20 Dec 2011 : Flash melting ice effect
We were approached by Luck Laboratories to create a Flash animation of ice melting around a text field. We realised the best course of action was to photograph ice cubes as they melted (using a hair dryer to speed things up!) to work out what the edge between the ice block and the puddle should look like. We then retouched these images in Photoshop to create a single ice block.
The finished effect can be seen below, there's a bit of a disparity between the size of the block and the puddle it produces, but the effect works pretty well.
01 Dec 2011 : Bstretched redesign goes live
We've just redesigned the website for Torquay wedding car/limo hire firm Bstretched. The site highlights the different services they offer as well as showing off their new classic 30’s style Beauford Convertible. If you're getting married in Devon and need a car they're well worth a look.
05 Nov 2011 : Tignes Spirit Rentals goes live
Right on cue for the 2011-2012 Winter season, the new Tignes Spirit Rentals website has gone live.
TSR have been renting out snowboard and ski equipment for a while now and the addition of a dedicated website should make the booking process run even more smoothly, form the perspectives of both customers and the company.
If you're planning winter holiday in Tignes, check out the website as they have some really good kit for hire and some pretty good offers :)
02 Jul 2011 : Do the Bright Thing Animation
We've recently produced an animation for a new sustainable energy website. When you shop through Do the Bright Thing they'll install a set of solar panels to offset the energy that was used to create the products you buy. The video was designed to show how simple the process is and how it could make a big difference if everyone shopped this way.
12 May 2011 : RabbitMatch redesign goes live
Late last year Los Angeles rabbit rescue centre RabbitMatch got in touch with us about redesigning their website. Rabbit welfare is something that's close to our heart, and we were pleased to produce the work as a charitable donation to RabbitMatch.
Visually the site is a big improvement on the previous version, its also been restructured so its easier to find and access the information you want. We also added a 'Rabbits for Adoption' section that should make it easier for the bunnies to find new homes. The site is built using Wordpress.
RabbitMatch do a really great job, rabbits make ideal indoor pets, so if you're in L.A and thinking about a pet check out their site!
07 Apr 2011 : The Poker Stock Market launches
One of the things we've been working very hard on lately is The Poker Stock Market website and identity, and today the site went live! It's an interesting concept, allowing people to buy shares in a team of poker professionals. We're looking forward to seeing how things pan out with this one and hopefully seeing the graph on the homepage start to rise.
27 Oct 2010 : iPap celebrity spotter - on the App Store
Exciting news, the iPap celebrity spotter, our first foray into iPhone development, is now available for download on the App Store. The app is an extension of the iPap.me website, allowing users to add their celebrity spots and images whilst they're out and about. They can also browse the map and feed, to find out where their favourite celebrities are and what they're are up to.
18 Oct 2010 : New images added to hannahteare.com
Just added some new images to the website of Tatler's Hannah Teare. There's a few shoots we particularly like, but the Bigger Splash one really stands out for the excellent lighting and other such technical things :)
27 Aug 2010 : Zoe Griffin e-newsletter
We've just put together possibly the world's most sparkly newsletter for celeb watcher and blogger extraordinaire, Zoe Griffin. Visit zoegriffin.co.uk to sign up for it, and if you like what you see why not vote for Zoe in the Cosmo blog awards in the Celebrity category.
15 Jun 2010 : Submit your celebrity images to iPap.me
We've been hard at work rolling out some updates to our celebrity spotting site iPap. Users can now add images of any celebrities they've spotted, as well as giving the gossip on what they're up to. On the picture front we've hit the giddy (and slightly comical) heights of Vanessa Feltz in a boat, though its fair to say we're hoping to catch some bigger fish....
10 Apr 2010 : Celebrity spotting website ipap.me launches
ipap.me is a celebrity spotting website, and after a good 5 months of work we've finally opened it up to the general public. iPap's mission is to record where celebrities are, and what they're up to. Users go to ipap.me on their mobile and record an iPap whenever they see someone famous. The mobile website, which is optimised for iPhone and Android devices, uses geolocation methods to record the position of the iPap, which is then displayed on the website and mobile site, as well as posted to the twitter account @ipapme. Of course if users don't have one of these devices they're still able to post iPaps through the website.
One of the key aspects of the site is that its not just about the celebrities, its about the people doing the spotting as well, so there's a scoring system and various top 10 lists. You also score more points if somebody else spots the same celeb at the same location within a couple of hours of your spot.
Its very early days for the site, but initial feedback has been great and as we continue development hopefully the user base will begin to expand, which is crucial if the project is to realise its potential.
23 Nov 2009 : Andrew Winch website launches
Andrew Winch is one of the world's leading yacht designers and I've recently been involved in the redesign of his company's website (Andrew Winch Designs) for brand design consultants Inaria. The new site is more image led than its predecessor and is fully content managed, including the flash elements. The Project History interactive is a particular favourite as it gives a really good overview of the amazing yachts, jets and residences that he's created over the years.
05 Nov 2009 : A new look for hannahteare.com
Been busy of late refining the original site design for hannahteare.com. More and more of the new images were landscape in format, and the existing design wasn't really doing them justice. The new system shows the work off to maximum effect as well as allowing busy Art Directors to navigate through the portfolio quickly and easily. The site is also cms driven (using modx) giving the client the ability to change content. The shoot featuring the Pucci prints has to be seen to be believed.
07 Apr 2009 : Hoppermagic updates
The latest version of Hoppermagic is finally live, hooray! There's been a few graphical tweaks, but the main thing is we're now fully content managed using Expression Engine for the CMS. It was a relatively painless process, and I thought I'd share a couple of EE plugins that I've found useful:
File Extension by Mark Huot makes it easier to upload multiple images for a blog entry.
LG Social bookmarks takes the hassle out of adding bookmarks to your posts as it works out the paths you need for each service.
SS Friendly this one works in conjunction with your 404 page, it examines the final segment of the url to suggest content on your site that best matches the incorrect url.... So if you try this dodgy link for example www.hoppermagic.com/shair it will give you a sensible suggestion. It's all in the details :)
23 Mar 2009 : shAIR becomes sharify
You may have noticed the lovely logo and naming we came up with for shAIR, a system built by Luck Laboratories that allows you to make money out of your AIR applications.
Sadly Adobe informed us we were infringing on their trademark. Specifically you're not allowed the word 'air' in your business name or domain name if your product relates to Adobe AIR™ technology. We're a little bit gutted (not entirely surprised given some other similar cases) but its just the sheer pointlessness of it all that's got us down a bit. We're not pretending to be Adobe (passing-off), we make that fact clear on the website and I'd like to think our product makes AIR development more attractive if anything. But rules are rules and we whilst we'd love to argue this one out (I've watched a lot of Ally McBeal in my time) we have better things to do....
Anyway you can read our full statement here and if you want to make money out of your Air applications I suggest you give sharify a try.
09 Feb 2009 : Shair
We've been hard at work on the identity and naming for shAIR. Devised by Luck laboratories, shAIR is a .swc library that can be easily incorporated into Adobe AIR projects thereby allowing developers to charge money for their applications. The admin section of the shair.it website provides a suite of tracking and management tools, giving you complete control over your shAIRware application.
15 Dec 2008 : Updates to hannahteare.com
We've just added a selection of new images to fashion stylist Hannah Teare's website. As always there's some really lovely stuff there but we particularly like these chicks enjoying a nice cuppa down in Brighton.
28 Nov 2008 : Europa website launches
Hoppermagic provided the flash programming and animation for this job, with the design and illustrations created by Mosley Design. The site was programmed using the Gaia framework which took care of the repetative tasks; loaders, intros, outros, leaving more time for creative work like page animations. Even though the site is pure flash there is also an accessible version running in parallel courtesy of Gaia's SEO tools. This means the site is 100% Google friendly and i'm looking forward to seeing how it performs.
08 Nov 2008 : Memory Mayhem wins bronze!
Exciting news! Multiplayer Memory Mayhem, our entry into nonoba's multiplayer gaming competition, has scooped the third prize! The judges particularly liked the 'Excellent graphics and animations'. There were a lot of very good entries and we're well chuffed to pick up some recognition for all the hard work that we put in, can't wait to start on the next game....
03 Nov 2008 : Multiplayer Memory Mayhem
Collaborating with Kelvin Luck, I've worked on the design and illustrations for Multiplayer Memory Mayhem, our entry to nonoba's 'Multiplayer API Kick Off Competition'. The game is a fast paced multiplayer version of pairs, where you compete against other players to match up as many animals as you can. It's extremely good fun and highly addictive.
17 Oct 2008 : Biometrics makes the 2008 D&AD Annual
The Welcome Trust's Biometrics installation, which I worked on the concepts for, has made it into 2008's D&AD Annual, there's a nice video of Alex from Ico playing interacting with the finished exhibit here.
06 Oct 2008 : Hoppermagic v2 launches
Welcome to hoppermagic v2! There's a few design tweaks left to do, some css that needs tidying and an 'About' page that hasnt even been started yet, but at least now you can check out the latest work and experiments. The next stage of the redesign will be to make the site content managed (I'm going to be delving into ExpressionEngine shortly) and enabling all the bookmarking functions that today's kids seem to be into :)
