17 Comments

Doesn't look like a link was included in the post above, so to make it easier on everyone:

http://www.dandad.org/annual08/
Alex Charchar
2008-09-19 10:34:16

Oops - sorry about that. Thanks Alex...
creativereview
2008-09-19 11:07:20

Great site, why haven't the D&AD done this before?!
Have you got a link for KentLyons?
_P
Paul
2008-09-19 11:15:57

Finally D&AD are practising what their preaching, a functional site that works!

Oh D&AD your so fashionable with your designer's republic like graphics... and no doubt the future awards for web design or any design for that matter will follow so humbly behind D&AD's well trodden tracks.
Noir
2008-09-19 13:43:38

Umm, a functional site that works, err you're repeating yourself.

And on my mac, on none of the browsers does it work properly, we're talking crippled 1/2 way, stuck to the screen. Poor show. Too much flash.
da bishop
2008-09-19 14:24:36

Da Bishop,

I agree, but im trying to be constructive - compared to their last site, which i'm sure anyone would agree that this new one is functional in comparison!

Flash is what award winning designers do best... isn't it not? well sites that win a D&AD anyway :-)

I'm hoping my sarcastic tone is sensed more than my last post.
Noir
2008-09-19 15:58:02

and um,

I've just looked at your site.
Noir
2008-09-19 15:59:48

i get lost, can't find the navigation, it's buggy, you roll over one square and another one is selected...i could go on...Please do better
henry
2008-09-19 16:32:37

The guy who thought that this was optimized enough to go live in that state must have a hell of a computer.
It's nice that they're putting these things online and giving the gig to agencies outside of the normal interactive design crowd. There's certainly a couple of technical problems in there though.
Flash dudes: re-factor, turn on redraw regions and debug on different spec machines and leave a week to fix things.
Liam Walsh
2008-09-19 16:39:15

A lot of these comments seem harsh.

This site is designed for the the supposed forward thinkers of this world.

For the people that ask the rest of the world to look at things differently on a daily basis. Is that not what the awards are all about?

I think the guys who put this together and the client (D&AD) did a great job.

My advise to the critics is to:

Update your Mac
Update your browser
Update your web connection
Give yourself 5 minutes to look through the site

This is not an exercise in simple usability, it's a functional database interface for the creative industry to view winning work and it's background.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the critics are unhappy they didn't get the job or win any of the awards??????

KentLyons, well done on delivering on a tough brief to an even tougher audience.
Craig Bridge
2008-09-20 06:17:22

I like the fact that Kent Lyons have gone for the flash approach but I think it could have been used to much better effect.

I think its so confusing when you go into a specific project. I dont like the sub menu along the bottam when you go to a project.Thumbnail pictures of the projects would have been much clearer.

I just think there is so much more to offer with full screen flash sites and it wasnt used to its full potential.
Gary
2008-09-22 10:14:11

Maybe I'm going mad, but this ISN'T the first time they've put the Award winners online. It isn't the first time they've made an arse of their site either.
Love the arse-kissing in the comments.

"This site is designed for the the supposed forward thinkers of this world."

Give me a fucking break...
Nobody wants to hear it
2008-09-23 11:13:34

erm... i found this site really easy to use - no problems at all.

ps.
if this is "fashionable" i have no idea what trend its following... is tdr the current fashion? perhaps i didn't realise. i don't really see a similarity in any case.
James Nelson
2008-09-23 13:08:14

The website is designed to work with the book I think together they work well.
And everyone not just members can have a look.

Whats wrong with that? Seems to be fulfilling to brief to me.
george sheldrake
2008-09-23 13:22:07

also commententing on,

“This site is designed for the the supposed forward thinkers of this world.”

HA! what a statemment, a sweeping bold unthought about statement.

Forward thinkers of this world win Nobel Prizes, Forward thinking designers need not enter D&AD - there are real awards to be won, instead of an organisation, where if you pay someone enough, and talk them up enough they will give you an award.

This site is another D&AD hash up of their already
incoherent brand. The only saving grace for them is that the type is now legible.
Noir
2008-09-23 13:30:42

I think this is quite a cool looking site, but there is no justification for using Flash here. It adds nothing to the user experience. Since when has using Flash for some crazy interface been 'forward-thinking'? Maybe it was 8 years ago.

This also seems to be a bit of a contradiction: "This is not an exercise in simple usability, it’s a functional database interface for the creative industry."

A 'functional' database that isn't a simple exercise in usability?

I'm all for using Flash where it enhances the user experience, and there are plenty of decent sites out there that achieve this. Unfortunately this isn't one of them.
Tre Flipper
2008-09-24 08:33:11

"Forward thinkers of this world win Nobel Prizes, Forward thinking designers need not enter D&AD - there are real awards to be won, instead of an organisation, where if you pay someone enough, and talk them up enough they will give you an award."

Couldn't agree more. The articles a few months back regarding the D&AD panel's surprise that designers weren't taking any interest anymore were hilarious.

"You only win if you pay us lots of money, and we'll arrogantly sit lauding over you, yet present ourselves at a standard which wouldn't even win one of our own awards"

D&AD is a joke.
iamduncan
2008-09-24 11:14:15

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