Class - Virtual Entertainment : Kevin Sweeney :
Kevin’s case study and Project description:
Goals
Before even deciding on a project to build, I new that I wanted to do something using a technology that I was unfamiliar with. Actionscript 3.0 seemed like a worthy candidate, as I had seen some of the possibilities that were now available and felt learning the next installment of Actionscript before the final release of Adobe Flash 9 would give me an edge in the market.
One of the features I, like many others, was excited about was the ability to read sound levels and create animations based on that. This can be accomplished in serveral video editting applications such as Adobe After Effects, but never not in real-time. And so I decided on the concept of an application which allows users to upload a song and visualize all or part of the audio.
By allowing users the ability to save their images and create different pieces of artwork, I hoped to create a project that caught the attention of a few people and showcased the new features that Flash can offer. If a small community of users that wanted to keep sharing their images via gallery upload developed, then all the better.
Problems
Technology
The first step in this project was learning a new programming language. Actionscript received a major overhaul and there has been a significant amount of additions, removals, and alterations to the language.
Furthermore, there is no help file included with the Flash 9 alpha release. To learn this language, I had to refer to the online language reference, as well as books and video tutorials in order to familiarize myself with the new programming environment.
Finally, no components were included in the release, which meant that before I could even begin to visualize any data, I needed to create all of my slides and buttons from scratch.
Copyright
Another issue which I had to be conscious about was the issue of intellectual copyright. As the program would allow users to upload MP3 files, I needed to make sure that they remained on my server for only a short period of time. This would make sure that I wasn’t hosting an materials which I did not have the right to distribute.
Solution
After gaining a firm understanding of the new development environment, I began by creating all of the components necessary to make the application run as I had originally intended. However, many usability pitfalls began to present themselves halfway through the development stage, which mean that I had to take a step back and plan the project through more carefully. Once I was able to get all necessary classes together, I began to hook them all together within my primary timeline class.
In dealing with the potential copyright issues, I set up a PHP script that would clear out all the files within a specified directory. I then created a cron job which was scheduled to run this script once every hour. Attempting to visit this upload directory via browser will also initiate this script to prevent any file theft and also save bandwidth.
Result
Although I plan to continue development on this project, I’ve gained the knowledge I sought and have certainly learned the importance of proper planning when developing an entirely object-oriented application. For now, users still have the ability to save their visualizations directly to their computer using a JPEG encoding class which takes a bitmap data object, runs it through a JPEG algorithm, and sends a byte array to a PHP script which creates the actual JPEG file. Users can also upload their work to a gallery and view the results that other users have generated.
Verizon FiOS: Discover FiOS HUB
The Work
A hub destination site for all the Verizon FiOS contest campaigns, used to create awareness and drive traffic to the individual contest sites. This site features animations for each contest initiative and cycles through each of the features. Each feature animation has a call to action that directs the user to “Click here to join the contest”. The animations are used to drive traffic to the individual contest sites and to educate the user on FiOS. The hub page also showcases the partnerships that Verizon has created to help promote the FiOS product.
Project Description
Workinman teamed up with WSits to develop this project for Verizon. We designed and developed the front-end Flash interface and integrated the project with flat XML files, which we defined. This site implements XML to dynamically load all the feature animations and to control the order in which they play. This allows the client to easily update and switch the order of the content in the feature animation section to drive traffic to the current initiative. The feature animations are timeline based and have to be created specifically for each of the feature contents. The bottom links are static versions of the cycling animations at the top and used as a secondary navigation system to drive traffic to the contest site.
Quick View
Flash Mini Site
Client : WSits for Verizon
URL: http://www.discoverfios.com
Contributions
Concept Development
Creative Direction
Information Architecture
Design Implementation
Flash Development
NBC Broadband Video Player
The Work
A broadband video player built for NBC Universal. Workinman’s initial involvement was to create the feature set for NBC Universal’s broadband video player. Once we moved into production, we teamed up with IMG to help create the infrastructure to support such a massive project. This video player was built to be modular enough to work with all NBC Universal properties such as NBC, Telemundo, Sci Fi Channel, etc. This required content from all categories to be normalized to fit the modular design we created for the interface. Thumbnails, show logos, and the video content for each property had to fit into one universal design. After several weeks of information architecture and several rounds of designing comps we finally came up with a design solution that met the functional requirements, offered an excellent usability experience and exhibited high aesthetic quality.
Project Details
Workinman and IMG teamed up to create the NBC video player. IMG provided project management and built the content management system and server side scripts that provided all the dynamically loaded content to the site via XML. Workinman designed the interface, worked on the information architecture, developed the Flash front end and implemented the server side scripts in Flash.
Quick View
Category: Application
Developed: 2007
Client: IMG World for NBC Universal
URL: Not Currenlty live
Contributions
- Concept Development
- Creative Direction
- Information Architecture
- Design Implementation
- Flash Development
Emerging Multimedia : Corey Hankey
Emerging Multimedia :
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Emerging Multimedia : Brian Babbit and Tim Mauira
Show identity package for the local PBS channel WXXI. This is an intro animation for Homework Hotline. A television show where students can call in with homework problems and receive live help on-air.
Comments are off for this postEmerging Multimedia : Eric Decker, John Larson, Rob Kolb
Show identity package for the local PBS channel WXXI. This is an intro animation for Homework Hotline. A television show where students can call in with homework problems and receive live help on-air.
Comments are off for this postEmerging Multimedia : Dan Hassan & Brian Cain
Show identity package for the local PBS channel WXXI. This is an intro animation for Homework Hotline. A television show where students can call in with homework problems and receive live help on-air.
Comments are off for this postEmerging Multimedia : Dan McKenna
Video Diary Project
Comments are off for this postEmerging Multimedia : Jeff Lin & Kieth Beltramini
Show identity package for the local PBS channel WXXI. This is an intro animation for Homework Hotline. A television show where students can call in with homework problems and receive live help on-air.
Emerging Multimedia :Mike Kuzmich
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Emerging Multimedia : Sahra Merchant and Nate Wolf
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Verizon FiOS: Scavenger Hunt
The Work
A Verizon marketing site targeted to New Jersey residents to generate excitement and awareness around Verizon’s new fiber optics product, FiOS. This site is an on-line contest campaign where users can upload photographs of Verizon-branded items they have received in the mail, or hunted down in the real world. These items can be a Verizon branded bill, postcard, door tag, Verizon truck, branded bus stop station, etc. There are a total of 14 items the user is tasked with finding. Each item found, photographed and uploaded to the site by the user credits their account with points. The user to find the most items wins the contest and receives the grand prize. Users can view their current score and track other users’ progress in the “standings” section.
Project Details
Workinman teamed up with WSits to develop this project for Verizon. We designed and developed the front-end Flash interface and integrated the project with the server side scripts provided by WSits. This site allows users to login, send email and upload photos to the server. A scoring system/high score board was also created. This site is based on dynamic content, all photos and most of the copy is loaded from the server at run time. XML is used extensively to keep the content separate from the interface, which means the site can be easily updated with out having to open the source files.
Quick View
Flash Mini Site
Client : WSits for Verizon
URL: http://www.discoverfios.com/scavengerhunt/
Contributions
- Concept Development
- Creative Direction
- Information Architecture
- Design
- Flash Development
Hip Hop Holdem’ Mini Site
The Work
A broadband mini site to support and enhance the Hip Hop Holdem’ Cable TV show. Hip Hop Holdem’ is a cable TV show that features hip hop artists playing poker. This site features archived video from the on-air show, original video content, production photos, cast member bios, poker tips and an Ask the Pro section.
Project Details
Workinman designed and developed this site from concept to launch. This site is easily updated using XML files to dynamically load videos, photos and copy into the interface shell. Using XML files makes it extremely easy to keep content fresh and interesting. Adding new content encourages return users to the site—a major priority for the Hip Hop Holdem’ crew. The goal of this site is to drive users to the cable channels and to provide value-added content to the viewers who visit the site after viewing the TV show.
Workinman Interactive collaborated with IMG World to create this project. Workinman designed and developed this site with the assistance of IMG’s IT team, who provided the web services for the “Ask the Pro” and newsletter feature.
Workinman’s experience enabled this project to be rapidly developed over a two-week time span. Our familiarity with interactive design and development along with in-depth knowledge of XML and Flash integration with server side technologies resulted in a seamless launch under extreme time constraints.
Quick View
Flash Mini Site
Client: IMG World for Hip Hop Holdem’
URL: http://www.hiphopholdem.com
Contributions
- Concept Development
- Creative Direction
- Information Architecture
- Design Implementation
- Flash Development
Microsoft: FORZA Dynamic Navigation System
The Work
A dynamic Flash navigation system created for the Microsoft FORZA 2 game site. This navigation is 100% XML driven and allows for localization.
Project Details
Workinman partnered with Bullvison Communications and Microsoft to develop the business logic requirements for the navigation system. Once the rules and exceptions were outlined we delved deep into the pixel mines and hooked the navigation into the ASP server scripts to receive the XML and then build the nav based on the data delivered. There were many exceptions; each row is dependant on the row above it, which made for a challenging project. Also, users can send the selected links to a friend.
Quick View
Category: Application
Client: BullVision for Microsoft Forza 2
URL: http://forzamotorsport.net/scoreboards/Forza2/
Contributions
- Usability Consultant
- Flash Development
Nextel Fanview Mini Site
The Work
A mini site to showcase the NEXTEL Fanview product. This is a product that is rented at NASCAR events–it allows the customer to watch, hear, and track the race in real time. The device has a video screen, custom graphics and a radio transmitter. Viewers can track their favorite drivers and the race in real-time with this device. Workinman created an interactive on-line demo to promote the product for its debut at the Daytona 500 Race. The interactive demo was played on a large screen TV at a Kiosk at Daytona–it was also archived on the NEXTEL site.
Project Details
Workinman Interactive collaborated with IMG World to create this project. Workinman designed and developed this site with the assistance of the IMG team who provided project management.
Quick View
Flash Mini Site
Client : IMG World for NEXTEL
URL: http://www.nextel.com/en/promotions/racing/demos
Contributions
- Concept Development
- Creative Direction
- Information Architecture
- Design Implementation
- Flash Development