Comic Relief - Red Nose Day 2009

While I’m not going to post the first, this is the second ‘Red Nose Day’ I had the pleasure of working on. As much as RND 2007 was focused on ’skinning’ their event, my work on RND 2009 was much more in the interaction design department.
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• Client: Comic Relief UK
• Client URL: http://www.comicrelief.com
• Desc: "Since 1985, Comic Relief has inspired the nation to have a laugh while raising cash to help change lives. Our vision is a just world, free from poverty."

4.5Lines on iPhone

Thanks to the good folks over at BraveNewCode, 4.5Lines is now viewable in ‘iPhone’ mode. Users who still want to view the regular site layout can select ‘normal view’ at the bottom of the Safari window.

Dead easy to install and some intuitive options for customization - overall killer plugin.

Malaria Bites

“Nets save lives. Right now, you can help protect a child, a family, a school or even an entire town in Africa from malaria — simply by purchasing mosquito nets.”

• Client: Red Cross
• Client URL: www.redcross.ca
• Desc: The Canadian Red Cross mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world., The Canadian Red Cross mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world.

geekLab: 001 “Text-to-Speech”

Looking at various ways to allow a user to enter the url of a valid rss 2.0 feed, get the feed content, and read it aloud back to the user.

Still very early running as I’ve never really looked at TTS systems before, but is certainly fun to try out. Currently default to read my twitter status.

View it here

geekLab now open

For some time now, I have gone the way of live prototyping for certain types of projects. Meaning if it’s a layout/full design project, I generally use photoshop to get a general idea of overall look and feel. For site ‘components’ (a smaller piece of application or website), I tend to start coding from the start. I find that working this way not only helps me identify interaction issues (let me just play with it!) but when I’m ready to move beyond proof of concept, I generally have a good chunk of the code written.

Once this happens though, I end up with a series of components that end up melded into applications or buried into sites that have various user requirements to be able to view, much less play with.

Hence “geekLab”. It’s really nothing more than a repository of ideas, code, proof of concepts - but before they get lost, mangled by a client, or inaccessible to the public.

Comic Relief - Sport Relief 08

Event Description

“Sport Relief is a nationwide campaign that harnesses the power and passion of sport to change lives for the better. By doing sport, having fun and raising money, everyone can do good and feel good.”

• Client: Comic Relief UK
• Client URL: http://www.comicrelief.com
• Desc: “Since 1985, Comic Relief has inspired the nation to have a laugh while raising cash to help change lives. Our vision is a just world, free from poverty.”

Ride with Lance

Event Description:

“The Calgary Ride with Lance is a scenic 100 kilometer ride from Canmore to Lake Louise via Lake Minnewanka and the 1A Highway with legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong. This fun, up-tempo yet exhilarating ride, limited to a maximum of 60 serious riders and fundraisers, culminates with an intimate and exclusive private team dinner with Lance and special guest Robin Williams at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise.”

• Client: Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
• Client URL: www.cbcf.org
• Desc: The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is the leading national volunteer-based organization in Canada dedicated to creating a future without breast cancer.

Cure Kids Cancer - 6 Flags

Event Description:

“On September 6th and 7th, 2008, twelve Six Flags locations across the United States hosted the inaugural “A Walk In The Park” walk-a-thon event to raise funds in support of Cure Kids Cancer. Through these walks, we drove awareness for this vital cause while helping to provide the resources necessary for pediatric cancer patients to receive world-class treatment close to home.”

• Client URL: http://www.cure-kids-cancer.org
• Client: Cure Kids Cancer
• Desc: Cure Kids Cancer is a nonprofit organization focused on helping children's cancer centers find life-saving treatments and eventually cures for children's cancers by raising funds and awareness.

Hook Music

The site reads from a flat XML file to build the navigation and provide content for each of their sample videos. When one of the thumbnails is clicked, I’m using jQuery to created a new instance of the Jeroen Wijerings FLV Video Player (longtail), tell the player which FLV is being requested, and populate additional campaign details.

They wanted a simple, small interface (”didn’t want to scroll in 1024 on a macbook” :p ), and they wanted the apple feel.

• Client URL: www.hookmusic.tv
• Client: Hook Music
• Desc: Hook simplifies and speeds up the often pains-taking process of finding and buying the right soundtrack for commercials.