ArtFair
November 27th, 2008 | Published in Websites
Challenge
To create an online, highly interactive environment for a “virtual” artfair. We were given free reign on the creative aspect of the project with the remit to produce an environment that enabled a gallery to login , purchase a booth for an online event and then customise and maintain that booth for the period of the fair, with video, artwork, and audio content to support the art.
Solution
We looked at Second Life as a style of interactive environment for “walking” around an artfair and although there had been an attempt at this VRML style of approach we felt that for the level of customisation and the ease at which the content needed to be administered that this style of development just wouldn’t work.
As such we felt that Flash was the only suitable option for this development as it allowed us extensive flexibility in design and interactivity . The problem lay in making everything completely dynamic from the outset so we had to create a CMS in Coldfusion that talked to the Flash movie via Remoting and XML. The site allows a booth owner complete flexibility in the style of their booth, and this is to be further enhanced for future iterations (i.e phase 2). The floor plan is completely dynamic and involves some clever scripting to prevent the movie from locking up.
Working through a number of iterations for the “feel” of the environment we experimented with various styles of “buildings” in order to develop an overall theoretical image of what the fair would look like if it were in a real physical space.
We also produced an introductory video to the artfair, explaining how it works for a visitor and an exhibitor.
Results
The first fair is currently running (27th Nov 2008) for the Jerwood Visual Arts Charity Foundation and features 100 artists in a number of booths. So far feedback has been great as users are finding it intuitive, fast and innovative. For us it’s one of the most complex developments we’ve worked on but we’re really pleased with the end results.
Feedback from one visitor :
“Just had a look at the ArtFair site and ….. WOW - it completely knocked
my socks off.
The tour was so very very good. Congratulations to all involved.
It made me want to view art, it made me want to do art.
Probably the best site promo I have ever seen.
Fantastic !”