Well That’s Cool… Feb 2018 Edition
This story is part of Matter Supply Co’s ongoing Inspirational Site Series. Once a month, we get together to share those experiences, old and new, that pique our interest, inspire us, and make us think.
Feel free to join in and share with us some sites you love.
Originally developed in 1971 by three Minnesota teachers, Oregon Trail was built to educate (and traumatize) school children about the historical struggle of pioneers heading West.
Travel Oregon has recreated the game with a modern twist. Where you were once a wagon leader, now you can pick jobs like Yoga Teacher or Winemaker. Instead of packing supplies and food provisions, you’re better off bringing a case of Kombucha and being 420 friendly.
BONUS: At 47 years old, The Oregon Trail is the longest running video game franchise, closely followed by Atari’s Pong.
Allbirds
People often say you have to sacrifice comfort for style. Wearing Allbirds shoes makes your feet feel like you can have your “comfort cake” and be stylish too. Their unique materials are what make these shoes sing, but conveying that online is no cakewalk. The site’s use of gifs to showcase fabric flexibility and texture brings the product that much closer to you. Which is really big for a DTC brand where you can’t exactly go try on a pair. Well done.
How Ed Sheeran Made “Shape of You”
It’s the most streamed song on Spotify. It’s a song we’ve all heard a million times regardless of if we wanted to or not. The New York Times went to Ed Sheeran to talk about how he came up with ‘Shape of You’. SPOILER ALERT: he didn’t even realize what he had and wanted to give the song away. It’s an important reminder that, the most creative moments can come to us when we least expect them. Yeah, we can’t believe this made the list either, but the message, like the song, should always be catchy and stick with you.
The Boat
Visual storytelling, aided by creative transitions brings Nam Le’s acclaimed book of short stories to life. It includes one story about how she daringly escaped the Vietnam War by sea. “The Boat” expertly combines sound and music to create one of the most immersive digital comics we’ve ever seen.
Magic Bench: Collaborative AR
The Magic Bench is a simple implementation of how Disney thinks about AR and VR within the context of their parks. The bench that visitor’s sit on, faces a screen that displays them interacting with animated characters in real time. This installation aims to create memorable, inclusive and collaborative experiences built around families spending time with each other, rather than spending time alone in a VR environment.
Laws of UX
This site takes foundational user experience best practices and shows you where they originated and why it is they work in the digital space. Chuck all those “Upcoming 2018 Design Trends” articles you bookmarked weeks ago. Go ahead, ignore Pantone and keep wearing all black. Some design rules are built to stay.
Inclusive Design Checklist
And now for something (similar but) completely different.
ShiftWear
Have you ever loved a pair of shoes so much that you wanted to buy them in every color? That idea might soon be a thing of the past thanks to color shifting shoes from ShiftWear. Still in development, the company aims to revolutionize the sneaker game by using flexible HD displays as the quarter panel of the shoe. By connecting through bluetooth or wifi the user can choose colors and images to display from their smartphone.
Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway once said,
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
This is the same Ernest Hemingway that would finish off James Joyce’s bar fights and is rumored to have lived with a bear. Trying to live such an inspired life probably isn’t the best (or safest) idea. However, in lieu of many potential arrests, Hemingway Editor does a great job of helping spot run-on sentences like this one, showing read time and suggesting edits. This one has been around for a while, but it’s still a favorite.
A Brief History of Slack
As a company with almost half our employees in a different hemisphere, Slack is a crucial tool that allows us to communicate seamlessly: sharing project links, documenting process and serving up those fire memes/inspirational team building moments. This article reminds us that brilliant tools aren’t built overnight–neither is company culture. They are both something you have to foster.
That wraps up our February 2018 Edition of Well, That’s Cool…
We can’t wait to share more things we love. Let us know your favorite experiences or if you like what you see here in the comments below!
Matter Supply Co (formerly Pacific by Northwest) is dedicated to the craft of creating purposeful products and experiences that matter. Say hello next time you’re in Portland, OR or Medellin, Colombia or find us on LinkedIn.
