Jim Regan - Site Reviews
Second Story
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But, there is an exception to every introduction, and in this case the exception is Second Story, a creator of "interactive experiences" based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1994, Second Story Web sites (for such clients as National Geographic, NASA, Contax and Yashica, TerraQuest and Nike) have -- deservedly -- won awards with an almost embarrassing consistency, and the home page itself is an object lesson in form complimenting function, and an awareness of who is likely to be visiting.
The first indication of Second Story's above average design intelligence is present, though unseen, on the site's front page. Like most developers, Second Story has access to and expertise in the latest Web tools. Unlike most, they don't assume everyone else has the necessary cutting edge plug-ins, or is willing to invest the download time merely to view their wizardry.
The upshot of this realization is the presence of Flash and non-Flash versions of the site -- with the appropriate variant loading automatically depending on your browser's configuration. After loading, the opening (Flash) page presents the visitor with that rarest of attributes, elegant simplicity -- an attractive animated listing of some of the company's Web sites and awards, and a pull-down menu of twenty-three featured "Projects." ("Projects", because the list contains more than just Web sites, including a morphing National Geographic magazine cover, and Pinch - a downloadable promotional piece for a fictional clothespin manufacturer.)
More viewer empathy is evident in the way Second Story avoids cluttering up its front page with links to corporate information. No doubt knowing that most visitors to the site will simply be voyeurs, with no interest in bios, contact info, mission statements or manifestos, all information of interest to a potential client is tucked neatly away at the bottom of the Projects list. (Including a surprisingly out-of-date "Exhibitions and Events" listing -- ah well, nobody's perfect.)
To move deeper into the site, the visitor simply chooses a project (listed chronologically) from the pull-down menu. The center of the site's three horizontal frames then loads an introduction to the chosen project, quotes from reviews with links to the reviewers, and animated gifs which rotate screenshots from the selected site. (This last feature not only gives the casual visitor a quick introduction to the 'look' of the site, but also shows potential customers, as they survey various projects, that this is not a company likely to recycle the same site for different clients.) There is also, of course, a link to the project itself, which opens into its full screen own window.
All the projects are worth a look, most are worth a long visit, and at least one linked review is a must-read. The Internet Professional Publishers Association -- not an easy group to impress -- found itself "struggling with even how to prepare" a review of a site created for DreamWorks Records. In the end they settled on such phrases as, "not just good design, it is visionary and close to pushing the limit beyond today" and "a peek at the next step in the visual vocabulary of the Web." One can assume that they liked it.
This review is itself a bit unusual, in that if you visit Second Story's home page, you'll spend the vast majority of your time on the other side of the features described above -- but that in itself speaks to the success of the design. Rather than trying to amaze and astound with their own page, Second Story prefers to display its talents through its work, which they do quite effectively. The IPPA review of the DreamWorks site warns, "This site may be hazardous to your schedule" -- you can imagine what viewing the other twenty-two projects will do to it.
Second Story can be found at http://www.secondstory.com/.
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.