We want to log some CoFactors time commenting on the recent launch of Kaava’s new brand and website. Not only because we are pleased about some hard work coming to fruition. And not only because that work - re-imagining and re-presenting the entire company from the ground up - reflects the fullest possible extension of our core user interface design capabilities. But also because we think the site’s a decent example of what we refer to as usable flash. In March, CoFactors took a look at a really cool all-flash site, Tokyo Plastic. And, in usability consultant fashion, lamented that the site was unncessarily difficult to navigate, wondering if it wouldn’t have been possible to preserve its creative fluidity while making its secrets easier to divine. Which lead us to wonder if it weren’t possible to make flash in general more usable while still letting it be cool - especially for a corporate site.

Now, of course, it can be told that part of the reason we were wondering was because we were busy experimenting, thanks to a bold client formerly known as BBI Systems, Inc. The trailblazers at BBI decided to switch business models, from moderating online communities - which they had done successfully for years - to packaging and selling consumer trend information derived from conversations taking place in those same communities. This online buzz monitoring is a nascent field - and thanks to specialized software and a trained staff, Kaava (Finnish for “pattern”) is good at it. But I digress. Our job was to find a way to identify the company as distinctively as possible with its new business - starting with a name and a logo, but ending with a new corporate site.

Without diving down the branding and corporate ID rabbit hole, suffice to say that as the new positioning emerged, so did the idea of a site that conveyed Kaava’s ability to take a huge spectrum of so-called “unstructured data” and interpret it into coherent thoughts. As we began information architecture and interaction strategy for the site, it kept occurring to us that this might be best done in flash. And as we researched the possibility, sites like the one for musician Ozark Henry and that for artist Aaron Jasinski provided some inspiration. So kudos to them and their designers. But we wanted to create something that had a similar “open a window and discover” approach, while also being as stripped down and undistracting as possible - i.e., business-like. Of course, we also wanted the site to stand out from the competition - all of whom look like your basic consulting/market research sites.

So far, the results seem to be well received. But, in the spirit of our post about our own redesign, validation is an ongoing process and we’d welcome comment.

JF

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 30th, 2005 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Usability, Flash and Usability.