http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/site/index/ Manchester Web design blog and portfolio en ian@flamedigital.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-09T16:57:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/new_launch_rrg_celebrity_plates/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/new_launch_rrg_celebrity_plates/ I’ve been working on this for the past few weeks now. Its a campaign for the RRG Group and the launch of the new number plates in the UK. You will notice that its all done in Jquery and CSS3 magic. So go play the game and win £500 off a new car. RRG Celebrity plates Code / Design 2010-03-09T16:57:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/little_bit_of_creative/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/little_bit_of_creative/ Every now and again we get invited to pitch for projects with no real brief. The Brief is open. Anyway I came up with this concept and chucked this together in about 60 mins. Obviously as its a pitch we don’t want to spend any more time on this. Its a good creative exercise though, communicating your ideas visually in a short space of time. Its rather refreshing. Code / Design 2010-01-27T10:16:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/merry_christmas_2009/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/merry_christmas_2009/ Ramblings 2009-12-24T17:39:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/when_you_lose_your_creative_mojo/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/when_you_lose_your_creative_mojo/ Rather recently (months ago, not weeks) I lost my designers eye. Everything I touched turned to well, crap. I felt Un-inspired, in a rut. “....what better than all these sparks collected up into a little bottle of inspiration”Rather recently (months ago, not weeks) I lost my designers eye. Everything I touched turned to well, crap. I felt Un-inspired, in a rut. I was working late hours and couldn’t seem to get my breath back. Now, I’m not blaming late hours or tight deadlines because that’s the life of designer. I just needed to snap myself out of it and I’ll admit I struggled. Eventually I got back on track. But the whole experience left me feeling that I need to setup some measures for when it happens again, and it will for sure. I’m rather human you see. Solution My way out? A collection of all my ideas, thoughts, likes, inspiration. All in the one place. The tool? Little snapper. The hard part? Well, its not just downloading and installing the thing. No its a little bit harder than that. What you need to do Is to change the way you view things. Every time you see something you like, snap it. It could be anything, anything that sparks of that little spot in your brain. You see, these little sparks motivate you to create bigger and better. So next time your in a rut, what better than all these sparks collected up into a little bottle of inspiration. I look forward to my next creative wet patch. Code / Design 2009-12-10T22:32:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/flame_digitals_creative_director_speaks/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/flame_digitals_creative_director_speaks/ Creative Director of Flame Digital Dom Rodwell performed an engaging talk titled - Choose your own adventure - Brand storytelling in a digital world. The Gate Labs gets a mention at 18:40 too. Grab a cuppa and get comfy. Code / Design 2009-11-13T15:01:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/sites_i_liked_in_october/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/sites_i_liked_in_october/ Now I’m embracing LittleSnapper and loving it, I thought I’d make a feature of browsing back through the things I’ve snapped over the previous month. Paravel - view site Creative Capital New York - view site Serial Cut - view site Hickman and Rose - view site Nosotro - view site Paravel My favorite combination, Illustration and web design. Paravel have really nailed it. I love how they have illustrations for every case study. It gives the work character. - Paravel Creative Capital New York This is just awesome. Really, really bold. I love this type of design. Trying something different and pulling it off. The combination of the minimal grid, photography and vibrant colors are perfect. - Creative Capital New York Serial Cut You should be ashamed of yourself If you haven't seen this by now. Makes a Jquery fanboy knee's quiver. The inspiration for supponor. - Serial Cut Hickman and Rose Had to mix it up with a corporate site. This is just lovely graphic design. So simple and perfect. Makes Solicitors slightly more likable. - Hickman and Rose Nosotro I think I have about 5 different mini-snapshots of this site. Such a pleasure to browse. Each page feels so loved. Another great example of effective Illustration. - Nosotro Code / Design 2009-11-05T13:59:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/web_trend_report_negative_space_tranparency/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/web_trend_report_negative_space_tranparency/ One smart trick thats creeped into my designs/builds lately is the clever PNG mask trick. With all the modern browsers supporting transparent pngs they are now the lynchpin of future thinking web designers. Learning how to manipulate them creatively will give your design a modern edge. Using them well gives a visual treat that is sure to stick in the head. I’ve collected some examples and I’ve done a demo of how you can creating the effect for yourself in your own designs. “The concept is to use png transparency to mask layers. With the aid of scrolling and Jquery movement you can create some really interesting effects.” Creative Hunt - view site GDR - Creative intelligence - view site Supponor - view site Niche - Art & Architecture tours berlin - view site 50000 Beds - view site Achieving the effect After you have viewed the live examples of the above (vital) you should have an idea of how it works. I've knocked up three examples below to demonstrate. Example A View Demo - Download files Example B View Demo - Download files Download the examples here. Know any other websites that use similar effects to these? Let me know in the comments. Code / Design 2009-11-02T11:31:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/new_work_supponor/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/new_work_supponor/ My first real piece of creative since I returned to Flame Digital. It was an interesting brief. To completely revamp Supponor’s online presence, to showcase and communicate clearly their state of the art offering. It gave us the chance to create something Unique. With the aid of PNG masking and funky Jquery action we have delivered. Here’s what the client had to say.. “Like our product, Flame Digital’s design is fresh, cutting edge and pushes boundaries. They’ve successfully taken a technically complex idea and communicated it clearly, and in the most accessible way.” PNG Masks I wanted each page to be different. To aid that I've used a clever technique that let's the logo color change. I've used transparent PNG's to create a mask that lets the layers underneath peer through. I'll be writing another blog post about this effect soon. As you can see below The combination of the section strip and the background image create a different tint, texture for each page. Grid Indicator Another nice little feature is the little location dot in the bottom right of the screen. Using Jquery again to swap the images it adds the overall effect. You could do some pretty nifty stuff with the combination of the Jquery slide and the indicator. i will be using them in other projects in the future. More reading Visit the Supponor web site. View the Flame Digital press release View the How-do article Code / Design 2009-10-30T11:17:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/podcast_vol1/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/podcast_vol1/ I had yesterday off to re-charge the batteries so I made a mix. I’m calling this podcast v1. I know I’ve already posted a v1 podcast but I’ve actually lost it. Zshare let me down. Damn you Zshare. Soundcloud is my new friend and will be nice to you I’m sure. Lots of banging tracks in this mix, it’s a little full-on. If you want some music to get ready to, stick this on. Done on Pioneer CDJ-400’s, DJM-200 Mixer, recorded with Audacity, track-listing after the jump. Listen here at Soundcloud (74.16MB) Podcast vol1 Track listings drop ya thing - drums of death poison lips - vitalic dim & tai - lyposuct yeah yeah yeahs - heads will roll (a-trak remix) compass - L-vis 1990 vocal chords - claude vonStroke blunt edge - zinc flashback - calvin harris (eric prydz remix) Save us - Nadastrom dave spoon - lummox (plump djs remix) gucci vump - sha! shtil! (L-vis 1990 remix) Jeffer - Boys Noize (Para One remix) Because - Zinc Fatboy slim - Praise you (FLG remix) Peep Thong - His Majesty Andre Runark - congorock penguini - hugg & pepp Foamo - Rockerman Greasy Beats - Claude VonStroke SebastiAn - Momy (Erol's edit) Amsterdam - Jennifer Delano (Riptide remix) Flashmob - Vitalic Mstrkft - Heartbreaker Listen here at Soundcloud (74.16MB) Music 2009-10-23T15:20:00+00:00 http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/the_re_design_and_launch_article/ http://www.ianjamescox.com/index.php/v6/comments/the_re_design_and_launch_article/ On the 13th of February I posted a short blog article showing a preview of the design I was happy with. Finally, exactly 8th months later I've launched. There's still a few bugs to squash as expected, too many people were nagging me to stop being a perfectionist and put it live. So here it is. I'll quickly run through some of the new elements.. New branding Yes, another bird. I racked my brain to come up with some sort of icon, emblem etc. In the end I thought what the hell and kept a/the bird. I've spent quite a long time doing the illustration. Its a hummingbird by the way. I'm looking forward to creating business cards, that's next on my list of things to do. New work added I've added some new projects with some more to come in the next few weeks. Firstly we have At Bristol science museum and some illustrations for Royal forrestry society. Catch-up My stint in London is over. I'm back working at Flame Digital filling in as head of design. I realised how good Manchester is. You don't really realise until you leave. I'm looking for some interesting side projects to work on so get in touch if you need a freelancer. Look at me 2009-10-18T21:23:00+00:00