http://www.andytitus.com/ Interactive Creative Director http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-templates The focus of this redesign was to create a fresh, user-friendly, customizable set of templates and design standards with the flexibility to adapt rapidly. MTV has many brands to serve, each with high demands online. This system had to help minimize the tech team's ever-expanding production queue while serving the channel with rich branded experiences for MTV shows.We first focused on usability, incorporating years of research on user behavior and feedback for each section of the site. Then a style-guide was developed to outline the visual design, rules and hierarchy of all elements including navigation, typography, spacing, iconography, buttons, image sizes, ad models and promo systems. Finally, the style was enhanced by connecting the MTV HATs rotating brand concept to the templates with page themes. This meant designers could drastically change the appearance of any page without using tech resources. Simply specifying a HAT, header bar style, link colors and a background graphic could skin any template and satisfy branding needs for the channel. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:11:11 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-facebook This application was developed to provide Facebook users with a simple way to discover, watch and share thousands of high quality music videos and playlists from MTV's massive collection.It offered an intuitive way to construct, edit, save and share custom playlists, a streamlined video player with fullscreen mode, easy definition of favorites, a comment "Wall", celebrity curated playlists and IAB 300x250 ad inventory to monetize it all. The Facebook aesthetic was mirrored as a design foundation, then amplified by MTV branding and a carefully constructed suite of icons and buttons. Tue, 1 Jul 2008 17:11:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-fnmtv Hosted by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, this event-level TV show premiered brand new music videos every Friday Night, along with exclusive live performances and guest appearances from the most talked about artists. The FN MTV initiative aimed to put the music back in MTV, reaching beyond the show with hours of music video blocks added to daily programming.This website was created to pursue a deeper connection with the audience through an online community where users had the power to shape and create on air content. It featured music videos that premiered each week along with their specific calls to action requesting user opinions and videos. Think you can do that dance? Upload your steps. Think you can sing it better? Upload your version and let the community decide. The major categories were reviews, karaoke, dance and lyrics.User generated videos could be rated or commented on, allowing the best to rise to the top. Members with the most popular content could have their videos represented on air or even get a chance to be in the show themselves. Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-remixer This application allowed users to create custom video mixes, share them with friends and submit to MTV contests. The real-time video editing technology driven by the Adobe Premiere Express Engine allowed users to drag & drop elements on the timeline, edit clip length, rearrange, preview instantly and publish.Supplied with a library of music video segments, interview footage, performance and bonus clips, photos, custom graphics, captions, borders, transitions and effects users were well equipped to realize their own vision of a music video. Tens of thousands of remixes were published ranging from unique spins the plot line, to social commentary, to hilarious parities. Tue, 1 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/chipotle/#chipotle-v2 Six years after the launch of their first site Chipotle was ready for a redesign that brought fresh layouts, animations, sounds, user-friendly navigation and upgraded technology for easy updates.The concepts were playful and irreverent, remaining in line with Chipotle's established digital brand. The site lived in clean white space with snappy transitions between sections and funny sound accents. Key technical advances for this Flash site include browser back/forward button functionality without page refresh, the ability to deep-link into any section, lightning fast load times, XML populated page content (including navigation) and a toggle to instantly flip the entire site to Spanish.The navigation incorporated a strong brand presence, transitioning through Chipotle's logos on interaction. It followed the same exploratory nature of the previous version, collapsing when not in use to create a less traditional interface. Usability improved from the previous version by making all sections visible at once when active with direct links to sub-sections. Sun, 1 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-hats In the first phase of transition from MTV Overdrive to a more SEO-friendly HTML version developers needed templates to start out basic for agile development. The MTV HATs (Header Art Treatment) concept aimed to enhance the site visually without overburdening the tech team with complex stylesheets. The strategy was to simply frame the top of our pages with a wide variety of original MTV logo art that would cycle randomly with each page refresh.The project was seeded with 25 extremely diverse, talented and established artists, hand-picked to deliver a vast range of style and set a high standard of quality for future creators. Their task was to follow a basic set of rules and express their personal vision of the MTV brand with absolute creative freedom.From there a blog was launched to showcase these works and call on any artist to submit their own MTV HAT. We received hundreds of submissions from all over the world, the best of which entered rotation on MTV.com and were permanently represented on the blog along with artist information.Usability research revealed this simple change alone brought a major improvement in users' overall perception of the site. Thu, 1 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/mtv/#mtv-overdrive At MTV content is king. This project aimed to prove that statement online with a bold departure from serving traditional HTML towards a Flash experience with ever-present video. The vision was that MTV.com should be a reinvention of the TV channel, not just a promotional site that serves it. The result was a radical new design that redefined the experience of finding and watching music videos, full episodes and web exclusives.The interface flipped between a large video mode with navigation for the media archive and a watch+browse experience where a small video accompanied a larger content area for search results, artist pages, photos and articles. Users could access any piece of content without interrupting the video they were watching, driving exponential growth of streams. A massive graphical search bar lived at the top and its results arrived in the form of an image wall with information overlays and rollover features.The ad model was purposefully deviant from online norms, consisting of high quality video ads in the player and static, magazine-quality ads that displayed briefly between sections. The idea was to insert more attractive ads between content rather than locking in persistent, often obtrusive, traditional banners that dominate content and take up valuable real estate.MTV Overdrive was one of the first instances of playlist creation online, giving users the ability to create and edit cookie-based playlists via simple drag-n-drop functionality. Mon, 1 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/andy-titus/#andy-titus-v1 This Flash portfolio site amplified work samples with an original navigation concept aimed to communicate advanced understanding of interaction design and user experience. It featured a coloring system where logo and link colors transitioned to accent each client image, dynamic animations between project images and an XML content structure for easy updates. Sat, 1 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/aol/#aol-music When AOL moved from a subscription model to offering content for free they needed a strategy to drive more traffic to their site. This was the first in a series of initiatives aimed at doing just that by packaging AOL Music content in specifically targeted micro-sites. These highly stylized pop-culture environments were promoted via SEO efforts, banners and blogs. Fri, 1 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/chopt/#chopt-v1 Chop’t is a creative salad company on the rise with numerous locations in New York City. They wanted a simple site that communicated core components of their restaurants: freshness, summertime vibes and a fierce double-bladed mezzaluna chopper. This was achieved with a vibrant palette, crisp vector graphics and a unique navigation concept that animated their signature blade on interaction. Sun, 1 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/vh1/#vh1-hip-hop-honors This site promoted the VH1 tribute show "Hip Hop Honors" as well as a documentary titled "And You Don’t Stop". VH1 requested two design directions: an old school hip hop flyer motif and a hand drawn black-book approach. The hip hop flyer creative was chosen and on air show packaging updated to match the aesthetic. Fri, 2 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/fuel/#fuel-experiment Fuel is a cable TV station that screens the best of action sports. The Fuel Experiment campaign, comprised of a website and print media, alerted action sports filmmakers of the opportunity to win a million dollars in funding for their next film. Thu, 1 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/boeing/#boeing-connexion Boeing’s Connexion service allowed travellers to surf the web wirelessly during flight. This interactive demo launched to spread consumer awareness and reinforce Boeing’s position as a leader in groundbreaking aviation technology. Thu, 1 Apr 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/fuse/#fuse Fuse is a cable TV station (formerly MuchMusic) that claims to be all about the music videos. This being their first site under the Fuse name the goal was to unveil the new brand as a hip, unconventional and credible alternative to its well established network competitors.We started with a major brand overhaul, creating hundreds of Fuse logos that would cycle through the site at random. Each show section was customized with the flavor of its on air packaging, complete with quick, lightweight animations for each that mirrored the movement on TV. Tiny helper people were planted throughout which animated on interaction to give the site a few playful surprises. Thu, 1 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/ibm/#ibm-linux-prodigy Linux is perhaps the most prominent example of free software and open source development, and IBM, a leader in the Linux community with hundreds of developers working on various open source projects. The Prodigy campaign aimed to drive awareness of this relationship. It portrayed Linux as a young boy, a prodigy absorbing knowledge from a variety of masters and making it available to everyone.This marketing site was commissioned to help answer questions about Linux, outline it's history and communicate the strong connection to IBM. Thu, 1 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/nelly-furtado/#nelly-furtado Singer Nelly Furtado wanted a site reminiscent of her cultural upbringing in Victoria, British Columbia. A 2D illustration of a small fishing village was commissioned as a base for navigation and layout. From there we brought it to life through reactionary mouse movement and a 3D zoom effect between sections. Thu, 1 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/isabella-fiore/#isabella-fiore Isabella Fiore is a high-end fashion brand of posh handbags, shoes and accessories. They sought after a simple, distinctive concept that focused solely on their products. This site was driven by XML for easy updates and action script for dynamic placement and sizing of new items in the circular experience. Tue, 1 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/heavy/#heavy Heavy.com is an entertainment portal housing a massive collection of animation, videos, new music and games. The site's content was packaged and organized by many sponsored channels like these. This artwork appeared online as well as on DVD covers for their renowned monthly subscription-based music discovery service called Heavy Sumosonic. Tue, 1 Apr 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/electric-rain/#standout-genie-kit StandOut is a presentation solution aimed to unite the simplicity of editing a slide-show with the impact of professional motion graphics, design and attention-grabbing effects/transitions. It was developed by Electric Rain, a multimedia software company most well known for Swift 3D (industry-leading software for creating 3D vector graphics and animations for Flash).The software is driven by the concept of "design kits", a platform on which designers can create and share highly customized and flexible presentation templates to be populated dynamically by consumers.This was the first design kit developed, commissioned to push software capabilities and serve as a premium example for future themes. This playful design kit (seeded with JetBlue content) explored the many ways a genie-like helper could engage and entertain audiences while keeping the template flexible to various brands, media and content structures. Sat, 1 Mar 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/boomkat/#boomkat Boomkat was a band comprised of brother-sister duo Kellin and Taryn Manning (actress) encompassing elements of trip-hop, pop and soul. These design directions were presented to DreamWorks Records per their request for an 80’s glamour look. The beaded corvette version went on through production. Wed, 1 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/genetic/#genetic The Genetic Shoes line was created by Airwalk (major skateboarding company) to reach a subset of skaters who reject mainstream brands. Organic movement, atmospheric sound and original illustration were used to form an environment in line with underground skate culture. Wed, 1 May 2002 00:00:00 GMT http://www.andytitus.com/chipotle/#chipotle-v1 Chipotle is a publicly traded restaurant chain serving up gourmet burritos and tacos. This site aimed to amplify the irreverent personality and tongue-in-cheek humor of their brand, provide restaurant information and open up a line of communication for consumers to voice ideas. They wanted exploratory navigation, offbeat concepts and playful animations with a human touch. Sat, 1 Dec 2001 00:00:00 GMT