On behalf of my colleagues at Verigo Business Systems, Angus and Travis, I’d like to take a moment to announce the launch of our latest project: wYse bodywear.
Verigo handled the client liaison and project management and passed concept, design and development to me. I wanted to create an interface that focused on the content, that encouraged exploration and that was intuitive whilst still being novel. The budget and deadline were quite humble… so we had to figure out what was achievable whilst exceeding the clients expectations and building our portfolios.
Here’s a quick overview of what I came up with:
The user is immediately presented with the PhotoGrid; a two dimensional grid of photos where each row represents a category in the wYse catalogue. The positioning of the PhotoGrid depends on the location of the cursor… the user quickly realises this linked behavior and the accomplishment encourages further exploration.
When the user finds an item she is interested in, she clicks to see a slightly larger version. This zoomed view also reveals a number of new options which are all quite self-explanatory: Enlarge, Previous, Next, Close, Add image to Lightbox, Add category to Lightbox.
The black bar at the bottom of the screen is the Lightbox. Here, the user collects a list of images which can later be viewed as a high-res slide show. Each image in the Lightbox is represented by a small Polaroid icon.
There are a number of navigational shortcuts to aid the experience - perhaps influenced by my obsession with flash games. Once an image is clicked on, you can use the cursor keys to navigate the grid. You can also use the mouse scroll wheel to cycle through images in the categories. You’ll find a more comprehensive list of tips on the Welcome page.
There are a few finishing touches that are still to come… we haven’t decided on a good background soundtrack - something that will add to the vibe. Phase 2 and 3 will hopefully see a greater slant towards a client-managed content management system.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know how you go.
Link: www.wysebodywear.com.au
