Cicatriz Website

www.cicatriz.se

Here is another interesting concept for an online clothing site. Cicatriz.se has a fully intergated flash shop telling you what is in stock as well as showcasing the latest product range in a series of low-res videos set up in a grid (above).

Although the videos are low-res there are some really nice little features. For example, on the second video of the top row the model has been filmed pretending to pull the logo off of his T-shirt, a heavily pixelated version of the logo is tracked into the blank space. The end result is a blatent awareness that the visual is not meant to be taken seriously but instead shows the quirky nature of the brand as well as emphasising a selling point of the garment. Another nice feature is the planning of the website. The films fit into a timeline meaning that the play in an order, this allows for more visual tricks (i.e. creating the illusion that an item of clothing is being past between videos on two different rows by filming dropping a garment in one video and receiving the same garment from above in the other video).

Vision Streetwear Website

www.visionstreetwear.com

This is a good example of a full video website and how a apparel website can stay true to its essence. As the first page loads a pink spraypaint mark appears and drips down the page, straight away even this suggests the type of audience they are aiming for (young adults, rebellion, graffitti culture etc).

In addition to the loading percentage the website also provides you with a statement 'While you wait: 2 hectares of the worlds forests have disappeared,' however, the amount changes as the page loads and increases more and more. This is a simple idea but I really liked the delivery, it is the last place you would expect a message like that but it really works and will help to create awareness in a youngeraudience. Also, the delivery plays on the fact that you have to wait (converting the main weakness of the website into a feature), because the website is predominantly video it takes slightly longer to load - the 'while you wait' factoids are received by a captive audeince and use the amount of time a page takes to load to quantify another message.

Once the main website has loaded the entire background becomes a space for low-res videos to be streamed showing what the brand is about (skateboarding, music and the trends surrounding youth culture). The logo and navigation devices are static and in the foreground, made visible by spraypaint (also static). The entire website has a 'fanzine' influence and is an adaptation on the trend itself (derived from punk rock).

Another fantastic element of this website is the way the product is represented and really ties in the reason for having a video website. Instead of having a photo of the shoe they are selling or an expensive photoshoot with models posing Vision have instead used low-res videos close-ups of people's feet as they walk, run, and skateboard. This emphasises the brand and the fact they are more about the sport and lifestyle than other brands. They sell apparel for real people to be used in the real world. Personally I feel this is a really innovative way of showing a product and helps to strengthen the brand as well. Below are some examples of the the low-res videos of people wearing the product (the video still in the background).

A rhythm of lines (website)

www.rhythmoflines.co.uk

As part of the 'rhythm of line campaign for the Audi A5 design company GT have developed a website where you can draw your own lines and create your own car shapes and then view them from various angles:

"We ask the audience to create their own rhythm of lines."

This is another example of how digital technology has advanced to allow the audience to have a new way to interact with the brand.

The Flaming Lips (Live)

When I was posting my blog about Peter Gabriel's live show it reminded me of a live perfomance by The Flaming Lips at last year's 02 Wireless Festival. At the beginning of the set the front-man (Wayne Coyne) stepped into a gaint inflatable ball and rolled over the crowd. It was completely surreal but it fantastic! I thought it was a really good way to communicate the nature of the band as well as creating something memorable, a shared event that all the people who were there could say they witnessed.

Peter Gabriel - Secret World Tour (1994)

Peter Gabriel (ex-genesis member, WOMAD and Realworld founder) has always been well known for his innovative work. The Secret World Tour in 1994 showed how a live tour could be about the theatrical as well as the music to compliment the themes and emotions a song may be trying to get across. Gabriel worked with Robert LePage to create a visionary style of theatre to accompany personal songs focused on relationships.

LePage and Gabriel looked at polarities as well as relationships. For example, synthetic and natural, love and hate, male and female etc. The stages developed for the show emulated the male and female polarities to create the structure below (bird's eye view):
The female stage uses a circle and the male a more geometric rectangle. The props also emulated the polarities; Gabriel emerges from the male stage in a red telephone box (which is arguably a masculine structure constructed from geometric shapes) and later in the show a tree emerges from the female stage (representing nature, mother earth, and in sharp contrast to the man-made phone box). This is a really well thought through tour concept which really showed the possibilities of a live show and set movements for more recent shows like OVO: The Millenium Dome show which was written by Gabriel. The videos above and below are just a glimpse of the tour but I strongly recommend watching the 'Secret World Live' DVD and also his more recent 2003 'Growing Up Tour' DVD.

'A Scanner Darkly' - Author Philip K. Dick

This is a brilliant science-ficition novel that portrays an all-too-real drug culture in a futuristic society. The 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick joins protagonist Bob Arctor in the future (1994) living with a group of drug users. However, they are unaware of a parallel life that Bob is living as Agent Fred (an undercover police officer in charge of the surviellence of Arctor's house. A major part of the story is that all undercover narcotics agents must sheild their identity in order to avoid collusion or curruption. Arctor was only supposed to pose as a drug user but becomes addicted to Substance D (Slow Death or D) which is a powerful psychoactive drug.

In the book, extensive consumption of substance D causes the user's two hemispheres of the brain to function independently or "compete" resulting in hallucinations and a state of lucid dreaming. In the case of Arctor and Agent Fred it causes them to fail to see that they are the same person and Agent Fred begins to spy on Arctor. Throughout all of this Agent Fred is being put through a series of psychological tests which eventually reveal that he is no longer capable to do his job. Donna, Arctor's dealer and love interst, takes him to rehab (known in the book as "New-Path") where he is renamed Bruce and ultimately descovers the secret behind the emergence of Substance D.

The title of the book comes from a Bible passage in 1 Corinthians 13 which states:

" For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

The main character of the book is required to view clips of his life on a 'scanner' (holographic recorder/projector used by the undercover police). In Chapter 13 of the book, the protagonist claimes that he has seen his life through the scanner but has come no closer to understanding it (similar to St. Paul in Corinthians) and that true understanding will only come in death. In other words, there are some things too big for one person to comprehend / there are things that we don't understand that will be revealed.

Although Dick's vision of the technology in the future was a little off the actual themes really struck a chord with me. Some of the key themes surrounded police surveillence and the blurring of a seedy drug culture with law enforcement agencies (which is also personified in the form of the character Bob Arctor). This duality seems to be underlying throughout the book but it could be argued that in today's society the blurring of boundaries is also a common theme. For example, in the case of surveillence where is the line drawn between lokking out of our best intersts and voyeurism?

What I also liked about this book is that although you are presented with a plausable protagonist there is no clear antagonist until late into the book.

I also watched the recent film adaptation of 'A Scanner Darkly' which I feel was a really underrated film. Directed by Richard Linklater, the film has been shot and cut like a normal film and than painfully rotoscoped to create an almost life-like animation.


The visual style for the film is spot on because it reinforces the idea of lucid dreaming or being in a state of consciousness when you are aware of what is going on around you but nothing seems real.
The Intro sequence to the film couldn't have been achieved in the same way with live footage. A Substance D user has developed paranoia and thinks he is covered in aphids but as he continuously washes they re-appear tormenting him. Please watch this film, if you are a designer or just a fan of Philip K. Dick it is worth a watch.

Battle for the Bronchs!

www.battleforthebronchs.com.au

This is a perfect example of how the digital side of design can be used in a new and interesting way, an interactive website utilizing video footage and flash gaming to create awareness about Asthma. Above is the teaser trailer for the website.

The main concept behind this website is a campaign by GlaxoSmithKline and Asthmascore to create awareness about the issues surrounding Asthma. Tequila (Australia) developed a video comic strip with characters such as Alvie Olie, Deep Bref and Hack Wheezer set in the fictional city 'The Bronchs'. The narrative involves the 'hero' Alvie Olie and his 'mentor'Deep Bref battling against the evil Hack Wheezer and his Trigger gang (The Trigger gang all have names of things that can set-off a person's Asthma). The purpose of this site is to reach young people who may be unaware of the symptoms of Asthma without boring them with facts and figures.

I really like the use of the comic strip format because it is naturally set out into scenes and has a narrative story throughout. This lends itself well to film; each box can have a different camera angle and show the perspective of the surrounding area in different ways. The actors have been filmed infront of a green screen and then still illustrations have been super-imposed as the background. The film sequences begin as stills (above) like a page from a comic strip but then each box will increase to full size (in turn) and play the section of film allocated to that box (as shown below). The end result is a flow of film in a narrative order as well as some secondary animation - sound effects and scaling as a visual aid. Although the narrative is weak and the characters not very interesting it still gets a definate message across and is alot more successful in delivering the message than a leaflet would be.


Also, the film/ comic strip is split into four main chapters, each one covering the idea of breathing and the need for air. Even the controls can be powered by the sound of your own breathing down a microphone. This enhances the level of interactivity with the story and allows the audience to engage with the concept on another level.