Case Study

Asia Society | Yoshitomo Nara

Challenge

As one of the leading artists of Japan’s influential Neo Pop art movement, Yoshitomo Nara is well known for his depictions of children and animals. Nara’s cute, though often menacing, children and animals are readily associated with popular culture, particularly manga comics and animation.

Our challenge was to create a microsite that evoked the feeling of seeing Nara's work in the museum, yet acessible to a world wide audience.

Solution

To display his work, Nara frequently builds life-sized houses, rooms or buildings within the museum. We took this direction and applied it to the aesthetics of the site. Each page of the site has a unique background rendered in 3D, using the rich textures of weathered wood, and the light quality of a bare incandecent bulb.

Services:

• information architecture
• design

Nara’s workspace

“Doors” installation

Case Study

Asia Society | the China Boom Project

Challenge

China’s economy has exploded in the last 30 years, and just recently eclipsed Japan as the world’s second largest economy. The question: how did China grow so fast? There is no single answer. The Asia Society spent 3 years recording video interviews with scholars, entrepreneurs and government officials to learn first hand how it happened. Our job: to make the content exciting and easy to use.

Solution

With such an large number of videos, and an abstract question to answer, we knew we needed to break down the content into manageable parts. We started by working with the scholars at the Asia Society to determine time periods as a main navigation system. But time periods alone don’t tell the whole story. We recognized the need for thematic threads that link interviews together. We also found that an expert’s discipline (government, academic, entrepreneur, etc) is a meaningful reference point. To top it off, a map system shows where each interview took place.

Aesthetically, the content of the project is highly academic and ran the risk of feeling boring. We took inspiration from very colorful Chinese propaganda posters. To add dimension (visual and narrative), we use large format photos behind each of the main sections, and a bright indicator color. These design elements convert the content into a highly energized and appealing experience.

On the technical front, the content management system (CMS) for this site is Drupal, which was built by Asia Society’s in-house engineers. Using the PHP5-native JSON parser, we pull dynamic content from Drupal, and fill in each template. This site makes heavy use of jQuery to handle user interaction, and page builds.

Services:

• information architecture
• design
• jQuery / JSON
• HTML / CSS
• PHP

Colorful Chinese propaganda poster

Case Study

Asia Society | Homeland Afghanistan

Challenge

Afghanistan has a fractured history, conquered many times and settled by various tribes with divergent background and languages. It’s history is not well documented or understood, and no single multimedia archive of it’s history is available anywhere. The Asia Society embarked on the daunting task of documenting 10,000 years of Afghanistan history through photos, interviews, maps, and video clips.

CORE was challenged to organize the content and make it fun and easy to use for a high-school audience.

Solution

We did extensive research on infographics, and dynamic history sites. We ended up with a very sophisticated interactive timeline to navigate the 10,000 years of Afghanistan’s history. The timeline shows more than just dates, however. The history of Afghanistan is segmented into 4 main eras: the age of settlement, the age of empire, Afghanistan in the world, and Afghanistan today. Additionally, 4 themes add a cohesive thread across thousands of years of events: geography & destiny, identity & perception, tradition & modernization, traces & narratives.

Technically, the content management system (CMS) for this site is Drupal, which was built by Asia Society’s inhouse engineers. We received a JSON API directly from Drupal, which we used to fill in our templates. The timeline is notable for having been built in jQuery (rather than Flash), with custom easing, and with deep links.

Services:

• information architecture
• design
• jQuery / JSON
• HTML / CSS
• PHP

Our highly-interactive timeline

Case Study

Culturenik

Challenge

Culturenik is new umbrella company which combines several pop-culture distributors under one roof. Our challenge was to modernize this set of seven B-to-B sites onto one common platform without losing the unique branding of each division.

Solution

With over 10,000 unique skus (stock keeping units), Culturenik has a very broad and deep line of products. We quickly realized that the way to organize this information was to bring search filters to the very top of the page. Products can be browsed by category, licensed property, product type, special collection, color or by keyword search. We found this method of searching to be fantastically usable on the Uniglo site, and applied similar thinking here (we think ours is easier to use, and way, way faster to load).

Rather than build 7 unique sites, we leveraged a common backend system that responds to unique URLs appropriately. For example, classico.culturenik.com, iphilosophy.culturenik.com, and ludlowcollection.culturenik.com are each branded experiences appropriate for the range of products available. Additionally, several licenses are further branded: Audrey Hepburn, Alice in Wonderland, Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Star Wars.

Technically, the site is built on CodeIgniter, a lightweight MVC PHP framework. With so much data, we spent considerable time tweaking the performance of the site. To accelerate page load, the site uses the Varnish reverse proxy server, as well as several layers of database caching to minimize database lookups. Additionally, all image assets are served from 1 of 5 distinct domains, which allows the browser to parallelize downloads.

Outcome

Culturenik sales reps are thrilled with the new site, and traffic is up exponentially compared to the old sites.

Services:

• Strategy
• Design
• CodeIgnitor
• Administrative Tools
• HTML / CSS
• JSON
• jQuery

Case Study

Aerofarms | Site

Challenge

Aeroponic farming is a little known technique where plants are suspended in air and sprayed with nutrient-rich water. This highly efficient and controllable method of agriculture is more space-age than urban. But Aerofarms wants to use their unique technology to make local agriculture and urban revitalization a reality. Our challenge was to build the case for aeroponic farming and the benefits it can have.

Solution

Our dynamic comparison chart clearly shows how aeroponic agriculture is superior to conventional and greenhouse agriculture. Plus, our custom Wordpress development makes administration chores easy.

We worked closely with BBMG who developed the brand strategy and provided design input. Our team created the information architecture, provided Wordpress integration and jQuery development to make it a reality.

Outcome

Aerofarms has won additional rounds of funding as is being featured as an emerging tech startup.

Strategy & Design by BBMG

Services:

• HTML / CSS
• Wordpress
• jQuery

Case Study

Lincoln Center | Kiosks

Challenge

Lincoln Center asked us to create the user interface for a set of information kiosks at the brand new David Rubenstein Atrium. These kiosks are part of a $16 million renovation project that includes several new interactive components across the campus. We were honored to be among world-class creative firms Pentagram, Imaginary Forces and diller scofidio+renfro, who contributed to the project.

Solution

We began the project with information architecture and interaction design. During this process we considered how the public would interact and find content quickly and simply.

Our next step involved a comprehensive survey of the visual elements in the new atrium. diller scofidio+renfro’s re-imagining of Alice Tully Hall involved a dramatic back cut in the building’s exterior corner facing Broadway. We reiterated that visual cue for our kiosk’s navigation system.

Above the kiosks hangs a felt drawing by artist Claudy Jongstra that includes a bold orange-yellow color. We adopted this as our dominant color, and highlighted with a warm red action color developed by Pentagram and used across the campus signage.

Outcome

The kiosk design is bold and graphic, and is a major step forward in the visual identity for Lincoln Center. We continue to hear praise for our interface from constituents and visitors alike.

Services:

• information architecture
• design
• flash

Pre-visualization during construction

Alice Tully Hall

Felt artwork above kiosks

Case Study

Greenpeace | C.R.O.C.

Challenge

Leading up to the climate conference in Copenhagen, Greenpeace wanted to highlight the awkward concept of allowing companies to “offshore” their carbon responsibilities to less developed nations. Through the REDD Program (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries Programme), corporations can purchase their way to continuing to pollute. The goal of the project was to raise awareness with the general public and put pressure on elected officials to make strong commitments at Copenhagen.

Solution

Greenpeace's stance on REDD is highly technical, and specific to the current proposals. However, the basic concept that corporations can continue polluting by paying a carbon penalty is something everyone can understand.

With the help of Greenpeace’s ad agency, we set about creating a fake lobbying group site: the Carbon Regulatory Offset Committee (“C.R.O.C.” for short). The C.R.O.C. site is a humorous and viral way to attract attention, and email signups. The tone of voice of C.R.O.C. is similar to a lobbying group that begrudgingly posts a website (and purposely looks lo-fi and 10 years old).

The design of the site was a real stretch for us: we broke every rule in the book. We took reference cues from law firms in the midwest and get-rich-quick websites. Typography that crashes into the edge of buttons, beveled buttons, and subtle humor (it's always 112˚ for example) carry the theme.

We leveraged Google Voice to act like the actual message service for the agency (“the crocline”), and some hilarious messages have been collected.

The site also features a highly viral “Earned Devastation Calculator” where you can see how much environmental damage you're entitled to.

In addition to the website, we supported the campaign via banner ads, Facebook ads, a Twitter campaign, and a Facebook page.

Outcome

Greenpeace is very happy with the results, and the project has exceeded their email signup goals.

Services:

• information architecture
• design
• flash

Earned devastation calculator

“Crocline” based on Google Voice

Case Study

LiveEarth | Run For Water 2010

Challenge

Live Earth is built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world to action. Their concert, “Live Earth: the Concerts for a Climate in Crisis” is reported to be the “most watched online entertainment event ever”, being broadcast in 132 countries with almost 2 billion media impressions. For 2010 their ambitions are even higher: an event in every country in the world to raise awareness around clean drinking water.

Solution

Since the 2010 Run for Water campaign is a truly global event, the new website is the nexus of information sharing and a starting point for thousands of grassroots efforts.

We recognized that a proper international site needed to be translatable into as many languages as possible. But the site also needed to be a living communication vehicle with daily updates. We chose to use Drupal as the backend for it's flexibility and strong internationalization support.

But a large international site runs the risk to showing too much information that's not relevant. So we leverage geolocation to tailor much of the site’s content.

We developed a custom Drupal module to drive the Run section. The site automatically zooms into the visitor’s location and shows events within 100 miles. However, we still wanted to highlight the global aspect of the campaign, so the map starts out showing the whole planet, and then zooms into place.

The design of the site itself speaks to the rock and roll heritage of Live Earth. We consciously stayed away from the colors blue and green, which we consider overused on eco-themed sites. Instead, we wanted to be more evocative with a dark palette and underwater streams of light.

• Live feeds from 3rd parties around the world
• Lifestream aggregates Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr activity into one stream
• Search engine optimizations
• Full site translated into French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Swedish, and Dutch
• Geolocation tailors content specific to each user
• Custom Google map coloring matches the design and animates into position

Outcome

The 2010 Run for Water campaign has attracted world-wide attention. Thousands of official and grassroots events are popping up around the world and millions will learn about water issues in their area.

Services:

• information architecture
• design
• flash
• drupal module development

Run page with geolocation

Full site translated into 9 languages

Case Study

Mandela Day | NYC2009

Challenge

Core industries was approached by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and advertising agency Gotham, to make Nelson Mandela’s birthday, July 18, into an international day devoted to service that celebrates each person's power to make an imprint.

Solution

To achieve these goals, Core Industries designed, developed and regularly updated a series of interactive experiences:

• a website to match people with volunteer opportunities based on their interests
• an interactive “hand wall” illustrating commitments. The wall lived both online and offline at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall.
• a mobile SMS campaign which allowed participants to share their commitment directly to the website.
• a social media campaign using a blog, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr to enable discourse, spread awareness, gain support and actively engage the audience with original text, photo and video content
• a live, full-screen, multi-camera webstream of the July 18th concert
• multi-concept banner ad campaign
• a dynamic video where visitors can splice in a clip of themselves surrounded by stars like Clint Eastwood, Christie Turlington, and Robert De Niro to showcase their commitment to making a change, and then share it with their friends.

Outcome

Since 2009 represented the very first official “Mandela Day”, we measured everything to help build a strong case study for future sponsors and campaign efficiency. We did significant traffic pattern analysis and measurement using tools like Chartbeat, Quantcast, Google Analytics, Google Trends, Facebook, TwitterCounter, and MailChimp.

• 100,000 unique visitors from around the world visited our site in the 2 months leading up to July 18th, 2009.
• Oprah tweeted about our campaign.
• 6,000 new Facebook fans.
• Google pagerank went from non-existent (March 2009) to #1 within 3 months for “mandela day” keyword
• Facebook/Twitter had significant impact on traffic to the site, especially towards the end of the campaign with exponential increase in fans/followers during last week of campaign
• When polled, most visitors heard of Mandela Day through online channels of Facebook, email and/or Twitter
• 50,000 online views of Mandela Day TV

Services:

• online strategy
• information architecture
• design
• flash
• blog writting
• twitter campaign
• email blasts
• third party integration
• viral video

Campaign Traffic Overview

Campaign Demographics

Facebook Statistics

Website traffic drivers

Case Study

One Percent for the Planet | Website

Challenge

1% for the Planet helps companies donate 1% of their yearly revenue to environmental non-profits. That’s a cheery, feel-good sort of business. Yet, before we started working with 1%, their site was ominous enough to frighten little children. And their old CMS was so discombobulated that even a genius-level data miner would get a headache trying to find, track and analyze basic information about members and donations.

Solution

Partnering with advertising agency Groundswell, we gave 1% a full-service overhaul that included: interactive strategy, design, copy writing, database development, flash, HTML / CSS development, SEO, hosting, internationalization, viral marketing, banner ads / banner serving, analytics, and business process automation.

Our new site is welcoming and conversational up front, powerful and streamlined in back. Now, kids of all ages and 1% smile gleefully.

Features:

• Custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management) administration system helps 1% run like clockwork.
• Viral video Hot Hot Santa to raise awareness and drive donations.
• Search engine optimizations
• Full site translated into French and Japanese.
• Microsite to promote their new CD. Includes a real-time Twitter lifestream.

Outcome

The website and backend CRM systems have eliminated much tedious administrative work that was done previously by hand. 1% has seen strong growth averaging 10 new member companies per week (keep in mind that these companies are voluntarily donating 1% of their revenue!).

Services:

• online strategy
• custom PHP development
• internationalization
• hosting
• information architecture
• design
• flash

Member companies sign up from around the world

Robust administrative tools

Case Study

FrontlineSMS | Site

Challenge

FrontlineSMS is software that allows for groups of people to communicate via SMS. With a new version of the PC software ready to launch, the important role that FrontlineSMS plays needed to be told with a new website.

Solution

Across the developing world, human rights abuses, environmental catastrophes, and injustices go unreported. In countries where the government controls the media, and where internet access is not reliable, SMS messages are the main means of communication.

We recognized that the value of FrontlineSMS software is greater than just the features (which allow a central PC to broadcast SMS messages, and organize the replies). The real story is how NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) are using the software. For example, in Pakistan the software is used to monitor elections. In Africa it's used to monitor poachers within wildlife reserves.

Our solution is graphically simple and fast to download (a large percentage of our audience has dial-up internet access). The most exciting page of the site is the Google Maps mashup showing the examples of how the software is used around the world.

In addition to the main site, we wanted to create a strong community. Since the project had a very limited budget, we recommended using Ning.

Outcome

The use of FrontlineSMS software use has expanded dramatically since we launched the new site. The community tools are very active, and NGOs the world over are benefiting.

Strategy & Design by W+K

Services:

• HTML / CSS
• Flash
• PHP
• Google Maps

Case Study

Revlon | Face Palette

Challenge

Revlon wanted a very easy to use, but photo-realistic way for visitors to create the perfect look with their cosmetics.

Solution

Our solution made heavy use of Flash and AS3. Each element of makeup, including eyeliner, lipstick and blush, needed to be applied to a different area of the visitor's face. We developed a system of facial zones that the visitor can adjust to fit. Using bezier control points, the system is remarkably easy and accurate. Once the zones are in place, it's easy to add elements of makeup.

One lingering challenge for us was the use of sparkles in the actual cosmetics. Instead of a flat color, we used translucent PNG files to represent the glints of light. This level of realism enhances the believability of the system.

After a visitor gets their look just right, a PDF can printed out which lists the products used. This PDF can be taken to a local retailer to purchase the products.

Outcome

Revlon was thrilled with the project, and thousands of visitors enjoyed this microsite.

Strategy & Design by ID Society

Services:

• technical direction
• Flash
• PHP