Sean Oakes Studios interactive branding experiences

For over a year, Sean Oakes Studios, Inc. has worked with WebMD and Sandford Health to create a new online destination for Kids who want to learn more about Fitness. Fit is a new platform created through science and research that educates, motivates, and inspires children of all ages and their parents to live a fit and healthy lifestyle.
 
SOS has leveraged it's deep expertise in creating meaningful content for Kids, Tweens and Teens to help translate WebMD's visionary new fitness information into a graphically rich, fun online destination. With tons of animation, videos and articles, young visitors can customize and connect to information that can change their lives as it educates and entertains.

The team behind the popular animated show Cyberchase produced at New York's PBS affiliate WNET Thirteen has selected SOS as it's interactive partner to develop online Digital Learning Objects designed to teach young students essential math concepts. After a formal proposal process, PBS awarded portions of a Gates Foundation grant to three PBS affiliates, directing them to develop seven high-quality math games each. The games will be integrated into NYC's School of One charter math program as well as be featured online in PBS's Digital Learning Library. The games will include a live action video host, mini-games and slick animated explanations designed to make tricky math concepts clear and simple. Included in the list of topics to be covered are Venn Diagrams, Fractions and Liquid Volume. The games are scheduled for release October 2011.

SOS has redesigned the Communications Department website for NYU's Langone Medical Center. In addition to managing the press and general communications of the hospital and school, the Communications Department acts as the arbiter of the institution's branding, both online and off. Sean Oakes Studios, Inc. has taken great care in making sure this new website stands as the gold standard of their online style as well as setting new standards for future web design.
 
Our technology team has developed and optimized a Drupal-based Content Management System for easy updates to the site.

Naturally Webbed [excerpts]

text by Anne Morgan Spalter MFA ’92 PT

Have you ever gotten lost on the Web? Been unable to pull the information you need out of a sea of available data? Or been desperate to speak with a human being instead of puzzling over an information kiosk?

As the author of The Computer in the Visual Arts, a book that guides visual artists through both technical and artistic issues in computer art and design, I was interested in finding out first-hand how RISD alumni in the emerging fields of information design and new media are creating solutions to such problems. There are a lot of you out there – all over the world –but to get a sense of how your work effects all of us, I chose to speak to a handful of representative alumni at three firms: Motivo in Columbus and New York; Sean Oakes Studios (S.O.S.) in New York and Tellart in Providence. We discussed everything from technical to philosophical hurdles, from the influence of the past to expectations for the future.

Behind the Design

Just as an iceberg lies largely hidden underwater, successful information design depends on strong, behind-the-scenes conceptual work. Without a tremendous amount of advance planning, interactive design can rapidly spin out of control and become dysfunctional, these designers confirm. For instance, when S.O.S worked on a Web site for The American Museum of Natural History (www.amnh.org), Oakes needed to translate the brand to appeal to both school kids doing reports and research scientists looking for the latest information on, say, the genomics conference.

“We had to decide the level of hierarchy for each piece of information and also which selections from the enormous collection to include. It was overwhelming visiting the museum’s archives,” he explains. “I remember seeing some beautiful black-and-white photographs from a 1920s expedition to Africa and getting totally distracted.” Due to the sheer volume and complexity of large college, museum and commercial sites, “you have to have a strong, organized development focus before dealing with the source materials,” Oakes says. “It’s OK to have happy accidents, but you can’t go in without a clear strategy. A lot of planning is necessary for doing good information design. You need a clear flow chart, and having a great information architect on the job really helps. When you have complex navigation possibilities, as you do in the Natural History site, you have to know about all the site information going into it and how it all relates or you may well have to go back and start from scratch.”

Design for interactive media also often focuses on addressing the needs of diverse audiences, especially for large sites such as Motivo’s for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (www.rockhall.com) or S.O.S.’s for a recent Vikings exhibition at the Natural History museum (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/vikings/). Tellart’s sites for colleges “have to address a mix of teenagers who want to escape from home and have fun as well as their parents who want to able to sleep at night,” Lenk smiles. “You also need the site to be useful to faculty, administration and others. Addressing such diverse audiences requires a structure that is easy to grasp and builds confidence about the school while at the same ensuring that the campus comes across as vibrant.” Through experience, Tellart has developed a step-by-step methodology for achieving this.

When Oakes was at RISD in the early ’90s computers were “sort of hidden,” but he did work on one of two Macs in the Graphic Design Department and his senior thesis included an interactive video. “Although I didn’t do a lot with computers there, going to RISD was incredibly helpful for my career,” he says. “The skills I learned in the Foundation program are ones I’ve found a lot of people lack in the real world. Other things, like understanding how type works, were, of course, important too. At RISD I really learned the basics – not just how to make something look cool, but how to understand it at the DNA- versus surface level.”

Sean Oakes Studios, Inc.

www.so-studios.com.com

Sean Oakes ’93 GD runs Sean Oakes Studios (S.O.S.) in New York City. Specializing in Web design, on-line advertising and Flash animation, the studio has done work for a range of clients, including The American Museum of Natural History, The Anti-Defamation League, MaMaMedia.com (where he used to work), New York Times Digital, Kelloggs, Sony and HarperCollins Interactive, among others.