The fine folks at the Barbarian Group just launched another “why didn’t I think of that” site — InternetOnlineWebsite.com, a really clever promotion for Aquent (purveyors of contract creatives). You can click on each section of the page to learn more about the skills and people needed to get a modern website up running (as illustrated by the animated GIF below). And to top it all off, if you visit the website (and act fast), you can get a free t-shirt (and probably a lifetime supply of calls and mail from Aquent). You can read more about the site on the Barbarian Groups blog .
Category: nice
Google’s next big thing
One word: stickers.
Scanning through my Gmail today, I noticed a bright red link at the top of the page reading, “Do more with labels!” I clicked through and landed on Google’s What’s New page, where I spied a unicorn posing in front of a rainbow.
I thought maybe they were getting on the cornify bandwagon (hat tip to Ryan), but the modest use of glitter led me to dig a little deeper and learn that Google is indeed giving away stickers for the low, low price of a self-addressed stamped envelope.
And now that Google’s released Latitude, you know exactly where you can find friends to swap stickers. Integration, people. Integration.
That Design is Money!
A really interesting and thorough look at the new Wells Fargo ATM interface (designed by Pentagram). Lots of good UI tidbits to be found here.
Link Dump
Lots of good stuff out on the ol’ interwebs this week. In no particular order:
The Orange Underground – an interesting campaign for Cheetos by Goodby Silverstein. There are a lot of nice little touches, like the pattern overlaying the video and the cheap “paper” and felt-tip pen drawings in the cookbook.
Exiled!, a new show from MTV. Take the Super Sweet 16 kids and send them to live with tribes in Africa and Antartica. It sounds like a joke, but the Fallon Planning Blog has the skinny.
Guinness, Life of a Dot, a nice progression of their award-winning Evolution spot. I think these pieces complement each other nicely without trying to rehash the exact same idea.
CP+B’s Holiday Card – made for a select group of their clients, this card features a nice little customizable video and some surprising interaction at the end. (Use this code: 547WERT)
More on the CP+B tip, they’re doing some nice work for Domino’s now; taking them back to their “30 minutes or it’s free” guarantee.
Cool Flash-based website for Soïa & Kyo, a fashion outerwear maker. Love the 3D space mixed with the hand-drawn elements.
Rock the Bells
Looking for a highly addictive way to kill some time over this cold and snowy holiday weekend? During those times when the power wasn’t flickering, VML’s Hand Bell Hero helped me and mine flitter away big chunks of the day. Enjoy!
TripAdvisor redesigns (beta)
TripAdvisor, the travel site that has never let me down, has cracked the lid on their new site — see it here. Overall, it’s a huge improvement — the effort and planning involved are evident in the information design and user experience. It’s much easier on the eyes thanks to the wider layout, increased whitespace, rounded corners and more. Congrats to the design team, whoever you are.
Lovely laser cuts
Refill7 is a very cool project from Refill Magazine (I’m not afraid to admit I’ve never heard of it.) — they’ve asked 50 artists to design their own decks by lasering through 7 layers of plywood.
There’s a ginormous gallery of the decks at Flickr that highlights the really cool and highly detailed designs with Laser cutting by Precision 20|20.