clients are,” notes Kevin Krueger of SamataMason. So the firm’s website opens onto a neutral, dark gray canvas on which work for clients stands out in contrasting full color. Portfolio pages are supported by a single word or phrase, such as “powerful” or “warm & fuzzy,” that describes the client as much as the agency.

The site also has “flat” navigation. “We never want the user to be more than one move from anywhere on the site,” Dave Mason, principal of the firm, says. “It has a simple operating mechanism so you’re not forced to relearn things every time you go to a new page.” The site also incorporates a “Dynamic Comment Card” feedback mechanism. Click on the plus sign in the corner, and a pop-up screen allows you to rate and comment on that page. “When we first started designing sites,” Mason explains, “they called it ‘interactive,’ but that’s a misnomer, because there was no way for the user to connect with the maker. E-mail is not page based.” The feedback system, borne out of that early frustration, was spun out into a separate company, Opinion Lab, and is now used all over the internet by a wide range of companies. “Someone opens one of those feedback panels somewhere on the web, somewhere in the world, three times a second,” according to Mason.
Laurel Saville

SAMATAMASON DESIGN | www.mikeechlin.com
Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with the obvious solution. Even when it’s for a musician’s website. “Ninety percent of the lyrics are all about ‘me,’” notes SamataMason art director Kevin Krueger, speaking of the songs of his neighbor and friend, Michael Echlin (conveniently, the word referred to—ME—is also the singer/songwriter’s initials).

Open this site, and you see the letters M and E in the middle of a black page with lyrics to songs racing by. Then an orange circle dials in on the word me and opens onto a new page that gets you to the singer’s music. In the background, barely discernible, is a photo of the musician himself. “Mike gave us a poor-quality image that we used for presentation purposes,” Krueger notes, “and at first we wanted to reshoot, but he liked what we did and it worked. You almost don’t realize that there’s this image of him in the middle of the site.” More important than the musician, however, is the music itself. So the simple interface allows users to choose from a dozen songs to listen to. Lyrics can be shown with a click. “The lesson in a project like this,” Krueger says, “is that even when you get hit up by friends to design things with little budgets, it’s still an opportunity to have fun, think about how things might be done differently, and do great work.”
Laurel Saville

2ADVANCED STUDIOS | www.alpine.co.jp/x07
When Alpine ( Japan) approached 2Advanced Studios to create an interactive microsite to promote the X07 car navigation system, the client had something clean and white in mind. “But I love color,” says 2Advanced Studios senior art director Elder Jerez, Jr. “So we really had to prove our concept by mocking up the designs and demonstrating how powerful color can be. Once the client saw the colors, they instantly grasped the idea and told us to move forward with the concept.”

The X07’s state-of-the-art navigation system meets all market demands for the future of digital media entertainment. “The client wanted a progressive solution that highlighted advanced features and capabilities,” says Jerez. His design plays off four color-coded concepts: Future Model (advanced capabilities), Navigation, Audio Visual, and Safety & Eco. With its light, friendly aesthetic and unique balance of artwork and content, this site differs from more-traditional electronics sites, which are often stark or monochromatic. The proper balance between Flash and HTML/CSS delivers an engaging and user-friendly experience. “It was fun to challenge the inherent issue of Flash versus HTML,” Jerez says. “We incorporated enough Flash elements to keep the experience lively, but limited Flash enough to keep load times down.”
Romy Ashby

THREESPOT MEDIA | www.peacecorps.gov/minisite/flash
“We had enjoyed a great working relationship with the Peace Corps for a few years when they approached us about the recruitment minisite,” says art director Phil Gosier. Created to give applicants a glimpse into the volunteer experience, the minisite would be part of a suite of interactive tools, all with a primary goal to raise awareness that people of all ages, races and situations join the Peace Corps.

“The recruitment minisite simulates a tour across the globe and across the spectrum of volunteers and volunteer experiences,” Gosier says. Users navigate the experience by interacting with snapshots of real volunteers or by stepping from place to place using road signs which appear in the lower right of the screen.

“This was one of the first projects I worked on that relied heavily on such an unconventional navigation system,” Gosier says. “It was a great learning experience to feel around and find new systems and ways of revealing the stories [with an approach] that relied on less traditional devices.” Easy to use and aesthetically adventurous, the final result perfectly achieves the intended goals. “I like the balance between user participation and viewing,” Gosier says. “And as an added bonus, I was given the opportunity to learn a lot of Actionscript.”
Romy Ashby

THREESPOT MEDIA | www.theirc.org
Founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein to help Germans suffering under the Hitler regime, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a worldwide network assisting war-affected individuals and families around the globe. The IRC works to improve the lives of refugees and the overall human condition through a variety of international initiatives.

“Previously,” says Threespot art director Tim Cripps, “the IRC’s website was built on a news model, highlighting the latest accomplishments and news of the organization.” Threespot’s redesign created a structure to engage users and ultimately lead to growth in both the organization’s activist list and online donations. He describes the site as “bold, graphic, dynamic, simple, strategic, progressive, typographic, action-oriented,” in keeping with the tremendous work and accomplishments of the IRC around the world. “I am generally inspired by Swiss design and work by Josef Müller Brockmann,” says Cripps, “which is a logical parallel to the bold graphic nature of this site—and its identity—and its use of the typeface Akzidenz Grotesque.” Threespot chose to place the primary navigation on the left-hand side, allowing more content into viewable space. Cripps notes that this placement, with the dynamic flyout navigation scheme and strong, typographically based promos, gives the site a very unique quality.
Romy Ashby