Web Design

Last week brought several big announcements from Google, with most of the buzz coming from the launch of their Google+ social network. On the sidelines, however, Google has released a new tool – called Swiffy – which converts Flash files to pure HTML5.

Like Wallaby, Adobe’s own tool for this purpose, Swiffy has some significant limitations, but the fidelity it achieves is fairly remarkable given the complexity of what it does.

Example via GoogleSystem.blogspot.com

As a test, we recently ran some banners through Swiffy to get a better sense of its capabilities. On one banner, all components functioned as they would in the flash version with the exception of a minor flaw in the rendering of the text, which was lacking colored outlines. A second example also worked relatively well, with the exception of some missing details (shadows and blurs). A small flash also occurs at the beginning of the ad, which was not there in the original version. A third example translated nearly perfectly – and was the most successful conversion of the group.

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AOL’s new ad unit grants marketers with more opportunities to integrate rich media (via WSJ).

Today, AOL is expected to roll out its already leaked “Project Devil” (see the WSJ article that leaked it here), which launches new advertising opportunities within AOL.

The media company is touting the concept as being about more than just a bigger ad unit — and it is.  AOL has developed some interesting ideas to allow marketers to more easily develop rich ads by using an Ad App API to deliver content and functionality such as:

• Photo and video galleries
• 3-D rotation and zooming
• Mapping (including store locator)
• Facebook and Twitter feeds
• Couponing
• Email / Send-to-friend
• Data capture (e.g., email address)

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From the day of the iPhone’s release, consumers and pundits have been commenting about its prominent lack of Flash. Recently, in a very rare move, Steve Jobs openly and directly announced Apple’s thoughts on the matter in a letter published on Apple’s site.

The letter, and the public’s reaction to it, has spread explosively through the tech blogosphere, and Apple is making no effort to hold it back. The letter was linked directly from its homepage, in a spot normally reserved for major announcements or new products.

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A look at two mobile Twitter clients: Hahalo (left) is web-based while TweetDeck is a native app.

With more than 100,000 apps and growing in the iPhone App Store, a lot of attention is being paid to creating iPhone web apps instead of iPhone native apps in order to decrease development time.

What’s the difference, you ask?

Native apps are actual programs that you download and install from the App Store. iPhone web apps are really just websites, but highly optimized to run in the Mobile Safari web browser on the iPhone.

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Last week 360i attended a Dynamic Logic and 4A’s webinar during which they presented best practices for display banners based on analysis of best- and worst-performing campaigns (you can access the press release about the study on Dynamic Logic’s Web site).

One key insight, which we have espoused for years, is that taking the time to develop strong online creative is critical. So much so that poor-performing banners don’t merely perform worse than better creative, they actually can negatively impact brand metrics such as awareness, favorability and intent.

Here are some key design and messaging recommendations from Dynamic Logic’s analysis and some of 360i’s thoughts based on our display creative experience:

1. Brand impact is only as strong as brand presence.
Specifically keep your logo on every frame. Intrigue rarely drives awareness and response. The longer the logo appears, the higher the lift in aided awareness. And consumers most likely will not see the logo if it only appears on the product and not prominently within the ad. For example, here is one of the ads we developed for a recent Panasonic campaign. Note that the logo is persistent throughout the interactive animations.

Click image to play ad:

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It’s been a busy summer for 360i with a number of major Web sites completed and others under way.  I’m pleased to report that two of our recently developed sites won WebAwards from the Web Marketing Association this past week:

• Red Roof Inn won a Hotel and Lodging Standard of Excellence Award. The site is viewable at http://www.redroofinn.com/.
• HGTV’s “Design Your Dream Home” Web site won an Outstanding Web site award. 
  

The Red Roof Inn site features a refreshed look and feel for the brand, synchronizing with its revamped hotel properties and interactive Trip Planner, which helps you plan a driving trip with multiple stops and find Red Roof Inns along your route.

The Design Your Dream Home site allows you to choose the style of your dream home, place yourself inside the house and then watch HGTV turn the dream into reality by changing the house from an illustration to an actual picture of your dream home.  It’s fun.  Try it out.

Special thanks and congrats to our Red Roof and HGTV clients and all the folks at 360i who worked tirelessly to design and build these two sites.  More to come…

360i client Fasig-Tipton (see site above) enjoyed a big win this weekend when graduate Mine That Bird won the 2009 Kentucky Derby.

Lately, I’ve been writing about banner and Web site trends, as well as announcing creative awards we have won. Today is a little different. I’m honored to congratulate one of 360i’s clients on a win of their own. And it was a big win.

On Saturday, Mine That Bird, a graduate of 360i client Fasig-Tipton — North America’s oldest Thoroughbred auction house — won the 135th Kentucky Derby. The 50-to-1 long shot, brilliantly ridden by Calvin Borel, used the rail in a scintillating stretch run to complete a stunning last-to-first finish.

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