Patrick Bennett: Graphic Design New York

Summer Time

Sat, 26 Jun 2004 19:21:36 +0100

Well, it's been quite a long time since a post, so here's the latest on what's going on. First of all, work still continues with the great people over at Samsung on their stellar web marketing endeavors. Within the next week some of this work will be added to the Portfolio section. Also in the works right now is a dynamic Flash project for Bootstrap Software. It's moving right along towards completion within the next two to three weeks.

The big news (and the main reason why there have been no posts lately) is that an enormous amount of work has been coming from RG/A. Yes, the company responsible for many, many, many great NIKE sites, the Reuters sign in Times Square, the Aveda site, several Levis sites, the IBM site and more. This is Adweek's Affiliated Interactive Agency of the Year (again). Anyway, the work specifically relates to Verizon's online marketing efforts, some Nike and a little Voom. Perhaps soon some of this work will also find it's way into the Portfolio section.

Finally, there's still that mystery project alluded to in previous posts. Yes, much has happened since January towards its completion, however a full launch is still a little while off. Check back for updates.

Flash Player 8 penetration numbers

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:40:00 +0100

The choice to use Adobe's Flash Player 8 for the Flash version of this site wasn't necessarily an easy one. Sure it had all the latest technologies just waiting to be tapped including superior text editing and improved CSS support, but when work began it had only been out for a month or so and therefore wasn't widely used.

That's why it's great to see the new Flash Player 8 penetration numbers released today showing that after just 5 months, Flash Player 8 has reached a penetration of roughly 50%. This news will propel site development towards even richer experiences with much more use of video. If used correctly, these new technologies may even mean a whole new way of experiencing content online.

Emmy Huang of Adobe has further details.

Busy Busy

Tue, 20 Jan 2004 20:21:36 +0100

This year has begun on a very busy note (banners, American Design awards, projects from BBDO's interactive agency, logo designs, quite a lot of Flash work, some branding, and more) yet through it all one project has been polished and refined. This project should be ready to announce soon, so check back often as there should be some major announcements right here within the next few weeks.

A Flash update over 2 years in the making

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:50:00 +0100

OK, so work wasn't being done for the entire 2 plus years, however that was the last time the Flash version of this site was updated. That version (number 2!) garnered many encouraging words from visitors from all over the world including Mexico, India, Japan, Australia, and everywhere in between... But in the internet world over 2 years seems like an eternity and the site was looking pretty dated.

Thankfully that all changes with the new and improved Flash 8 version launching tonight. If you're not already looking at it, head over there now. On first glance, it may seem very similar to it predecessor, but this new version is actually a considerable evolution. Gone are the brackets and other elements that felt stylistically old and they've been replaced with an understated efficient interface geared solely towards getting users to the content they're after quicker than ever. Of course a rewrite wouldn't be complete without bells and whistles, and this one has tons of them under the hood. The Flash 8 text engine is utilized for amazingly crisp text, Actionscript 2.0 is implemented, XML parsed from a mySQL database provides the majority of the content, animation is dynamically generated with code, Flash CSS styles text, and, somehow, it still all manages to squeeze into a 77k package easily.

As exciting as this is, there's still some ways to go before this new design is 100% done. There are a couple minor bugs (hopefully you don't notice) and some missing sections (like downloads), but expect to see quite a bit of development on this design over the next few weeks where bugs will be squashed and new features added.

In the meantime, enjoy!

The Fastest Human Debuts

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 19:21:36 +0100

Verizon, like many other large companies out there, is investigating new ways to reach consumers as a result of the prevailing idea that the mass market is being quickly eroded due to increasing consumer control over the many sources of available entertainment. With this central idea as the driving factor, Verizon looked to R/GA to create a compellingly fun concept to herald their newest fiber optic to the premises technology capable of speeds in excess of 10 times current cable data rates.

Enter Max Harbinger, a young boy training to be the fastest human on the Earth! (Oddly enough, he's played by one of the copy writers who thought him up due to a stellar performance on the original pitch movie clip.)

Anyway, head on over to The Adventures of Superfast Max to check out the video clips in a site designed by me and the great people at R/GA.

Napster Returns

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 19:21:36 +0100

As the battle for the online music sale business heats up, Napster returns with it's legal pay-per-download service and what's the best new hardware for this service? The new Samsung YP910GS, of course. Take a look at the new landing page animation I produced for them once again working with the great people at CCA World.

A New, Updated CSS Design

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

Although the design for this site hasn't changed much in the two and a half years it has been up, when it seemed like a good time for a refresh there weren't many issues that stood out as needing to be addressed. In fact, it boiled down to the fact that the old html site was too narrow and a bit too dark with all the blue.

You're looking at the remedy. The content space has been opened up about 150 pixels to allow for more room around items and less scrolling. In regards to the darkness of the site, the background switched to a light gray. This lightened up the site experience immensely. Then, to finally make the left sidebar seem more contained, it gained a background color. This also improved the legibility of the silhouette logo.

All in all, a small tweak of the design that hopefully people will find cleaner and even easier to navigate. Enjoy.

Fall Site Updates

Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:21:36 +0100

Between the work from RG/A, Samsung and that mystery project there has been little time for some more enjoyable activities, like keeping this site current by implementing enhancements, adding work to the portfolio, updating the resume and adding additional desktop wallpaper downloads. That being the case, you may still have noticed that some small improvements have been made to the XHTML portion of the site including an updated main nav across the entire site, a rounded area at the bottom with a subtle shadow and sub-nav within the portfolio. The tweaks to the navigation are based on the principles of Fitt's Law. More information about which can be found at 1976 Design.

Anyway, look for more tweaks in the coming weeks to the XHTML layout and functionality, larger changes for the Flash version, a slew of the latest graphic design and web design work added to the portfolio, and more importantly a move to a MySQL and PHP structure. This will pave the way for even more updates to come.

Be sure to stop back soon.

2005 Halloween Desktops

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 13:00:00 +0100

It's been quite a while since there have been new desktops in in the downloads section, but all that changed last week when 3 new Halloween desktops were added. Unfortunately, that news took a while to make it to this page, but even with Halloween's activities nearing a close, you can still enjoy these desktops year round.

So, head over to the downloads page and fancy up your desktop with some new images inspired by horror movies from the 80's!

Hong Kong Signs

Sun, 28 Dec 2003 20:21:36 +0100

While on a short trip to Hong Kong, I couldn't stop taking pictures of their signs. Odd ones, normal ones, everything seemed so new and odd. A couple have been made into desktop patterns and added to the selection in the downloads area. Take a look, download, enjoy, repeat.

Verizon and the MTV VMAs

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Rounding out my time on the Verizon Broadband Stories project working with the always excellent R/GA team, I got to head down the Miami Beach to record stories from people who attended the wild ride that was the lead up to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. We arrived on Wednesday before the big show, just one day before Katrina decided to pay South Florida a visit. This shuttered Hotel MTV which was to be the primary shooting ground. Of course ever diligent, we were able to get many stories from the people in our hotel through Friday. Friday night the parties began again in ernest with Saturday seeing a triumphant return of Hotel MTV with David Banner being the highlight of the show.

All in all, hours of great footage was captured making the trip a total success despite our hurricane related setbacks. Hopefully, a lot of that footage will be showing up on the site in the near future, so keep checking it out.

HTML Portfolio updated

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 19:21:36 +0100

The HTML portfolio has gotten a face lift and been connected to the MySQL database that's now running the show on this site. This was long overdue and should lead to much more rapidly added showcase items. There are five new items there now. Two Verizon projects for their sliding sports (think luge) and GRAMMYs sponsorships. Also, two projects from Enyce for their Holiday and Summer lines. Additionally, a one off project for the Clinton Presidential Center creating shirt designs is also in the mix.

Enyce Fall Collection Site Design

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0100

The new Enyce Fall Collection site is now live (click on the large Flash animation at the top to enter the look area). The theme for this site was gritty South Central Los Angeles. The photo shoot happened on site in L.A. with, oddly enough, gang members as guides and guards. Then with a very short timeline (and a vacation thrown in the mix), the site needed to be produced and pushed live. As always, it was a pleasure working with the people at Enyce who grant an enormous amount of creative freedom allowing for the crafting of the Flash areas within their site template. Enjoy the site.

Resume Updated

Sat, 28 May 2005 19:21:36 +0100

To commemorate the new system for updates that's being rolled out throughout the site, the resume has been updated. The latest work related information has been added that includes all the work for RG/A and Enyce.

The next step will be to convert the portfolio section to run on the same system allowing for a long overdue update.

Check back soon.

News via RSS available now

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 17:02:00 +0100

Starting today, you can now stay up to date on the latest news around here with a handy dandy Patrick Bennett RSS feed!

Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is a format for syndicating news and content of news-like sites. Popularized by blogs everywhere, it allows users to have their RSS feed aggregator software check websites for updates. Then the user is alerted to new content without having to check the site themselves. It allows users to stay informed without having to constantly make manual checks of their favorite RSS enabled sites.

If all this sounds very complicated, don't worry, it isn't. Check out software like NetNewsWire for Mac (free version available as NetNewsWire Lite), Apple's own Safari browser or the cross-platform RSSOwl.

Verizon's Broadband Stories site

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 19:21:36 +0100

Verizon supplies many people all over the country with quality broadband solutions and as such has positioned itself to make the transition in the mind of consumers from the telephone company to the broadband company. Working with the good people at R/GA, I had a chance to help with that transition with the creation of the Broadband Stories site.

Pitching the idea, I would explain that it should be essentially more of an art project as though a photographer drove cross-country taking pictures of people along the way, then published a coffee table book entitled America 2005. This site should become a cross-section of what people across the country are doing with broadband.

Head over and check it out... then add your own story.

Note: Today only, catch a Broadband Stories video / rich media banner on Yahoo.com!

PHP Site Updates

Fri, 27 May 2005 19:21:36 +0100

Updating this site was becoming a problem with all the projects that have been happening lately. As a result, the news has gotten a little... well... stale. To remedy the situation a new PHP and MySQL system has been implemented! This allows for instant updates through the database with the PHP parsing the data into the CSS XHTML layout. WIth updates being so easy, expect much more to be posted much more often.

Note: If you don't understand what that means, just rest assured that it's good.

Broadband Stories press

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 19:21:36 +0100

Verizon's Broadband Stories site continues to get press. It's an interesting feeling to see so many people pay attention to something that only 7 months ago was some rambling idea scribbled out on a napkin. Anyway, the latest to comment was Gawker (of all places) with a posting today on the Reuters Sign portion of the campaign.

Check out Gawker's They Say the Jumbotrons Are Bright on Broadway to read their take.

Or check out these other postings:
Verizon and the broadband stories
Verizon Wants to Hear Users' Broadband Stories

On the topic of interest... It seems like Max Harbinger is also making the rounds. Here he is on Room 116 in a post titled New Verizon DSL Campaign (which is a little unfortunate). He also made it to foreign lands here: Save Time, be Fast.

The new Guinness 1759 Society site launches

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 13:00:00 +0100

Working as a freelance Creative Director with the good people of EURO 4D, I got the pleasure of helping to craft the re-imagining of the members only Guinness 1759 Society for Guinness (a Diageo brand). For years the society was really just a name for their RM program that consisted of unrelated single touches in the form of emails, landing pages, and DM pieces. With their internal team recognizing that the landscape of communicating with consumers has changed since the society's inception, they saw an opportunity to make a step towards a more genuine conversation.

What launched now is just the tip of the iceberg for the new society. Updated often with new communications and run on member input, I expect the new society site to grow exponentially over the course of the next year or so as it gathers momentum and exclusive, member's only content. (Like the currently featured Brewmaster commercial outtakes pictured.)

Swing by, sign up, check it out, subscribe to the RSS feed and immerse yourself in a grassroots fueled Guinness experience.

Making the switch to WordPress 2.0

After only about 6 months of using its own proprietary MySQL/PHP system for posting and displaying news items, the news section of the xhtml/CSS version of this site has made the switch over to using the amazing, open source WordPress 2.0 "semantic personal publishing platform" and it's been an immensly pleasant process.

It's not so much a move due to the previous system not working, but rather was motivated by the ease and extensibility of WordPress. With all the client work to do on a daily basis, making improvements to this site can often take a distant back seat, so this change should speed things up a bit keeping the content fresh and timely.

Of course, it's a work in progress and there are bound to be some bugs here and there, but hopefully those can be squashed sooner rather than later.

Working with Catch 24 on Lufthansa

After a long and (completely unrelated) vacation in Germany and the Czech Republic, I had the pleasure of working on a promotional DVD authoring project for Lufthansa Airlines through a long, long relationship with the great people at Catch 24 Advertising & Design. A welcome break from the many internet based undertakings, this project consisted of a short 14 second introductory animation (which may find its way into the portfolio section later for viewing) built in Apple's Motion 2.0 product. Then some supplied video assets were added to the mix with the authoring being done in Apple's amazingly intuitive DVD Studio Pro 4 application.

The end product was just what Lufthansa needed to communicate their superior luxury services to their highest priority, first class customers... And possibly the beginning of more Lufthansa work coming this way via Catch 24.

Rising StarStyle

Get ready to start hearing a lot about this exciting new company! For the past couple months, I've had the opportunity to work with the excellent team at StarStyle.com (owned by Entertainment Media Works, LLC) on some very interesting new offerings that should be launching sooner rather than later. I certainly don't want to give away the surprise, but with a "team that includes the ex-chairman of CBS, the founder of AOL, the ex-CEO of Bloomingdales, and amongst others a Brit, a Brazilian and some guy from Kentucky", they must be up to something big.

Expect to see some of my new design work appearing soon on their site and other projects across the web.

What's new?

Although there hasn't been much activity on this page, there has been an enormous amount of activity behind the scenes in the past months. There's been continuing wrangling of design with StarStyle.com who managed to secure the American Idol fashions and brand. Also, work continnues on some online Enyce projects that should (hopefully) be done soon.

But perhaps the biggest change is that I've personally joined the team at Ogilvy Interactive to work on the Six Flags account. This will mean big changes in the studio as it won't be the main focus for the foreseeable future. I'm very proud of the work that has come out of my studio as well as the creative relationships that have been cultivated over the past couple years, so I may still occassionally have new projects launch. You'll just have to so stay tuned. However, in the meantime, visit your local Six Flags and perhaps I'll have some fun launch announcements soon.

SixFlags.com updates

One of the great things about working online is the immediacy with which projects get created and launched. SixFlags.com has seen lots of updates over the past months due to the great team at OgilvyOne, so why not head over there and check out the new(ish) national home page, updated park pages like the Six Flags Great Adventure one, and the special Magic Mountain home page announcing their newest coaster. All great stuff. Hopefully, there's lots more on the way, so stay tuned.

Six Flags Fright Fest

It's almost that time of year again. So, in celebration of everything ghoulish and spooky, Six Flags has once again spookified their site in acticipation of the freaky events they'll be offering come October in their parks throughout the country. The amazing team at OgilvyOne did an excellent job bringing the park vibe to their online presence through pumpkin carving, scares, bats, ominous skies in full video and more.

Expect a few more surprises before the end of October tied to Fright Fest!

Six Flags Great American Scream Off

Six Flags has partnered with fledgling online contest specialist, Bix to create The Great American Scream Off Contest. Users can record themselves screaming into their webcams for entry. Then based on online votes, four winners will be selected. Then for 1 week only, those winners will be voted on to select a grand prize winner!

The Bix site and strategy is very interesting. It's also making the rounds through the blogosphere and beyond into traditional media like the Wall Street Journal.

It'll be interesting to follow the contest and see what gets submitted and where the votes go. So, if you're interested in some VLP (Very Loud Person) prize packs, or just watching people scream their heads off, check out the Scream Off at Bix.

New Desktops

Creating complicated vector desktops can be extremely involved and time consuming. What's worse is that sometimes the design falls out of favor before being completed adding itself to the digital scrapyard of files that seemed like a good idea the first few hours they were worked on. Anyway, to combat this and still get out some interesting desktops, expect to see a slew of new photographic wallpapers gracing the downloads section.

The first in this new trend is there now for download. It's called Brooklyn Rooftops, so get downloading. Swing back soon for even more new ones, enjoy.

Abstract "Lights" Desktop

It's taken a while for a new desktop, but here it is. It's called "Lights" because the photo was taken of a building's lights at night while driving down the street in the back of a cab. A stop light's glow added the majority of the color with the exposure and an unsteady hand contributing to the wavy lines. Anyway... head over to the downloads page for this new design and more!

Desktops are great, but where's the work?

Yeah, it's been a while since there has been any news about work launching or otherwise making it out into the world, but don't let that fool you. Things have been extremely busy around here for some time. And it's all leading up to a very big project becoming public very soon. Sure, that's pretty cryptic, but stay tuned. Something's on it's way.

The All New SixFlags.com Launches

Producing large websites the likes of sixflags.com for a company as unique as Six Flags Theme Parks is an undertaking so large, so full of potential pitfalls, and so amazingly complex that it's no wonder complete interface to infrastructure redesigns of this size don't happen all that often. That said, the all new web presence for Six Flags is a huge step into the future everyone involved should be proud of. Highlights include large expanses of space for gorgeous new photography on nearly every page, massive video streaming at HD resolutions larger than many HDTVs, immersive 360 degree panoramic photography users can use to experience what it's like to be at the top of the scariest rides on the planet, two original Flash games, over 2000 pages of rewritten copy, and more image assets depicting more rides, stores, events, entertainment, emotions and experiences than you can imagine across numerous park sites coast-to-coast! The best part is that the new site will only just keep growing with more new content, new features, sweepstakes, partnerships with leading companies and more. So, sign up for the all new Team Six to stay up to date with the latest Six Flags news, but remember that despite the fact that this new site is chock full of experiential content, the only way to get the full Six Flags experience is to visit the one closest to you! Get your tickets, Season Passes, or VIP tours here and enjoy!

Valentine's Desktop: "Roses"

Just in time for Valentine's Day, here's a new desktop to get you into the spirit: Roses. So, adorn your computer in the soft folds of these roses or send them to that special someone. Enjoy.

Kyoto Umbrella Desktop

It's been a long time coming, but now available for your enjoyment is a new mostly vector based desktop called Kyoto Umbrella. This will be the first desktop in a group with a Japanese theme. Sometimes a good vacation is just the thing to get the creative juices flowing!

Anyway, head over to the Downloads page and get downloading! Oh, and while you're at it, check out the newly added Six Flags Redesign portfolio item.

HTML Site Updates

The HTML version of the site is moving to a new template! The new code features leaner CSS, javascript rounded corners, animated columns and more. There will still be some tweaking going on over the next couple days, but hopefully the transition will be a smooth one. In addition, some new items will be getting added to the portfolio (finally) and lots of minor copy changes. So, look around. Kick the tires. Be kind. And Enjoy.

My Best Desktops Launches

For a few years now, I've been designing or using some of my photography to make desktop wallpapers for my personal use. Sometimes, I would even make these available to the world via a couple different web outlets like my work site. The downloads have really been phenomenal for quite some time, so I've finally decided to launch a site just for these desktop wallpaper downloads.Say hello to MyBestDesktops.com! At this site, I'll upload ALL of the past desktops and continue adding new desktops practically everyday for the foreseeable future! That means vector desktops, photo desktops, text based desktops, fun desktops, serious desktops, animal desktops, travel desktops and everything between! So, check out MyBestDesktops.com and get downloading! I'll do my best to remember to update it as often as possible.

Art Directed Photo Lands in Communication Arts Photography Annual 48

This happened a while ago, but reporting on it is better late than never. A photo taken by Michael Warren and art directed by myself at last year's Six Flags photo shoot down at Six Flags Over Texas was featured in this year's Communication Arts Photography Annual 48. It's a truly impressive image that takes a simple roller coaster and turns it into a mountainous, imposing figure few would dare tackle. This work was done through Ogilvy with the help of fantastic creative directors, art buyers, producers, retouchers, and more.

Six Flags Updates Their Myspace Pressence With More Fun

Sporting the new "More Flags More Fun" branding, the Six Flags Myspace relaunched the other day. Pay it a visit. Watch the breakdance video. Get some new Myspace page profile skins. Friend Six Flags. And enjoy.

PENCIL's 2008 Spring Gala

The past 2 years, I've enjoyed being a part of Ogilvy's partnership with PENCIL and PS 123. Working with the kids (who are all around 11 years old) has certainly been challenging and rewarding. So, when the opportunity arose to attend this year's PENCIL Spring Gala and get a larger view of the program, I wanted to check it out. From the very first piece produced by HBO about a couple of the partnerships between the private sector and public schools through the very last award given to a PENCIL partner, I was truly impressed at the participants in the program and the ability of the program to really make a difference in the community. Check out pencil.org for more information on their programs.