Re: FLASH: So what makes great design in Flash ?

[Tom Green]

"Merrill, Bob" wrote:


> Hey Brian,

> I'm glad no-one offended you so much that you would want to give up Flash.

> There are a few loud mouthed knuckleheads on this list (you know who you

> are!) There are hundreds of sites that could have been compared to that one.

> You were probably just in the right place at the wrong time :-(  and if

> you'll note, not everyone agreed that was a cool site. Keep on Flashin'

> brother!


The question I am asking sprung out of a couple of lunch discussions with a few

guys up here in the one true northland where we live in maple trees.


The issue we were grappling with is one that seems to have been missed by both

sides of the posters: those that defended Brian and those that "dissed" him. In

fact, the question has nothing to do with Brian but everything to do with what

we do.


So I will pose the question, again , and this time ignore Brian, gaskets and

gears: When it comes to Flash or any other interactive technology where is s

the balance between design and tech?


Our consensus was that a tilt toward tech - globes that spin, type that

explodes, stuff that follows the cursor- for the sake of tech overpowers the

message and compromises the design. In fact it was a member of the lunch bunch

who said he was getting tired of the list telling people how great their site

was when it was nothing more than " a bunch of  technique shielding god awful

design." Lots of eye candy but no beef.


I liked derbauer because of the balance it achieves between design and really

whizzy stuff. I ,too, have seen far too many gears and sites that did them

better. Still, the whole thing was quite an experience which gave me a real

good idea of what they can do. I didn't see a whole lot of "Aren't I clever?".


Two  examples of great design coupled with great tech are

http://www.studiomotiv.com/counterspace/  and   http://www.etalentagency.com/


These two are great examples of what I am getting at. Both are extremely

effective. Extremely dissimilar yet they both use tech to properly further the

action. The tech- the simple intro for studiomotiv and the use of  "digital

video" in etalent- is an integral part of the design without overpowering the

design and the message. Both could have easily gone the other way.







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