Posted by 
Archived in This week we’ve been welcoming Lee Williams, a design all-rounder, to the bda team. So we’ve been making sure he knows how everyone has their tea and when it’s his turn to buy the cakes. But on a serious note, Lee is a bit of a whiz with Flash. So you can expect to see plenty of snazzy Flash driven websites trundling out of the bda labs very soon.
Now, when I say Flash I know many of you think of sitting impatiently, twiddling your thumbs and debating whether to boil the kettle whilst waiting for a website to load. Well, Flash has grown up a lot since its misspent youth in the 90s, when it was misguidedly used to create firework displays of animation despite the wheezing data rate of dialup.
Ten years on and Flash is now a respected and versatile programming language. Rather than just for intro videos, Flash can be used to create interactive websites and the quality of applications you’d normally expect to be on your desktop. With people’s expectations of websites growing all the time, Flash is becoming the language of choice for many developers wanting to create richer online experiences.
So, to clear up some of the misunderstandings on Flash (and because it will please Lee) this week we’re focusing on beautiful Flash website design.
Google CAN now find Flash based websites
One of Flash’s Achilles’ heels used to be that Google had trouble reading it, which meant Flash sites struggled to be found in the search results. But as Flash has advanced so has the ability of the search engines to read it, and now Flash driven websites are becoming just as easy to find as their html cousins.
The advancement in Flash has freed developers to become ever more creative in the sites they can create. Flash can be used to graphically present complex concepts, and being able to create interactive animations means multiple layers of info can be easily navigated at the click of a mouse.
Here are 10 of our favourite beautifully designed Flash websites, which illustrate how Flash can be used to create interactive online experiences that enhance brand engagement:
1. www.m-prism.com/main.htm – navigating this site is like exploring a map of the cosmos. To delve deeper you simply click on the central planet before zooming in on its orbiting moons
2. http://www.samsungcamera.com/st50/ – they say every picture tells a story, and this website provides a series of narrated mini-stories displayed through pictures and videos captured on a digital camera
3. http://www.gtiproject.com/ – if you had a toy racing car track as a child then you might want to whiz over to this site. After gaining entry to a secret lab and taking a tour around the track you can have a go at setting your own fastest lap
4. http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html – members of this advertising agency have all contributed their facial features so you can have fun mixing and matching to make your own creation
5. http://okaydave.com/ – this website makes a portfolio of pdfs as sophisticated as a cave painting. You can enjoy a pleasant journey trawling through Dave’s scrap book of past design projects accompanied by his narration and video diary
6. http://www.gettheglass.com/ – making sure the kids drink their milk can be a hassle for any parent. So send them to this website where they can play games and learn more about milk at the same time
7. http://www.subspecies.co.uk/ – what better way to sell T-shirts than using monkeys with machine guns? Opening to a hail of bullets and parasailing chimps, this website is certain to be a hit with those who take choosing their t-shirt brands seriously
8. http://www.sectionseven.com/ – websites are often designed to act as an online portfolio, and in this case it’s meant literally. Click to open their workbook as you would in the real world, and sift through their samples to see what this design agency is all about
9. http://www.goblincreative.com/en/ – dressed up as a trendy iPhone app, click around each room to discover more about this web marketing agency. Learn more about their services, sit down to watch a movie or play a game of darts if you want to
10. http://ff0000.com/ – why wait for people to find you in Second Life when you can create a virtual world of your own? On the Red Interactive you can create your own avatar, fly around and chat to other guests. Just remember to play nice
_______________________________
BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting