Projects that inspire

Rob Ford

When I heard that Adobe Inspire Magazine would be available on tablets, I was delighted. Having recently bought a new iPad, I can see how browsing such publications on a tablet can be very rewarding. By the time you read this, the new FWA Daily app may be available as well, so you can grab some daily FWA goodness on your mobile device.

This month's column highlights some amazing projects, many of which you can view on your mobile phone or tablet. I am seeing more projects that work across all devices, thanks to responsive design.

So sit back, relax, and thumb through these inspirational projects.

The Deepest Site

The simplest ideas have the most impact and are often the most memorable. The creators hail this site as the deepest site in the world, and having explored it for quite some time, I think I'd have to agree. There was a site back in 2007 for Orange, called Good Things Should Never End, that scrolled forever but was a loop of animations. This site for Borjomi, a Georgian mineral water, lets you scroll and scroll and scroll through the Earth's crust until you reach the source from which the water is extracted. This clever idea also gets the point across very well. Be prepared to buy a new mouse or wear out part of your tablet's screen on this site.

The Deepest Site

Meet the Residents of Collinsport

This site can take a while to load if you are not on a good connection, but it's worth letting the entire page load before exploring. This scrolling site introduces you to 10 quirky characters and 10 creepy motion posters via 10 custom-themed environments. The experience from desktop to mobile is exactly the same. This site is packed with subtle animations, which are sometimes so subtle that you hardly even notice them until something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye... just like someone is watching you. This site may be static, but it has amazing ambiance.

Meet the Residents of Collinsport

TweetFuel

This is an experimental project that uses a Nike+ FuelBand to measure the health of creative agency Stinkdigital's Twitter account (@stinkdigital). I love this type of experiment — totally original thinking. It is also a clever way for the agency to get noticed and increase its Twitter followers. The way the site works is that every time someone follows, retweets, or mentions the @stinkdigital account, the custom-made motorized kit spins a mounted Nike+ FuelBand. Make sure you check out the video demo to see this actually working.

TweetFuel

Monster's Socks

Interactive story books for children are gaining popularity. Most of them take the book format and add some simple animations to each page. While the stories are good, that approach is not very innovative or forward-thinking. I love Monster's Socks because it tells the story of Monster, who has lost his socks, in the form of an actual interactive experience. You can sit and read the story with your kids or let them go it alone. The controls are simple — just press the left or right arrow and discover the numerous interactive elements along the way. This book boasts great creative production, and kids will love it.

Monster's Socks

Range Rover Evoque — Victoria Beckham

Another site that works great on the desktop and mobile, this highly visual, parallax-scrolling HTML5 experience tells the story of the creation of the new Range Rover Special Edition with Victoria Beckham. To see a project that not only showcases the product itself but also the designer is quite unique, and the atmosphere created here certainly gives a feeling of collaboration. The high-end, stylish vehicle is perfectly displayed, and the detailed, almost full-screen imagery takes this site to another level.

Range Rover Evoque — Victoria Beckham

The Two Minute Test

Have you ever wanted to be a teacher? This site, aimed at recruiting teachers in Norway, is responsive across many devices and offers a two-minute test of your knowledge, logic, and more. The level of interactivity is very impressive for an HTML experience and is a great example of what can be achieved these days. The test gives you some hints. You start with 100 points, and you lose points for every wrong answer. This site is well made and simple to use.

The Two Minute Test

Stella Artois Chalice Factory

Some months ago, I wondered how long it would be before I saw a website that was navigated by your voice. As it happens, at that time several different agencies were working on exactly that, and some of them are now online. This project for Stella Artois is one of the best I have seen so far. It uses the Google Voice Search API to create Alice, your voice-activated guide. If you don't have a microphone, do not worry. You can still use your keyboard to navigate.

Stella Artois Chalice Factory

Magnum Pleasure Hunt 2

Some of you may remember Magnum Pleasure Hunt 1 from last year. It's actually quite rare to get sequels online, but this game shows why developers should consider doing sequels. This Flash based, immersive, interactive game experience enables you to run through New York, fly across Paris, surf the waves of Rio, and do much more. This really has taken online games to another level and even includes old-school classics like Frogger in a modern way. You'll have so much fun with this game.

Magnum Pleasure Hunt 2

BASE Persoton

As always, I like to finish on something fun and original. So how about making a ringtone out of your Facebook profile picture? Basically, you connect via Facebook, and this site will use your current profile picture to create a unique ringtone. You can then listen to it, download it, and paste it to your Facebook wall if you want to. This simple idea is sure to intrigue everyone with a Facebook account.

BASE Persoton

Epilogue

With each column I write, I see more projects that are created to work on all devices. This is clearly the direction things are going. However, it's also good to see some of the amazing desktop projects, proving the web's digital roots are still alive and well. As I always say, it's the idea that is important. If you have a good one, realize it online, and you never know what might happen.

Rob Ford founded The FWA Network in May 2000. Since then, the network has received more than 150 million visits. The FWA Network showcases projects that use cutting-edge technology for desktop, mobile, and offline experiences, together with showcases for photography as well as video. Rob is also the author of three best-selling books on web and mobile. Check out The FWA Network.