Oregon Bounty in Communication Arts Interactive Annual

“Super immersive without being heavy-handed, achieved through excellent interaction design. This site makes me hungry. Well done.” —Mathew Ranauro (from Communication Arts 2010 Interactive Annual)

It’s been really tough to keep this one a secret, because we were thrilled to learn that the site we designed and built for Oregon Bounty was going to be in Communication Arts 2010 Interactive Annual. The Interactive Annual finally hit newsstands so we can shout it from the rooftops.

You can check out what the judges had to say, and how we described the site, on the Communication Arts website: http://www.commarts.com/interactive/cai10/oregonbounty.html.

We’ve said time and time again that we don’t do what we do for awards, we do what we do because we don’t know any other way to go about creating beautiful, functional interactive experiences that help our clients achieve their business goals. Sometimes these beautiful, functional interactive experiences are noticed by our peers, which we certainly appreciate, and we won’t turn down their praise. We, just like anyone else, like to hear when we’re doing a good job.

On a personal note, when I started in design many years ago, I always revered the awards annuals produced by Communication Arts. Since way back in the day, I’ve been paging through CommArts for design inspiration. In fact, I relied on CommArts Design and Advertising Annuals to locate Portland agencies to interview with before I moved out here eleven years ago (none of them hired me… that’ll teach ‘em). So if in some small way Substance can contribute to someone’s inspiration, or give them a name of an agency they’d like to work with, I’m honored to continue and contribute to this legacy.

Thanks again Communication Arts, thank you Travel Oregon for the opportunity to continue to do great work with you, and thank you to the partners we had the pleasure of working with on this project: Wieden & Kennedy (for the offline advertising), Maxwell PR and Robeson Communications (for the cuisinternship contest) and eROI (for email fulfillment).

p.s. If you like awards, and you like Substance, AND you like the Portland Trail Blazers, we hope you’ve been voting for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan (you can check out the site at IAmATrailBlazersFan.com) for the People’s Choice Award at the 13th Annual SXSW Web Awards. Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to: http://sxsw.com/peoples-choice
2. Enter your email address.
3. You’ll get a pass-phrase via email.
4. Return to the web address, enter your pass-phrase, and vote for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan (under Community).
5. Return every day to vote again (really, this is legal!)
6. Tell your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances (heck, even your enemies) to do Steps 1 – 5 as well.

Thanks in advance for your support, and we’ll see you at SXSW as well. If you voted for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan more than 40 times (in honor of the Trail Blazers 40th anniversary), we’ll buy you a beer. Proof of voting necessary to redeem for the beverage.