Design inspiration of the week

Another compilation of links that inspire me.

1. Axebusters

I remember visiting this website via FWA. Unfortunately since then, it has been taken down. All that I've managed to find is this Youtube video showing the gameplay. Axe (or Lynx in the UK) is a brand of male deodorant, targeted at young guys. Their ads are very creative and effective. Picture a guy wearing their scent. And while he's walking on the street, the aroma would hook the women around him and send them going crazy for him. 

In the Axebusters website, you control a guy wearing the Axe scent in FPS-style. An organisation of ladies called the Axebusters (like the Power Rangers) are trying to prevent you from spreading the scent all around the area. Using your mouse, you have to shoot them with the scent of Axe. 

Here is another ad for Axe which I like as it's simple and gets the message across.

Magazine-like websites

Research for magazine website

List of Interactive comic-style websites:

Legion Of Oakley
http://www.shanemielke.com/projects/oakley-legion/#/intro

Final Cut Pro short guide

Here's a short guide on how to get rid of the sound clip, after importing the footage that you want to use.

Click here to view it.

Interactive Storytelling

Here are some links that interest me and add to the research for the animation project that i'm working on.

1.) Future of Storytelling

An iPhone combined with a book, and what do you get? An interactive book for children.
This is very inspiring.

2.) Dentsu London - Suwappu

Or what about a toy model used with an iPhone . Denstu London has come up with a prototype of a toy that interacts through the iPhone app interface to creates a storytelling experience.

3.) INPES Attraction

A website that warns teenagers about the dangers of smoking. It is drawn in the Japanese animation style which is really cool, and it also interacts with you through the use of a webcam!

4.) Microsoft UK - TellTable (video below)

Singaporean Inspiration / Culture

Jonathan Yuen

The website that always never ceases to amaze me, from time to time I would check out his website.
What I love about it is the style, which reminds me of chinese calligraphy / brush strokes. It imitates like a chinese painting with black ink.

It kinda always reminds me of my childhood, how I've regretted neglecting my chinese roots. And it serves as a reminder to sort of look back at the past and try to uncover more about my culture / heritage. I feel it's a real shame that the kids growing up in Singapore nowadays are not brought up the way I was. They don't know about Singaporean folktales like how the Merlion came about or the Malay stories of Sang Nila Utama and Bukit Timah Hill to name a few. With this project, I hope to bring back more of this tales and attempt to recreate the how I felt and how I would like them to feel when the story is being retold.

Research for Children's Animation brief

I'm gathering various links of animation videos / web animation that inspires me.

1. Website Animation
Aqua - ContentsProduce

Art / Storyline:
I love the illustration style for this animation as it's exactly the same style used on the children books that I used to read when I was little. Story is simple and lighthearted, basically it follows the boy's imaginations through 3 different scenes - jungle, flying, and space.

Animation / Scripting:
Each clickable item is made into a 'something_mc' (movie clip) containing the animation. Upon clicking, it plays the animation within it. Each of these clickable mc is loaded in separate from the other animations. There's a period of time allocated for each scene on the timeline so I don't think that is scripted. I might try to recreate the animations here just for practice.

2. Website Animation
Museum of Science and Industry - Simple Machines

Art / Storyline:
Cute illustrator character designs that starts with a simple story of a miniature orange robot being sent to collect various parts. As the main character encounters obstacles along the way, it teaches children the basic mechanisms of machines and where they can be applied. The background is comprised of photoshop montages of tools.

3. Web Games
Winterbells

A simple game where you control a rabbit to move left and right with your mouse, as he continuously jumps up onto bell platforms. The artwork is simple yet cute, and the music is hypnotic.

4. Youtube Videos
Might want to look into using the chinese art style for my animations.