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Jim Elliott, Urban Silo, writer
Jason Keimig, programmer
SectionSeven Inc., project design and development

"'Self-brandalism,' as the site terms it, is applied here quite literally. A clear identity system and color coding combined with charming nav elements create a fitting shell for a creative director’s portfolio." —juror Vas Sloutchevsky

"Strong design and navigation with a unique presentation. You want to look through the entire site just to see how they are going to present each page. An all-you-can-eat buffet of brilliance." —juror Jeff Benjamin

Overview: With a mobile-inspired interface, this portfolio site for writer and creative director Jim Elliot serves as a storage facility for the past and an incubator for future ideas. Along with print, Web, TV and radio work, it also features an archive of personal projects.

• 50 featured projects, 120 images
• 26 videos, 1 hour total runtime
• Browsing by text or images

Comments by Jim Elliott, Craig Erickson and Jason Keimig:
"The brief went something like this: 'Craig, Jason (or maybe Jim just said fellers for effect), I'm a southern boy from North Carolina, but I've lived and worked in places like Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco. So, this here Webamajig should capture that duality. It should somehow be a marriage of rural roots and an urban moderninity.' Them boys sure delivered.

"This project began with the vague notion that it's fun to write Flash specs even when it's nice outside in Seattle. First, a brand identity was created to support the rural-ness of the grain silo aesthetic.

"The site architecture model was an actual hanging mobile comprised of fishing line, clear plastic rings and identity cards. The content (and there was plenty of it, divided into five different categories) begged to be organized into some form of digital presentation using 'silos' as a loose navigational metaphor. We wondered, if someone were standing in front of these silos of writing, what would be the most pleasurable way for them to be viewed?

"We found that we wanted them to rotate manually by a device featuring a brand element rather than a mouse position rollover technique. The hanging cards are created along the carousel based on the folder and file structure, making for easy organization. The carousels can handle a large range of cards from 1 to more than 20. Since we wanted the site to be engaging and somewhat mechanical in nature, in some places we chose creativity over efficiency.

"Finally, it should be noted that the construction of this site was fueled by an unbalanced mix of beer, champagne, bourbon, Tofutti Cuties and design books, and paid for with a set of wheels to support the team's car-racing endeavors.

"The site is dynamic and easily updated, so we expect to keep polishing it into an even shinier Urban Silo. (Hmm. That sounds kinda dirty.)"

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