Besides agency experience (which I’ll talk about later in this post), I have recently been getting back into using Flash by producing a banner ad for, well, myself. As discussed in my last post; lately I have been updating my brand image and although I am not considering to use the flash banner for commercial use, the project gives me the chance to exercise creativity and knowledge of Adobe Flash and additional material.

The ad is fundamentally a collation of material made in Photoshop, animated in Flash using motion tweens and opacity transitions, which kept to the brand guidelines (colour, fonts). Brief steps of production are outlined in the images below.

1. Assets are imported, placed on the stage in individual layers. Each tagline will be animated to make a ‘conveyor belt’ effect.

2. With the conveyor belt effect in place, a fade transition is put in place by adjusting the opacity (using keyframes).

3. A ‘view site’ button has been produced, with different styles representing the up, over and down hit states. 

4. The button image is converted to a button type, then placed onto the stage.

5. stop(); is placed on the last keyframe on the actions tab to avoid the animation from looping. Additionally, the code below is added to the button actions to redirect the users to the requested url.

The completed ad can be viewed at http://www.stevedacombe.com/promo.html

Whilst in Flash, I took time to look into CreateJS; a toolkit that converts Flash animations and games into HTML5. When I read about this, I was mindblown but at the same time not too surprised – Whilst in university, many of my fellow course mates classed HTML5 has a ‘Flash Killer’ and that if there ever was a time to jump off the Adobe Flash ship, it would be now (then).

I played around with the toolkit and tried to export my flash banner as HTML5 and although it managed to export the file to a good standard, there were quite a few limitations which remind you that this is a very early release. For example, during export, the compiler warned me that the button in my banner would not be functional as a button type; only as a movieclip. I also had compatibility issues with animations on images. But as said on the AdobeTV CreateJS introductory video, the toolkit at present is likely to only be able to export your project at a 90% successful completion rate; which basically means ‘expect errors.’ Regardless of the bugs, CreateJS is a brilliant response from Adobe and has tons of potential in the upcoming months/years to be a key player in the uprising of HTML5 technology.

Clinic London work experience

Back in September I announced that I would be spending an additional four weeks at Clinic; a creative agency based in Farringdon, London. I had previously spent four weeks working there towards my degree, so to join the team again was a pleasure. Upon arriving, I had realised that a couple of employees I had met last year had moved on to other agencies and endeavours; which was a stark reminder to me that the industry I am part of is fast and constantly changing. It was great to meet new designers, talk about what they do, why they do it – I received a greater insight into what the agency does and how they go about it. The only downside to the experience was having the long haul commutes from Bournemouth to London every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I didn’t mind it, but I’d be lying if I said the journeys didn’t drag. I managed to help out where I could within the digital and print teams on various social media campaign material for well known breakfast brand. Alongside that, was able to make mock logo designs in Illustrator for renowned transportation and advertising companies. Working with the team on live briefs was something I was very happy to be a part of and in turn has given me that all important additional commercial experience which I am very grateful for.