This is one of my favorite consumer-oriented web sites. The design is very crisp and modern, the site is easy to navigate, and there's just enough interactivity to make you want to explore further. Vitamin Water isn't even the healthiest of flavored water drinks available, but the site gives you the feeling it is.
For starters, I think what this site does very successfully is to give you the sense that you're interacting with a 3D object in 2D space. The way the bottles fly in, then re-orient in a twisting, vanishing perspective is very effective. That, coupled with the use of scale and selective focus really gives you that sense of dimension. Although this can never replace the sensation of holding the bottle in your hand, it puts the consumer squarely in the metaphorical aisle and allows them to explore the product.
The site has a very organic feel even when you're just looking at, but when you start to mouse around, it becomes even more organic in nature. The way the top nav moves when you mouse over it, the vignettes in either corner, the way the bottles react as you move the mouse over them, this all encourages the consumer to dig deeper. I found myself moving the mouse back and forth on the bottles just because it was fun to make them move.
You can click a bottle for more info, click the "go for more" button, scroll through the flavors, there's just so many ways to get what you want out of this site. Once you click in, the transition of the bottles flying at you is a nice touch, furthering the notion that you're delving into the site. When you get to the page of the chosen flavor, the addition of the design elements reinforces for the consumer what the flavor is all about. Plus, you can dig even deeper and find out how the particular flavor benefits you with the various vitamins it contains. Pretty cool.
I could go on and on but you should give the site a spin, you won't be disappointed, even if you don't like sugar water, I mean Vitamin Water.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2 :: Inglorius Basterds :: Movie Site
This site really gives you a sense for the gritty nature of this movie from the moment it loads. The weathered and scarred bat with the helmet hanging from it, the textures in the the type, the little splats of blood, all clues as to what's going on with this flick. And let's be honest, who wouldn't like the idea of a bunch of Army guys wasting Nazis for sport during WWII?
But I digress... the site makes really nice use of layering and depth with the foreground, mid-ground and background images, and the way each of the various elements loads in keeps your interest and encourages you to dig for more.
One pretty slick feature is the customizable wallpaper generator, or "Basterds Builder" you can explore in the downloads section. It gives you the ability to select from different backgrounds, characters, objects, etc. to create a custom wallpaper. Super cool use of Flash that I can't wait to figure out how to do.
Check out the site, check out the movie. They both rock.
No comments:
Post a Comment