typestorming
A report on the move
2010August 17
Back and Cover.
It seems we reported on the WHS annual report for 2008 only yesterday. Since then, a lot has happened for this upstanding institution, and long time client of wollzelle, including the massive consolidation of four separate offices into a building of their own — designed afresh, no less.
Because changing buildings is also about changing perspectives, and finding enriching new ways to work together, we made the move, and the people behind it, the star of this year’s show.
One of the most striking elements of the “Lagebericht 2009,” as it is known to the locals, is the cover, which also acts as its packaging. Reading the document entails tearing away a strip of paper, as if to open a box, thereby physically introducing the reader to the report’s salient themes: movement, discoveries, collaboration. While the outside features an image of the previous WHS headquarter, the inside offers an exploration of the institution’s new surroundings, immediately rewarding interaction and engaging the eye.
Index of contents.
Content.
Diagramms.
Title opener.
Details.
While the predominantly green colour palette obeys the WHS’ branding guidelines and immediately dispels any uncomfortable — and inaccurate — associations with retirement homes, hospitals and illness, the daring typography breaks the report’s clear structure into legible and attractive chunks. The clean sans-serif-based layout is peppered throughout with hand-written titles, pencilled graphs and flat saturated colours to convey a sense of perspective and energy, without sacrificing mathematical precision where it is needed.
Our collaboration with Franco Winter, brought to life the many portraits that enliven and shape the report, in stark contrast with last year’s urban still lives. After celebrating some of the organisation’s most iconic and representative clients, we have opted to focus on its administrators and caregivers without whom none of this machinery could be set in motion. Staff are depicted in their everyday setting, performing the very relatable tasks of carrying papers, enjoying a cup of tea or peeking at the sunny views outside the window, carrying on the document’s overall message. It should be noted that, continuing our tradition, all these snapshots are genuine, proving once again that authenticity never goes out of style.
We hope you enjoy reading this report as much as we enjoyed crafting it. You can download the WHS Lagebericht 2009 in PDF format.
As always, we tip our hats to the WHS and its associates, for their efforts and accomplishments, and welcome your comments.
Our hearts are ticking
2010July 20
Gucci Timepieces is famous for marrying the fashion-forward eye of its parent house with an uncompromising view on engineering quality: under the attractive faces of their wares, tick precision mechanisms that are built to stand the test of time. Since wollzelle unveiled the first multi-award-winning new generation Gucci.com, back in 2006, we have worked in close collaboration with the brand to echo this dual commitment in their web presence.
Today, we are proud to unveil more details on the brand new site for Gucci Timepieces we launched on May 5, that takes our original design to the next step in immersive experiences and standards-compliance. By building upon rich JavaScript frameworks and leveraging the latest developments in HTML5 and CSS3, we have devised a site that intuitively delivers sound, video and data to a wide range of devices, from the office PC to the Apple iPad — and in eight languages to boot! While iPad users will appreciate using gestures to scroll through our endless gallery of watches, desk-bound visitors will appreciate the lightness and speed afforded to the site by our plugin-free architecture, CSS-based special effects and efficient image compression.
The site’s aesthetic is voluntarily subdued, and provides what we think is the perfect frame to the brand’s original designs. Wood, leather and precious metals, such as you would find in store, discretely frame the models, and the forgiving, loop-based navigation gently guides the user through the company’s timeless collections — pun intended. While seemingly similar to other wollzelle-designed Gucci properties, so as not to unsettle the visitor, this site brings some new features of its own, and has been optimised for the higher-resolution, wider screens that have recently become commonplace.
Under the site’s appealing façade beats a cutting-edge engine, that polls and arranges data on the fly for computers, iPads and smartphones, from a common pool of assets. Transparent geolocalisation helps users find stores effortlessly on a wide range of devices, while our own image-processing technologies, fluxiom and ImageGeisha, ensure illustrations are always crisp, clear, and correctly sized, without any manual intervention from the webmasters. In fact, the site was so cutting-edge, we had to “smuggle” iPads for testing from the United States to Austria, on the day they launched!
Because no company wants to mess around with code and proprietary applications, the site comes complete with a web-based backend for Gucci staff to manage store locations and report on events, as they happen. In addition to a long list of references, happenings and languages, which only keeps growing, this back-end intelligently puts over 4000 stores on the map!
We hope you take a few minutes to check out the site…
Branding, one stone at a time
2010June 05
Architects and designers share a common set of goals: providing novel and memorable solutions to life’s everyday problems. Whether their work is about creating spaces or what goes into them, their craft lies at the intersection of art and technology.
In this light, we are doubly happy to finally share two sites we designed for architecture firms: Raumkunst and Dennis Lems were we also featured the process a while ago.
Considering our own architectural background (Christina and I both studied architecture) we always appreciate the challenge of transposing an architect’s logic and his emotional palette into the virtual world, from brick and mortar to zeros and ones.
raumkunst.at, project overview page
raumkunst.at, project details page
Denis Lems Architects, homepage
Denis Lems Architects, project page
Because buildings are statements, and part of an architect’s brand, we decided to feature them front and centre. Even though both sites speak wholly different visual languages, they are united by the lavish use of photography, from magnified details that emphasise craft to wide shots that highlight proportions.
Both sites feature a strong, directive site structure and guide the visitor through a clearly defined tour of services, past accomplishments and portraits. Each section, in effect, creates a space to be interacted with.
Both domains are built upon our custom mix of standards-based technologies, as well as our trusty image processing back-ends, fluxiom and ImageGeisha, to allow for quick and painless updates as projects come and go.
We look forwards to seeing you at the house warming party!
Signing in at the WHS
2010March 03
The Wiener Hauskrankenpflege have recently merged their four separate offices into a newly refurbished five story building in Vienna’s twelfth district. We are honoured to report they turned to wollzelle to design an original wayfinding system that would match their brand, echo their personality and, of course, get staff and visitors to their destination as painlessly as possible.
To reflect the brand’s caring, relatable personality, we opted for warm hues and a geometric, open typeface. Furthermore, we forewent signage pomposity in favour of a straightforward, idiomatic style that draws its inspiration from regional sayings and mannerisms, raising the occasional chuckle and making an official building feel that much more like a home. Its logical colour palette and straightforward family of pictograms can be easily extended as the organisation adds new services, moves existing ones, or even adds an entirely new wing to the building.
The Process
Below is a peek at the many plans, diagrams and mock-ups we wallpapered our office with to arrive at the final result. We used multiple complementary techniques from blueprinting to 3D modelling, to cover all our bases and approach the same problems from multiple perspectives:
Laying out the flow and logic of each floor
Workers were provided with detailed mounting plans.
An overview of the full pictorial system we developed.
final design
Below are some images of the signage system in action. More shots can be seen on our flickr photostream.
A no-nonsense approach to information in the Lobby
The Lobby in perspective | “Come on in!” door sign
Remember to silence your cell phone! | The little boys’ (and girls’) room.
“Enquire here,” at the Reception Desk
“Let’s talk about it” says the meeting room door
The Psychology offices
No office is complete without a kitchenette
“Where things happen” proclaims the Event Room
A brief floor directory and the door to the IT room
St. Gilgen macht Schule
2009September 29
The St. Gilgen International School offers a novel perspective on education by immersing students in a unique setting, the typically Austrian village of St. Gilgen, and helping them shape their minds and personalities through repeated interaction with this pristine environment, as well as the thriving community it fosters.
Much like St. Gilgen, the School, and St. Gilgen, the village, are immersive experiences, we at wollzelle wanted the institution’s website to draw the visitor in a unique, interactive, self-paced adventure. Building upon powerful cutting-edge technologies like Flash 10 (including the new 3D API) and HTML 5, the site allows the visitor to experience for himself the sights and sounds of this jewel of the Wolfgangsee. At St. Gilgen, the school is the village, and the village is the school.
The project takes roots in the output of photographers, painters and writers whose works were instrumental in crafting the school’s original vision. We set up a fluid creative process, around a dialogue between the school’s founder, a renowned architect by day, and wollzelle’s creative think-tank. Throughout our brainstorming sessions, we defined the ideal visitor experience, and balanced our client’s dream with our own views on design and interactivity.
The result of this unique process has little to do with your average business web site. Instead, we like to think of it as an art project, an experience, a true reflection of what we felt during our own stays at St. Gilgen, of the school’s latent and patent views on education. Much like the school allows students to develop and expand their minds over time, the site evolves and progressively deepens, the longer the visitor explores it.
Creating a truly immersive experience requires skilful blending of images and sound, which we achieved in two complementary ways. Throughout the web site, context-appropriate sound effects, taken live at St. Gilgen, allow the visitor to associate a sound, a feeling, with the environment they find themselves in. For example, the visit of the school is accompanied by sound-bites taken from classrooms or the school’s central plaza. Of course, we have taken image and sound all the way to video as well, by filming a special school tour, headed by the webmaster himself. This sequence walks prospective parents and students throughout the school, as well as throughout the school’s philosophy and values.
Unlike many educational institutions, St. Gilgen opened its doors wide, allowing us to delve deep into its history, interview current students and highlight the many little architectural details that give the place its soul. Indeed, History is also a key part of the school’s personality. Did you know, for example, that the administration building once was the summer residence of Marie Ebner-Eschenbach?
Visitors in a hurry can access a convenient PDF page, from which all documentation, forms and, generally speaking, printed matter related to the school, can be downloaded in a single click. This synoptic view gives immediate access to application procedures, learning processes, teacher bios and more, thereby replacing the need to refer to a bulky paper brochure.
Music is part of the site’s quintessential experience. The theme song, typical of the salzkammergut, was composed by local musician Hubert von Goisern.
The St. Gilgen International School web site was a challenge to imagine and create. We hope you find it as enjoyable to visit as we did the school itself, and, as always, are looking forwards to hearing your thoughts.
Mona Lisa: ageing creatively
2009September 22
Soziales Netzwerk is a regular publication from the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege, one of wollzelle’s oldest and most esteemed clients.
Earlier this year, a good deal of our energies were focused on putting together issue 14 of the magazine, tackling the sensitive and always-inspiring question of graceful ageing. This last issue featured one of Sacha Goldberger’s photographic masterpieces on the cover, and, we are honoured to say, drew rave reviews from both professionals and the public at large.
When preparing issue 15, which went off the presses in June of this year, we decided to try a complementary approach, one that would build upon the strengths of the previous cover and reassert its key message. This time, however, we wanted to try our hand at a different, free-form medium, to announce the next part of the magazine’s series on ageing.
Indeed, after Ageing gracefully, this issue is all about Ageing creatively. To symbolise creative ageing, we focused on the one person, the one icon, that has remained fresh and inspiring throughout the centuries: the Mona Lisa. Even though its flesh-and-blood model is long gone, both the portrait and the woman have kept their aura of genius and mystery very much intact.
Romina, our graphic designer, found a painting of her “Nonna” and we decided to centre this cover around this family portrait directly inspired by the original Mona Lisa: a discrete reference to the world-known icon, and, in itself, an assertion of its humanity. We took the romantic figure out of its frame and into a world of graffiti-inspired symbols of life, crafting a cover that blurs the line between a classic portrait and illustration. Indeed, the illustrative quality of the cover complements the portrait’s finished and polished feel, suggesting the infinity of worlds one can create for oneself — at any age.
From there, we only had to design 32 inside pages around this original concept, and voilà Issue 15 was ready for the printers!
As always, we hope you enjoy reading this inspiring issue as much as we did putting it together for you. Extra cheers and gratitude go to Evelyn Weismüller, CEO of the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege, and her team for giving us carte blanche, and allowing us to contribute to this wonderful NPO.
Tun Sie sich was Gutes
2009May 19
We at wollzelle are honoured to entertain a long-term creative relationship with the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege, a non profit organisation that provides home care services in and around Vienna, our hometown. In fact, they have been client of ours since I got on board with them as part of his civil service.
Not only are they a very worthy cause to support, they entrust us with a wide variety of tasks, ranging from interactive design to the production of promotional items. As a creative agency, we like to “mix things up” and the WHS gives us plenty of opportunities to do just that, both in terms of form and function.
Case in point, our latest project: turning a potentially dry document (their 2008 annual report) into an engaging whole that would reflect the warmth and energy that radiate from the institution and empower its staff.
Having complete control over the project allowed us to take many liberties not usually seen with such documents: out with the traditional white gloss stock and in with a natural, lightly processed paper to emphasise the group’s down-to-earth approach.
Working with Ursula Röck, a highly talented, unconventional photographer and friend, we created a collection of unexpected still lives taken at their clients homes, reflecting the everyday reality of those the WHS supports, and emphasising how small touches converge to dramatically improve their overall quality of life. Each shot is both a work of art in itself, and a powerful testimonial of life in Vienna today.
Of course, a report isn’t all fun and games. By bringing design into the visual representation of data, turning pie charts and graph bars into silhouettes and cartoons, we were able to directly link the data with what it represented, thereby facilitating its understanding. Strong type structures the pages and links together the various sections of the report.
High-end printing techniques, such as UV varnishing, completed the effort, and allowed the text to become a de facto design element, working with instead of against the report’s layout.
You can see the results in our Flickr Photostream and a little Video from the production.
Design is all about making quality content approachable, and we can think of no better content to work with. The WHS’ 2008 annual report is part official document part catalogue, showing both the human and financial aspects of this respected institution, in a single go.
Easy, breezy, Gucci
2009April 22
Designing a breakthrough interactive experience for Gucci was one thing. Extending it with a deep overlay to celebrate the launch of a new collection was another. Refreshing Gucci’s suite of web sites to reflect the new spring-summer 2009 designs, all the while keeping the experience consistent and smooth for our long-term online audience, was a whole new ball game.
As Gucci introduces their spring collection, we are delighted to introduce the brand’s spring website.
Building upon the existing platform and designs we have developed for them over the past three years, it introduces fluid, translucent touches that make navigating from page to page and line to line easier than ever before.
Drawing inspiration from this season’s emphasis on chromatic leather, floral ambiances and its juicy, yet classy aesthetic, we have introduced whole new interfaces for the homepage, catalogues and ad campaigns, including a fresh collage layout to present multiple shots at a glance.
Our revamped video integration platform helps blend sound, text and motion further to create an experience that is not only entertaining and informative but, above all, immersive. (We’re especially thrilled about the new full screen mode!) Nobody switches modes and moods at the flip of a switch in real life. Instead, we transition from one emotion to the next, and it is great time web sites adapt to our natural behaviour.
Of course, despite this ever-increasing level of — standards-based! — technical and visual sophistication, our ultimate goal is to create an interactive experience that supports the Gucci brand, allowing users to just “dive in.” In fact, we feel the machinery that powers a site should be completely invisible to the untrained eye, and hope this latest iteration of Gucci.com raises the bar a little further.
We hope you enjoy the collection as much as we enjoyed designing the site, and will be looking forwards to hearing your comments.
Soziales Netzwerk: Aging gracefully
2009February 10
Aging healthily and gracefully is the key preoccupation of our time. It is also, coincidentally enough, the headline of the latest issue of Soziales Netzwerk, a magazine edited by the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege. It is almost ten years since we started working with this respected Viennese institution, shaping up the content and design of their magazine.
The Wiener Hauskrankenpflege approaches communication seriously. By making themselves known, and by interacting with people of all ages, they reach out to potential new clients, but also further the cause of affordable, quality home care that empowers elderly patients and helps them enjoy their lives to the fullest in spite of the ailments of age.
Issue 14 of their magazine features something unheard of in medical publications: a cover photograph borrowed from the ultra-hip WAD magazine (with kind permission), shot by the highly talented Sacha Goldberger. Indeed, we felt this image, initially developed as a tongue-in-cheek fashion spread for issue #38, embodied just what the doctor ordered.
Growing older may not always be fun, but it doesn’t mean giving up hope, originality or a sense of humor. Keeping a positive and creative outlook on life, surrounding oneself with friends, family and dedicated professionals, such are the secrets of graceful aging — and, one might say, of graceful living at any age.
We at wollzelle are honoured to be part of the Soziales Netzwerk adventure since it first got to press, and to help, in our modest but dedicated way, bridge the gap between the younger and elder generations. To us, this cover is living proof that, regardless of age, we are all united in our humanity and our creativity.
whs promotional items
2009January 28
In the fall of 2008, we were busy designing and orchestrating the production of a great many promotional items bearing the colours of the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege, an agency that provides home care services in and around Vienna, our hometown. The aim was to create tokens and presents for clients and personnel (e.g. calendars, sticky-notes, pens, watches, umbrellas…), which could also be handed out at certain events.
The wooden pen depicted above is doubly special. Indeed, the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege operates hand-held terminals to organise and control work protocols meaning clients, who are often elderly, are required to sign on a screen to confirm various actions. This wooden pen has been specially designed to work with this modern technology, all the while providing a comfortable, familiar sensory experience. Furthermore, it was manufactured by volunteers enrolled in a special care programme.
We at wollzelle loved this project, in no little part because of its diversity — each object had unique design and production requirements. From a visual standpoint, our personal favourite is the green umbrella, because it allowed us to introduce a new typographic device for the WHS, thereby instating a shorter, purely visual mark that can be placed on objects too small to support the full word-mark effectively.
Stay tuned for more, and be sure to check out the latest WHS magazine issue, which will roll off the presses in the coming days.
'Tis the season to be jolly
2008December 20
Whether the month of December has to you a religious significance or merely a cultural one, chances are you too are battling against the gloom of winter and early nights with light arrangements, decorations and the usual assortment of seasonal foodstuffs. The wollzelle team is, of course, no exception.
This year, we are proud to introduce the wollzelle Santa, who, unlike his more traditional colleagues, opts for orange dress and winters in Vienna. It started innocently enough with an idea to spruce up our office for the holidays, which gradually turned into an ambitious wall decor project requiring the confection of special stencils and the consumption of many a delicious croissant, as evidenced by our Flickr photo-stream.
As the project grew, so did Santa, and he now adorns a full wall of the office, from top to bottom, casting a gleeful eye over our busy operations. Acute viewers will notice we introduced an element of the third dimension in the mural, in the form of magic tokens springing out of his hat — and out of the wall, onto the tree.
Of course, this is only the first of many outings for our Santa. He has already made an appearance on our holiday cards (front and back) and reliable sources have let it be said he may be back among us with renewed energy in 2009.
In the meantime, we at wollzelle would like to grasp this occasion to thank you all for your continued interest in our work. Your energy and enthusiasm keep us energized, and we are very much looking forwards to spending another year in your company. To you and to yours, a very good month and a great many cheers!
revisiting an old favorite
2008December 12
wollzelle is a photo buff’s haven. Over the years, we have had the honour of devising identities for some of the biggest names in photography, design and fashion. fluxiom, our asset manager, is used by countless professionals to build books and portfolios.
Today, we’re revisiting an old favorite, the web site of Peter Rigaud, a Vienna-based photographer with clients around the world and across all major industries.
Whether working on one of his artistic projects, snapping shots for advertisements or framing portraits for personal or editorial use, Peter’s work always marries a strong, precise structure with fluid and unexpected movement.
Peter’s home page originally went live in 2001. Its current design has evolved little since its inception in 2003. As his projects have grown and evolved, however, the time was ripe to add a new Publications section, presenting the many magazines into which his work is featured as well as the books dedicated to his work and career.
If you aren’t familiar with Peter’s art, we encourage it to give it a look. As always, your comments and feedback are very much welcome!
featured in: Nuova Comunicazione
2008December 09
Does the name Chiodo mean something to you? Our faithful readers will remember wollzelle had the honor of being commissioned by Gucci earlier this year to lay out and deliver a comprehensive communication campaign around this season’s most remarkable watch.
Today, we are thrilled to report that Italian design magazine Il Giornale della Nuova Comunicazione is running a feature on our work in its latest issue (October 2008).
The project encompassed a dedicated overlay on Gucci.com, widgets for Mac and PC doubling as organizers, digital tokens and more.
Most thrilling of all, however, was the design and development of a specially crafted touch-screen based interactive totem, that some of you have seen in stores around the globe over the season. It was fun and exciting to dip our fingers in so many pies and see our vision for Chiodo unfold smoothly on so many supports.
Find out more in our previous blog posts about the Gucci Chiodo project and the about the Gucci Chiodo widgets. Of course, and as usual, we hope you enjoyed the widgets and displays, too.
introducing fluxiom's free plan
2008December 01
As a regular typestorming reader, you probably know us best for our design adventures. Indeed, you may have read about how we support fashion, seek out great music and craft interactive interfaces.
Did you know, however, about our darker side? At night, wollzelle engineers come out of their orange coats and roam neon-lit data centres to manage heavy-duty storage gear, high-speed network links and redundant power supplies.
Of course, we’re not quite the mad rocket scientists! We do, however, have a genuine passion for technology. Why, might you ask? Simply because aesthetics make design attractive, but method makes it work. We at wollzelle aim to excel in both.
From this layered approach was born fluxiom, a novel online file manager that aims to annihilate all clutter through the effective use of the latest technologies in storage, search and sharing. Its technical core is wrapped in pure wollzelle design, making it a snap — and, we hope, a joy — to use.
To celebrate fluxiom’s latest accomplishments, we have recently introduced our first free plan.
If you too feel encumbered by files and dragged down by the demands of asset management, you can give fluxiom a spin, and try its most popular features for as long as you wish, without any financial commitment. Once you feel ready, heavier-duty plans are only a click away.
Of course, we couldn’t let the occasion go by without putting together a little video for you. It presents fluxiom and its unique approach to data management better than words ever could. It also introduces a series of features designed to help you manage your own data more effectively.
A high resolution version can be viewed over at fluxiom.com.
We hope you enjoy the video and take fluxiom out for a spin. As always, we very much welcome your comments, questions and suggestions!
Gucci Trunkshow Spring Summer 2009
2008November 28
If the fashion shows are the creative highlights of the couture world, the subsequent, and lesser-known, “trunk shows” signal the true launch of the collections. In an intimate setting, the designer’s best clients get an early look at his latest designs as well as a chance to pre-order the freshly introduced pieces.
Unfortunately, these events can also quickly become an exercise in frustration. Those who cannot attend find themselves unwillingly sitting on the sidelines while coveted items fly off the shelves, and those who do attend often find themselves hesitating between looks and alternatives.
Enter Gucci, and their desire to put a realistic, lifelike experience into the hands of each and every one of their best clients, be they on-the-spot or not, armed with a precise list of looks or a mere idea of their inspiration.
The solution to this problem turned out to be right down wollzelle’s alley.
By envisioning and developing an immersive online experience, putting videos, look cards and close-ups on a single page, we were able to bring all of Gucci’s select customers back in time, to the show itself. With all this knowledge in hand, they can easily phone in orders, even if they cannot attend the trunk show in person.
The precise referencing of all the elements displayed on the site makes collecting and processing orders a snap. The unique, mixed-media presentation of the collection ensures clients know exactly what it is they need — and what it is they want —, down to the minutest detail. By using just the right amount of visual cues, such as panning and fading, we were able to restrict and expand the amount of information displayed on-the-fly, seamlessly guiding the user in her quest for the right piece, all the while respecting Gucci’s polished, high-end, aesthetic.
We at wollzelle are honoured to have contributed to this piece of fashion history and helped spread a true fashion experience to the most far-flung corners of the globe. We hope you enjoy the site… and the collection!
Gucci timepieces e-catalogue
2008September 25
The least glamorous exercise in web design is also the most difficult to complete successfully. We are talking, of course, about the arduous task of transposing a print brochure into an electronic format, keeping its fundamental structure, all the while making it interactive and functional.
Why would one want to do that? Why would one want to do that? For many reasons, including the removal of time and distance barriers as new products are launched, not to mention reducing a campaign’s carbon footprint — thousands of copies of a glossy catalogue add up quickly. Keeping the structure of both the print and web editions similar will, then, allow clients, manufacturers and resellers to use the same set of references and facilitate communication between all the parties involved down the line.
When Gucci contacted us to do just that with the latest version of their Timepieces Catalogue, we knew we had to live up to the challenge. Indeed, this catalogue was something of a landmark issue, introducing the recently launched Chiodo line to the world.
The result? A custom presentation built around a Flash object that allows us to faithfully reproduce the print layout. Motion and effects, overlaid on the existing design, keep the catalogue fresh, interactive and surprising, highlighting the best features of every piece. An index allows users to see the entire collection at a glance, flipping directly to one page or another, and an info link replaces the pricing and “tech specs” insert that traditionally ships with the paper version of the catalogue.
We encourage you to take it for a spin. As always, we will look forwards to hearing your thoughts and comments.
Soziales Netzwerk issue 13
2008August 04
The latest issue of the magazine Soziales Netzwerk, which we art direct, features a very nice article about an elderly lady “aunt Nelly” who rearranged her home accommodation by getting rid of all the furniture, hiring an architect and turning it into her own space.
Gucci Chiodo Watch Launch
2008June 27
Our latest client work was the animated experience devoted to the new Gucci Chiodo Collection. Chiodo was unveiled this April at Baselworld, the international watch fair. It was inspired by the iconic square-head nail employed by the luxury goods house since the Sixties.
This project aimed to support the launch of the new Chiodo watch through a mix of multiple media: classic vehicles and innovative on-line channels. This 360° communication approach involved multiple targets and the communication mix leveraged on the combined effort of channels as print media, on/off-line public relations, outdoor, in-store activities, dedicated section on gucci.com, on-line advertising, podcast and widgets.
Screendesign book
Next to the interactive overlay version we introduced for gucci.com we developed a special touch screen version for this beautiful Totem that was specially built for this case:
The touch screen totem
Touch screen Tower at Baselworld 2008
The aim was to get a smooth 360° view for the 3 lead styles of the collection and a natural movement – here is a preliminary video of the interaction, right from the wollzelle labs ;)
in-store animation
The web contents were utilized at store level too thanks to a digital totem enabling the customers to experience in-store the animation available on-line on www.gucci.com/chiodo,
The widgets
For the 3 lead styles we created a widget presented in an earlier post in our blog. On Apple the widget entered both the “Top 10” and the “Staff Picks”list.
Besides showing time, the Chiodo widget will offer a notepad and a personal organizer. The widget is available on Yahoo and Apple.
The internal widget
An internal widget was developed for all employees to have a global countdown to the launch. The nice side effect was that people who are not so technology affine could experience what a widget is and how it works, on the other hand it sometimes scared us to see how time flies during the project ;)
Wallpapers
Screensavers
The widget wallpapers and screensavers available for Mac and PC can be downloaded at www.gucci.com/chiodo in the download section.
Banner Campaign
We did over 90 different banners and site takeovers for international pages to announce the new Chiodo Collection, amongst others for New York Times, International Herald Tribune or MSN Taiwan. This is a screenshot of the femina.ch takover:
sidenote: a lot of sites should really work on their specifications they hand out, it was a real challenge from time to time. Would be a great service idea to unify this information in a web 2.0 way. Sometimes it felt like the blind leading the blind …
A balanced mix of print and web editorials enabling to announce the new watch and this innovative launch initiative, e.g. butterbloom or dazed digital.
It was one of the most exciting projects because it involved so many different media and we really enjoy multi-disciplinary design projects.
multiple-select-widget
2008June 26
Lately we built a little widget we’d like to share. It allows you to skin a standard multiple selectbox. Here is the demo page you can also download the source via github it’s free. We have more in the drawer and hopefully find time to share those little snippets as well.
Gucci's Chiodo Watch Widget
2008May 01
For the new Chiodo Watch introduced today by Gucci we created a widget that allows you to choose from the 3 lead styles of this new collection of striking timepieces to embellish your dashboard. The widget that tells time, displays notes and sets alarm.
We’re proud to announce that the widget is the featured download today on Apple.com
- Download Gucci Chiodo Yahoo Widget (Get Yahoo Widgets here)
- Download Gucci Chiodo Dashboard Widget
more updates about the whole project soon …
thierisch gut
2008April 03
Identity and naming for a conference room technology and interior design consultancy.
Logotype and colors
The Website
gucci.com new features
2008February 07
We are proud to announce the launch of a major update for Gucci.com we were working on together with the Gucci eBusiness Team the last couple of months.
The website features the Spring Summer 08 collection and with it introducing the new ready-to-wear section.
Also fresh: A lot of interface enhancements like the variation slider, variation tooltips or the new variations panel and a big bunch of under the hood improvements. Enough. The best way to explore is to head over to Gucci.com. Enjoy!
Behind the scenes
It’s a long way from this … (concept drawings by christina)
… to this … (new ready-to-wear panel)
… or this … (the new variations panel)
… you have to do a lot of this … (our office whiteboard)
… and even kill some of this. Life can be a bitch ;)
WHS turns 20
2008January 31
The Wiener Hauskrankenpflege turns 20. Wow! That is a great reason to dedicate the latest issue of Soziales Netzwerk to this whole year.
wollzelle does the art direction, graphic design, and sometimes supervising the photo shootings ;)
Well done and all the best for the next 20 years!
sarira.com launched
2007November 13
“Huge images and a smart way to navigate through the imagery …” were the main objectives for the new website we did for makup artist Sarira Krueger.
The design is focusing the imagery. During the process we always had this idea of an “endless-carousel” navigation in mind which allows us to get along without conventional controls enabling the visitor to easily browse the images. Enjoy: www.sarira.com
Gucci.com gets two W3 awards
2007October 19
The Gucci eBusiness Team and the wollzelle design team are pleased to announce that Gucci.com today was honored by the International Academy of the Visual Arts with two W3 awards:
Gucci.com wins Best in Show for structure and navigation and Gold in shopping.
fluxiom website update
2007September 12
fluxiom comes with an awesome interface and lots of UI effects. So, it’s logical that the fluxiom web site could use a little bit more visual eye candy, and we’ve worked hard to relaunch it in new glory.
First thing, we’ve reduced the start page to provide a nice and welcoming introduction to fluxiom:
Second, we added more details on the features page, including more and richer screenshots (try zooming in!). And sure enough some cool effects like our Rocket Columns on the features and the fluxUp! pages, when switching tabs.
The new fluxiom site features screenshots and images from Viennese photographer Christof Wagner, who allowed us to show off fluxiom by using his very own fluxiom account. A big thank you!
And, last but not least, we’ve added real-time searching on the fluxiom blog:
We hope you enjoy the new site as much as we do!
yellow deli corporate Identity
2007July 16
It seems that new districts spring up like mushrooms in Vienna. One of them is the new business park called “town-town” near Landstraße. In the middle of millions and millions of office buildings is this small new and cool restaurant called yellow-deli. We are responsible for the naming, corporate design, offline and online media. Here are some examples:
Business cards:
Get some food home:
Sticky:
Menus:
Website and some pictures soon …
Soziales Netzwerk issue 11
2007July 05
Finally the 11th issue dialogue between generations is out now! It is published by the non-profit organisation Wiener Hauskrankenpflege and the free magazine features articles about health and active aging and also professional articles about home based-care and primary nursing.
Since the first issue (published in June 2003) where we volunteered to help with the initial start of this ambitious project we take care of the creative process: art direction, graphic design, layout and visual identity. It’s always a great experience to get insight into other professions and so there’s no risk of getting stuck in a rut ;)
Gucci.com is a Webby Award finalist
2007April 10
wollzelle is pleased to announce that the website we designed for Gucci is nominated for the 11th Webby Awards. This year the Webby Awards chose from a field of 8,000 websites so we are proud to have made the final 5 for the category Best Visual Design – Function. The award show is on June 5 in NYC. So cross your fingers everyone!
Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites.
The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.
People’s Voice. Vote For Us!
Vote for gucci.com over at the Webby People’s Voice site and show your support!
gucci.com rules in Japan
2007January 17
Two months after we launched the design refresh, gucci.com achieved the third place at the Most Impressive Website 2006 Award from Web Designing a Tokyo based magazine.
Read more: Web Designing – PDF, 732 KB
Gucci.com design refresh
2006December 12
3 months ago we launched our first work for Gucci and today we are proud to present the second project for the legendary Italian fashion house, synonymous with design innovation and worldly glamour: the design refresh.
In September 2006 we started working together with the Gucci e-business team on the “design refresh” project, where we created a new and brighter visual experience for Gucci.com. The new design is influenced by Frida Giannini’s exclusive fashion creations and the materials and design language of the new store concept that premiered at the Gucci Ginza flagship store.
The web site, including the new Japanese version, launched right on time with the Gucci Ginza flagship store opening party in Tokyo, on November 3, 2006.
fluxiom review at Page magazine
2006October 09
Page a professional magazine for creative media design, publishing and trends, reviewed our webservice fluxiom in their current issue. Page is a leading design and publishing magazine in the german-speaking area.
In addition to the smart features fluxiom scores with an intuitive interface […] in practice fluxiom helps to avoid cramped mailboxes […] and messenger services costs.
Page Magazine 11/2006 (p.64f)
It will be interesting if this has any effect on the geographical distribution of our customers. Right now only eight percent of our users are from german speaking countries (as of the October 1, 2006). In general over 80 percent of our customers are outside the EU.
Download the fluxiom review – PDF, 701 KB
Gucci.com: redefining online experiences
2006August 21
Together with the Worldwide e-Business team at Gucci, wollzelle created a new and unique online experience for www.gucci.com. We’ve been working with Gucci for the last two months to make this happen and it’s great to finally be able to share it with the world.
The new website debuts the german and french online stores as well as a whole new shopping experience. With no extraneous material or distraction, the design concentrates on the brand and it’s luxury products. The horizontal design provides an elegant way to explore the variety of products at a glance, while the interaction design emphazises the shopping experience without distraction.
wollzelle provided us the ability to implement a vision of luxury online shopping that we have been working towards for a number of years. They are imaginative problem solvers, technical magicians, creative designers, and exceptional partners.
Matt Marcus, Worldwide Director e-Business, Gucci
The site uses the technology developed by wollzelle with the open source script.aculo.us library (extracted from our digital asset management fluxiom) to achieve its seemless interactive user experience without using proprietary browser plug-ins—with the user never noticing what’s going on under the wraps. It just works.
We’ve been thrilled to see the level of interest Gucci has taken to break out from the flash based fashion sites and take the next step in continuing their industry leading position in online retailing.
Thanks so much to Matt Marcus (Worldwide Director, e-Business), Phil Vasilevski (Senior Developer) and the whole team.
fluxiom nominated
2006August 01
Our digital asset management web service fluxiom is nominated for the austrian “Multimedia and e-business Staatspreis 2006”. Head over to www.multimedia-staatspreis.at to see all nominees. The secret who the winner will be is disclosed on September 19, at the gala night.
Update 9/19/06
Fluxiom received a Jury mention in the category “Geschäftsverkehr und Handel” (btw the only one in this category).
More information (german):
Soziales Netzwerk No.10
2006June 14
The next issue of the magazine with articles about current social, care and health topics is now available — www.sozialesnetzwerk.at(german language).
Chang asian duck
2006May 18
The new chang asian duck web site accompanies the asian noodles site we did back in 2003. Have a look at www.chang.at and maybe after these impressions you’ll have dinner or some drinks there. ;)
fluxiom unleashed
2006April 19
We’re proud to announce that fluxiom is unleashed. fluxiom makes it easy to organize and share your digital assets within your company, your colleagues and friends. Manage any kind of file like corporate media assets, marketing materials, product folders, contracts, images, text documents, logos or artwork – you name it.
Christof Wagner
2006February 15
With the new portfolio page of Christof Wagner, wollzelle demonstrates the potential of the script.aculo.us JavaScript library in combination with an elegant portfolio design. Flash without Flash – the script.aculo.us effect(s)! ;)
Soziales Netzwerk No.9
2005December 08
The christmas issue of the magazine with articles about current social, care and health topics is now available — www.sozialesnetzwerk.at (german language).
urban metamorphoses for the crimea
2005December 03
Toms and I wrote an article about the urban career of the city of Yalta for the book Urbane Metamorphosen für die Krim (urban metamorphoses for the crimea). We were invited to bring up our thoughts in this issue because we wrote our diploma thesis about citybranding concepts for lviv (a city in the Ukraine) and also made a project about future development in Yalta. We travelled a lot around the Ukraine—we love this country and all the movement that is going on there.
The book is published by the urban design and landscape architecture institute at the technical university in Vienna and is available to buy.
Crime.Master.Coriolanus
2005December 01
projekt berggasse uses wollzelle’s UNCODE for live visuals: projekt berggasse staged a scenic reading at Vienna’s Schauspielhaus (Text: Thom Ballhausen).
Three voices a associative music-layer and the acoustic signals coupled with live visuals questioning the Shakespeares hero and show how merciless text could be/must be.
wollzelle announces fluxiom
2005November 24
We’ve finally unveiled what we’ve been working on the last months. It’s a Ajax/Web 2.0 asset management application, and it’s called fluxiom. Just head over to www.fluxiom.com and watch the teaser video!
making-it 2
2005May 23
making-it 2, a one year project wollzelle was a part of under the “codename” raumspray, is over. We implemented a realtime audio analyzing and 3D visualization application called UNCODE for this art project (plus, we did some sweaty office remodelling…)
New WHS website launched
2005April 24
The new website of the Wiener Hauskrankenpflege is now online. The site is tuned to be as accessible as possible, so that clients that have disabilities can access the information easily. We think that accessibility and cool design can work great together.
Casinos Austria International
2005January 11
The new website for Casinos Austria International was launched today. We started with the concept and the design of the website already in 2003 but finally it’s online!
fotoshooting
2004October 26
Together with Franco Winter we composed 10 ad campaign images for WHS a non-profit organisation assisting older people at home and improving there everdays life.
All of the actors on the sujets are amateurs (employees, parents of employees and even clients of the WHS). It was a great experience.
Setting up the scene:
The final image:
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