by Andy Polaine on February 12, 2008
in Uncategorized
I seem to be having a bit of an IKEA theme going on at the moment.
Following on from the Dream Kitchen site there’s a nice new piece called The Complete Bedroom.
It uses the same kind of multi-angle video technique that the other versions use, though this one is simpler. It has some nice quick-cut segments as you switch between each bedroom to contrast the hectic lives of those we are observing with the relaxing bedroom zone.
In terms of interactivity it’s very simple and the charm is really down to the filming and music, which is what ad guys are good at. But I think it’s a good blend of digital and traditional approaches.
[tags]IKEA, flash, video[/tags]
Tagged as:
Advertising,
Design,
flash,
IKEA,
video
by Andy Polaine on February 4, 2008
in General
Continuing the From The Archives series, here is an interview I did a while ago with one of the IKEA designers, Monika Mulder. Monika was really interesting to chat to about the IKEA process and culture, especially as many of these items are in either my or friends’ houses. She also talked about design in terms of constraints of both price and packaging guiding design (IKEA try very hard not to “transport air”, for example), which are even more pertinent these days.
Dialogue with IKEA’s Monika Mulder
Monika MulderFrom humble beginnings in Sweden, IKEA has grown to become part of the fabric of global culture. Pioneering flat-packed self-assembly furniture and bold design, they brought style to the people at prices they could afford. As a designer for IKEA, Dutch-born Monika Mulder works on everything from children’s toys to furniture. She is graudate from the Eindhoven Design Academy and after an internship in 1996 was asked to join IKEA in 1998. Here, she speaks about the philosophy behind IKEA, designing within constraints and the cost of transporting air.
(Interview continues after the jump)…
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Design,
IKEA,
interviews,
Writing
by Andy Polaine on October 11, 2007
in Uncategorized
The multi-camera technique that freezes a moment in time, but allows you to pan around in space (popularised as bullet time in The Matrix, but it has quite a history) seems to be being used all over the place in Flash micro-sites now.
Now that Flash handles video and images so well, it’s interesting to see people try and use that ability in original, navigable ways rather than just putting a TVC on the web.
The folks over at Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden have been going great guns with it on the IKEA Dream Kitchen site, which allows you to move around various styles of kitchen as they are frozen in a moment in time. They also did a Swedish version (that I think might be from 2006), which is simpler, but I like it better personally.
The same technique was used in the Halo 3 launch site by Method Studios.
(The picture above isn’t really a great example because it looks like an ordinary picture, so you have to imagine being able to move around the space – or you could just [look at the site](http://www.ikea.com/ms/enUS/roomsideas/ckl/default.html] yourself).)
[tags]interactivity, play, IKEA, Flash[/tags]
Tagged as:
Advertising,
Design,
flash,
IKEA,
Interactivity,
Play
