Minuscule: 3D bugs for young and old

For anyone that has a little one running about the house, you know how great it is to find something they like that doesn’t drive you up the wall. Friends of mine ban Barney for that very reason, but they failed to preview the Wiggles before letting their kids see it and got stuck watching repeat episodes of the Wiggles for an hour or so a day…much worse. Anyway, Minuscule is different. First off, it’s French, but there are no words spoken so language barriers are non-existent. Secondly, it revolves around bugs, cute ones at that. To top it off, the visuals and stories are well done for both a child and an adult. The colors are bright and the visuals are detailed, yet simple. Sample a video or two at their web site: www.minuscule.tv

Like the videos I’ve seen, the web site is attractively done as well. I’m not such a fan of the semi-hidden navigation nor the miniature, unlabeled navigation on the right. That aside, it does a good job of connecting with the look and feel of the series. Between the sample video and the jovial nature of the site, you quickly see why your kids will enjoy them. Even more impressive (for design nerds, like myself) is the attention to detail. If visiting during the day, the site will display blue skies. If visiting in the evening, you’re instead welcomed by sunset hues. And this goes for atmospheric audio and the sub-pages as well. Even though this is a relatively simple change, it shows you they really put time and effort into creating an experience, rather than just another brochure site.

URL: www.minuscule.tv
Site credits: NAPAO

Audi – A Rhythm of lines

To launch the new A5 Audi took a quote from Frank Rimili, a member of the A5 design team and made it into an experience. From the intro and interactive experience, the site totally focuses on smooth and stylish. Only after you get some play time can you get some dirt on the A5, well a link to where you can find out more. This site is all about the lines, no hard sell after the sweetness. So enjoy it.

URL: www.rhythmoflines.co.uk

Henry Needle & Sons – Great Pockets

One wouldn’t think a tailor shop would be a likely candidate for a high end flash based website. Well Henry Needle & Sons are tailors of a different breed. They have created high fashion items to carry all your high tech toys and a site to compliment their handy work. Besides the beautifully done flash/video based site they provide a sense of humor and character to an often forgotten trade in todays mass produced commercialism.

They also make a strong case for Nokia’s N95 multimedia cellphone. Instead of needing great big pockets to carry your MP3 player, digital camera, camcorder, GPS navigator, and cellphone the Nokia N95 puts that all into their latest top of the line phone. Sure enough this site was created by FarFar of Sweden for Nokia to promote just that, Nokia. But what an amazing job they did with it. Even the transition from farce to direct promo are entertaining to watch. You’ll want a broadband connection to get the most out of this site, but the attention to detail alone is worth paying a visit.

When it was first launched Nokia was barley mentioned anywhere on the site. As this campaign continues they’ve left a number of blatant breadcrumbs to point out that the site is to promote the N95 phone.

URL: www.greatpockets.com
Site credits: FarFar

Teens are having less sex

You always hear about how good things were “when I was younger.” If this were completely true, we’d be living in one crappy world (not that it couldn’t do with some improvements).

Well, the US Gov just released some new statistics on America’s teens. And depending on ones viewpoint, things may actually be getting better. According to the latest data, teen sex is on the decline (from 54% to 47%) and the one’s that are getting it on are putting one on (condom usage up 63% from 46%). Granted, if you’re a high schooler and feeling a bit randy, you’re out of luck.

from: American teens: Less sex, more condoms

Social Etiquette: The male restroom

An entertaining and educational video about male bathroom etiquette. As a male you can relate to it, as a female it’s insight in to the male psyche. Though it’s somewhat long, it’s good for a laugh or two.

Budget iPhone?

According to an article on CNN’s technology section, Apple is looking to release a lower priced version of the iPhone later this year! Speculation points to reduced functionality and using the iPod Nano as the starting point for this new model.

Full article

Poke New York – Fun with webcams

A friend of mine started working at a new agency in New York called Poke New York. He sends me to their website to get an idea of who they are. It’s basically a large webcam and a open chat system. Is it there to build up hype, gain some exposure, show off the inner workings of agency life who knows exactly, but it is entertaining to visit now and again.

Photo by: thenoodleator (one of the Poke folks)

Check it out. And if you don’t see someone on the cam press the “poke” button to request one of the folks to pop over to say hello. If that’s not enough for you they now have a link to their blog to entertain you while they do actual work.

URL: www.pokenewyork.com

Sprint Flashlight Ads (with a touch of Microsoft)

Sprint’s new campaign features some very cool low-fi animations that are actually pretty complicated productions. Using flashlights and long exposure photographs it’s all pieced together as one would to create a stop motion animation. The shooting for this :30 second spot took place over multiple nights, filming dusk through dawn. Though as much as I like them, they do remind me of Microsoft’s ads that came out about a year earlier.

There are a couple of commercials in the campaign but this first one is my favorite.

Dreams:

Charts:

They also did a nice job with the website integration: www.sprintahead.com
You can also go behind the scenes

7-Eleven becomes Kiwk-E-Mart

In support of The Simpsons Movie, 7-Eleven has converted a few of their stores into Kwik-E-Marts, complete with Abu behind the counter, Buzz Cola and Krusty-O’s. For those not lucky enough to live near one of these new Kwik-E-Marts, the rest of the 7-Elevens will be carrying Simpson based merchandise and treats (ie Buzz Cola, but no Duff Beer as it’s a PG-13 movie.

Flickr member “rdr07” has a few shots of the Burbank, CA branch of Kwik-E-Mart, along with a solid list of links to other cities and “Kwik-E-Mart” sites.

Kwik-E-Mart @ 42nd btw. 8+9th, New York City

More NYC photos here