Jul 23, 2008



PG 1 | PG 2 | PG 3 | ALL |

Tansu

Tansu Yacht DesignForget for a moment – websites, posters, fashion, electronics, and furniture... here is an outstanding design firm that specilizes in shipbuilding... yachts to be exact! And what yachts they are – we just can't get enough of the design of these unique vessels. Some of them look like PT-boats, updated with a modern twist. The larger yachts have this sophiticated, military line to them, almost like mini naval cruisers. But that's just the exteriors... Tansu takes their vast experience in product and interior design, and pours it into an thoroughly obsessive attention to detail, styling and architecture that raises the entire boating experience to a higher plane of expression and usability—inside and out. Living at the crossroads of so many design disciplines, while crafting such beautiful, usable crafts is really just unfair. Damn right, we're straight-up jealous! All that, and a great Flash site too.... More

Also posted under Flash, art & architecture sites, sports design.

Tansu Yacht Design

Volkswagen

Volkswagen of AmericaWelcome to the masterful branding that is the Volkswagon auto site... from end to end, title to widget, hype to reality and rubber to chrome, every nook and cranny of this car site is meticulously polished and in line with the new "V-dub" branding. The only comparable web site we can think of which is so seamlessly intergrated is Apple's—which also builds upon the strong use of white, (occasional black) and bold, full-screen presentations. Screen after screen there are beautiful layouts and great car photos to behold... but functionally, there are some real wonders in here too; 3D-on-the-fly-rendering of videos, the widget/dashboard nav, build and crash your own car, or take one of the VW rides into the Compare-o-tron. What can we say—after three days exploring this site, we are still finding it increasingly impressive.... More

Volkswagen of America


the greencurve + alittlebettergasstation

the greencurve + alittlebettergasstation.comThis posting is actually two sites by BP—two sites which share the same branding, color scheme and purpose; to indroduce us to "greener" ways we can live our lives in conjuntion with gasoline usage. BP is savvy when it comes to grasping the idea of environmental impact, and has used it extensively in crafting their brand. In site one, (thegreencurve.com - see main link) we learn how well we are doing personally on the "greencurve" of environmental impact. In site two, alittlebettergasstation.com, we explore some new forward-thinking industrial design by BP in the form of their futuristic and eco-friendly gas station. This page contains a stand-alone Flash piece that uses animated, "cartoony" characters reminicent of very early TV ads for gas stations with a dash of Looney Tunes thrown in. Hopefully, this kind of thinking, and eco-friendly branding becomes more of a trend moving into the future.... More

Also posted under green design.

the greencurve + alittlebettergasstation.com

Philips Dynamic Lighting

Philips Dynamic LightingHere's an interesting site (we missed) that launched back in 2005... Remote controlled, dynamic lighting—an advanced lighting solution that brings the rythmic fluctuations of daylight into the working environment. Dynamic Lighting is something you install into your home or office that alternates between blends of cool and warm light to create a stimulating (or soothing) ambience, based upon the time of day, or your own preferences. It's a really interesting technology, and this clean, sky-tones-on-white website has all the right demos and diagrams to communicate the concept with the utmost clarity.... More

Also posted under promotional design.

Philips Dynamic Lighting


Kia Rondoism

Kia RondoismEven if the Rondo is not a true "green" car, this design for the Kia Rondo site is very eco-friendly and happy—it is actually a mid-sized hybrid SUV with the fuel efficiency of a sedan... but it does not use any alternative fuels. And the bright copy and fictional marketing words like "giddyupidness" and "cabinocity" remind us a little bit of the Tour De France branding on TV in 2006: "The Cyclism". None of this is necessarily a bad thing! It's "enlightening" that car companies are beginning to base some of their marketing around eco-friendly appearing designs... it's just not truly eco-friendly until it's not creating pollution at all. But we loved the soft rainbow colors, and the happy marketing copy. We also liked the idea of small puzzle-based mini-games, enforcing the concept of a car for "smart" people. It maybe a bit too cheery for us, personally, but for... More

Kia Rondoism

Electrolux

Electrolux.comAh, we can feel the effervescent cleaning power at work on our brains already... With this sky-blue background and gravity-defying water droplets, this single page gateway site for Electrolux – a Swedish appliance company – oozes with a fresh, sensual appeal. Unfortunately, the killer drawback to this page is that every single link takes you to another pop-up Electrolux site... Which wouldn't be so bad if the designs were more similar. It's a great gateway splash page, but ultimately this page is 99% functionally irrelevant. It's a testament to the difficulty (and failure) of unifying a multitude of branded global sites under one design. We can only hope, perhaps, that the design of this one page wonder will eventually be "filtered-down" to all the sub-country sites. In the meantime, enjoy the bubbles, but just don't click on anything!... More

Also posted under corporate design.

Electrolux.com


Alternativ

Alternativ - furniture designA new Flash website in an austere style for Belgian furniture and partioning designer Alternativ. We liked how the site has a high attention to detail that is lacking in similar sites in this genre. And apparently, not only is the design very clean, minimal and beautiful, it is also functional and fully indexable by search engines. Ultimately, even though we felt the Flash transitions were on the slow side, the overall presentation makes the product photography appear artful – and distinctive.... More

Alternativ - furniture design

alta bikes

alta bikesA great sales tool for alta fixed-gear bikes, with a very nice yarn. Hilarious photo illustrations in a very short, sweet, and funny presentation... and besides the bikes are just sharp. The 'Thread behind the bike is that it's a joint project beween graphic designers (Bleed), furniture designers (Norway Says), product designers (Frost Produkt) and advertisers (Shnel&Melnychuck). Perfect.... More

Also posted under promotional design, sports design.

alta bikes


Meubelen Van Aerde

Meubelen Van AerdeWe've always been big fans of wood textures in websites – and even more so when it compliments the subject matter. In this case, the site is for a Belgian furniture design company. And like the furniture itself, the site uses classic grid-based design—pure simplicity with wood texture backgrounds.... More

Meubelen Van Aerde

Acura MDX

Acura MDX (Canada)A fairly fun site for Acura (Canada) that provides far more than a fair approximation of what this SUV feels like. In fact, beyond providing intimate marketing details of every feature of this automobile, it enacts several Flash powered 3-D dramatizations of futuristic special effects, like for instance, the hybrid hovercraft/suspension - that you really have to see for yourself. What more can we say? Go for it!... More

Acura MDX (Canada)


Automobili Lamborghini

Automobili LamborghiniThe official Lamborghini website is the ultimate purist site for an Italian sports car lover. It does exactly what an exotic sports cars design company should do... And that's the opposite of thrilling you with special car games or cooler-than-thou navigation... Lamborghini righteously showcases their entire auto history with full-screen photographs, specs and measurments of some of the sickest cards known to man - from the very first model to today's ultra refined speed machines. Done up in the simplest black, with a totally minimal navigation yet a healthy heap of attitude, you may have to look twice to realize it's a full Flash site. All the effects and transitions are played down as to reduce their interference with the goods... And for any sports car purist, 'the goods' are the sexy, aggresive and mind-blowing designs of the Lamborghini autos themselves.... More

Automobili Lamborghini

Test Drive Unlimited

Test Drive UnlimitedIn a continuing sign of the explosion of video gaming to come, Atari rises from the ashes to release a first-of-its-kind Massivly Multiplayer Online racing game for the XBOX360 platform. Test Drive Unlimited is the signature release for the 360 (much as Halo was for the first generation XBOX) which is virtually set on 1000 miles of 3D roads on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Test Drive brings many unprecedented online features to the racing genre and is the first title to fully showcase the true power of the new triple-processor system. If you haven't been keeping up with video games since the days of Spy Hunter then you'll be astounded by the graphics available for home systems which undoubtedly rival the realism of 3D created for blockbuster animation movies. We're very happy that Atari has released a slick, flashy site that describes all of the features, and provides fresh... More

Also posted under animation & game design, promotional design, sports design.

Test Drive Unlimited


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