Animation
- Roy Barnes
- Ed Barrows
- Escape
- Connextions
- MVCI
- GIFs
RoyABarnes.com
As part of the Roy Barnes website home page design, I created a Flash movie to help convey the inspirational energy that runs rampant through Roy's work. I started with a solid foundation of evocative imagery and compelling copy, and tied it together with smooth transitions that rolled viewers into a soft introduction of the Roy Barnes experience, and ultimately, a photo of Roy.
I typically advise clients to avoid Flash splash intro pages, Flash navigation and (groan) entire Flash sites. Certain audiences expect it, but the price to do it flawlessly is seldom worth the return. Even though Flash executions can have a high wow factor when done properly, they can be a barrier that alienates users and ruins their online experience. Often Flash is used to disguise the fact that a site has weak content and poor usability. Flash animation has its place, and when used as a complement—as in the Roy Barnes website—it adds a richer user experience.
If you ever need a fantastic motivational speaker who's dead-on his game, talk to Roy.
Visit RoyABarnes.com to see the animated home page
EdBarrows.com
For strategy consultant Ed Barrows home page redesign, I created a Flash movie that clearly stated Ed's promise and value. I wrote copy that tied in Ed's Planning Through Performance content, and used a photo of him leading a workshop. This gives the user a solid first impression of Ed's personality and his focus.
Also on the home page is a rotating text banner of testimonials from Ed's clients and students. To see these Flash animations, check out Ed's home page.
MVCI's Escape to Orlando!
During my six-year stint art directing for the Internet Development team at Marriott Vacation Club International, I had my hand in a lot of animated Flash microsites, intros and banners. Some were conceptual executions to satiate the "Oh, we've got to have Flash" executives, and the balance were complements to html sites or stand-alone banners for the Vacation Villa Rentals marketing division.
This particular lead generation microsite was linked from various marketing banners and textual advertising. The 3- or 5-night package getaway included lodging at Marriott's Grande Vista resort in Orlando and Walt Disney World® theme park tickets. The design challenge was to use lively animation and family fun lifestyle imagery to highlight the resort, generate click-throughs or calls to the rentals call center.
MVCI Escape to Orlando! microsite
MVCI Adventures in Orlando! microsite (Universal Orlando® version)
Connextions Health, Inc.
I first worked with this client as a collaborator with Caxiam Group in Winter Park, a Web based creative and technology firm that does strong, smart work. The initial project was a microsite design and corresponding banner to be placed on thehealthcareblog.com. I also designed the MARS logo, and tied it in with the company's logo, reusing the circle of circles as an animation effect in the banner execution.
Connextions was pleased with the work enough to hire me for a follow up Health 2.0 Conference brochure ad. This ad was fairly straightforward, however, as part of the ad I had to recreate a Gartner PowerPoint slide as a vector graphic, including recreating the Gartner logo.
MVCI's Lots of Splash and Intros
Here are a few more animated executions I did for MVCI. The first, for Marriott's Grand Residence Club, was used as an "Oh, we've got to have Flash" splash animation for the launch of the initial website. The animation has since been reduced and moved to the home page, further reinforcing the "stopping power" of a splash screen.
Ski Marriott, the second link below, was for a microsite promoting skiing Lake Tahoe, and of course, staying at Marriott while you're shushing the slopes. I enjoyed creating this animation and it received a great click-through rate.
Next, the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa intro animation was used as an element on the home page of the initial website for the brand, and highlighted the golf and spa features of the resort.
The last one in the list was also a fun microsite for Marriott Vacation Villa Rentals that had a super successful campaign run. It generated a 43% increase in package click-throughs for the Lake Tahoe resorts for Marriott, and Rentals used the microsite for more than a year to convert rentals into those Lake Tahoe resorts.
Marriott's Grand Residence Club splash animation
Ski Marriott microsite splash animation
Do Animated GIFs Still Rock?
Remember when animated GIF files were all the rage? We used to get so excited we could animate something and keep the file size so small. Ah, those were the days. Here are a few of the examples of some of those antiquated animated GIFs.
When I worked for CNL, I was part of an internal team called "TeamROI" and, in addition to being lead Web designer, I designed the graphics for the strategic business unit's intranet site. The other two are animated graphics for an eNewsletter that never really got off the ground at MVCI. Not for the sake of design, though!
CNL TeamROI intranet graphic (animation begins after 5 seconds)
MVCI Vacationer eNewsletter bouncing ball icon
MVCI Vacationer eNewsletter glowing sun icon