The Lick Library project included a number of goals that offered some interesting challenges and a chance to get involved with some great technology. Adobe Flash is considered by some to be in decline, this is not the case, it is still the powerhouse behind most video delivery systems on the internet and offers a level of control and finesse missing from HTML5.

The brief was to deliver a flexible player that could fulfill many roles on the Licklibrary website and be configured from the server.

The encrypted video streams are supplied by industry leading Akamai. We used the Open Video Player library supplied by Akaimai to handle the decryption. Om top of this base we wrote 10,000 lines of custom code to bring the project together.

Developed over nearly two year alongside a complete development if the main Lick Library site, this project illustrates our abilty to problem solve at the highest level.

Phuse have recently completed a high profile project for Nissan on behalf of the Chapter Agency.

The first part of the project involved developing an interactive Adobe Flash presentation for Nissan's annual European conference.

The second part of the project involved developing a version of the presentation to be used by regional sales managers across Europe. The presentation was required to be developed in the Erudis framework as this allows for the central management and exporting of presentation documents across Europe.

Working with the Erudis framework we delivered a polished presentation that included multi level navigation, video and animated elements and content managed sections.

For more information on developing for Erudis contact us on 01702 482011.

Phuse were commissioned to produce an interactive film that would engage visitors and give them an exciting way to enjoy and appreciate art. The fairy-tale story takes place in the Tate Modern and centres around Degas' famous sculpture 'The Little Dancer'. Using a number of cutting edge interactive processes and Martin Percy's exquisitely shot video, Phuse create a completely interactive experience taking users on a journey through the gallery. Users interact throughout the film, solving puzzles and exploring some mysterious locations along the way in order to unlock the many secrets behind the intriguing sculpture. The website was nominated for a Webby Award in 2010 in the category of 'Best Use of Interactive Video'.

The brief

The brief was to create an interactive video based game that used the space in the newly decontaminated oil storage area at the Tate Modern. The aim was to show people in a fun and engaging way the areas that will soon be opened up to the public before said areas are renovated. The creative director created a story based around Degas' famous Little Dancer sculpture, which comes to life and leads a new security guard on a journey around the site.

During the game key decisions need to be made by the player. Clues are uncovered and puzzles solved leading the user to a magical finale in the main oil tank. As part of a large development we were tasked with taking all the video footage and developing a Flash environment to show the footage linked by some simple games.

Our approach to this project, as with many projects that have many people needing to approve or have input, is to modularize all the component parts. This allows us to be flexible and respond to change quickly without needing to rebuild from scratch each time. This way of working allows us to great prices even on bespoke work.

Below are the modules we created in order to pull this project together.

Flash interactive video

We decided to develop a completely non-linear video engine that is triggered via hotspots on the screen giving the user freedom to navigate around the virtual environment of the hundreds of short clips as if they were one seamless video.

Flash puzzle games

To allow progress to the different levels of the game we created a number of mini games that related to the story.

Treasure Hunt

As the game moves towards a climax there is a section where the user navigates around an area using the interactive video engine. Added to this is a treasure hunt style game where items are placed in the space and discovered zooming in to the detail on a certain clip.

To see more of our work visit our web design portfolio.

 

Phuse have recently designed and developed a brand new website for the Stacey's Auction house. The site features auction lots in current and recent auction catalogues which are available for customers to browse and submit commission bids. The addition of an online payment system gives customers the ability to pay for auction purchases online.

Our web team worked closely with Stacey's to produce an interactive site with a flexible administration system that allows staff to work efficiently and quickly when creating new auctions and managing individual lots.

The result is a professional looking site that gives Stacey's a powerful web presence and enhanced exposure for their auctions.



Stacey's Auctions - Home page



Stacey's Auctions - Auction catalogue page

You can view the completed site here: www.staceyauction.com

Phuse have recently produced a 40th anniversary video/animation for Sealine on behalf of Chapter Agency, The animation is a mixture of static images and video excerpts set in time to the music.

Two version of the video were created; a HTML5 version for iPad and iPhone users and a Flash version for standard PC and Mac users. The animation and video was built and edited entirely in house by Phuse.

Being a reader of science fiction and a lover of graphic design I have always admired the cover art of science fiction novels especially the ones printed in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Whenever in charity shops and boot sale type places I always keep my eye open for these generally torn a tatted items.

I recently found a number of old novels some in great condition which had probabaly never been read. Whether your a science fiction fan or not you can't help but admire the skill of some of these pre-computer age graphic artists.

Researching the covers led me to discover the work of two exciting graphic designers; David Pelham and Franco Grignani.



David Pelham became Art Director for Peguin Fiction in 1968 creating a number of covers himself including the two covers above, both Alfred Bester novels. He also created the famous cover artwork for the Antony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange. Pelham also commisioned other artists like Italian Franco Grignani.

Grignani went on to create a series of sixteen covers for Penguin including the cover shown below right for Fred Saberhagen's 1970 novel Berserker. The cover depicts a distorted robotic figure towering over hordes of humans, it takes on a more sinister twist when you note that the novel is about cold alien killing machines programmed to destroy all life in the universe!




In a time before any computer aided design the two slightly psychedelic covers below are interesting. The face in the middle is Issac Asimov himself.





You can view more Penguin Sci-Fi cover art here: www.penguinsciencefiction.org Also a selection of Panther Science Fiction covers