Web_Designer_Issue_262_2017

WalkinG on Water
There was a lot to say, but we wanted to keep it
simple too, so there was quite a bit of back and forth
before we settled on the high-level flow.”
Those cognitive challenges and issues of usability,
general navigation and so on would of course be
joined by the practicalities of making it all just work.
In terms of back-end development slog, the team
admits that significant efort was minimal thanks to
the emphasis on serving the front-end. Here it was
much more a case of ensuring that the various
visual efects, animations and transitions were
synchronised for maximum impact. “The back-end
architecture is composed of a Node.js web server
with React’s JavaScript framework built on top,”
starts Aliza Adam, VP and interactive design director.
“The site is primarily front-end though, and we put a
lot of focus into the finesse of the smallest details.
Making transitions smooth between looped video
to underwater worlds, creating motion on
hovers, lighting efects when the user was at the
top of the river, plunging the user into the next
story when they were at the bottom of the river,
the works… so that the site felt very integrated
and cohesive.”
KEEPING IT RUNNING
Anyone looking at and interacting with hidden
dangersproject.com will admire the sense of
cohesion achieved in just 31 weeks. The launched
website does an enviable job of conveying the
emotive message that purveys each channel of the
campaign, particularly the short film. At the same time
however, it manages to seamlessly handle such a
weighty cause with the playfulness that children
everywhere can identify with. Around launch time, it
was therefore important to get the timing and
marketing just right to capitalise on related initiatives
and leave a lasting impression. “We mostly rely on PR
and donated media to get the project out there,”
Menno Kluin explains. “We launched the Hidden
Dangers Project prior to World Water Day and
Discovery and Time for Kids have been very helpful
in spreading the project. Also, combining resources
with partners like m ss ng p eces, who directed the
docu-short, and NTROPIC, who developed the VR
game, is extremely important to ensure we can
execute on the overall creative vision and deliver
an experience people will never forget.”
Certainly if the online industry reception is
anything to go by, forgetting hiddendangersproject.
com won’t be happening anytime soon. The Deutsch
team are understandably very proud of the
recognition the work continues to garner since
going live. More crucially, the URL’s success is
perhaps measured best as a fundraising tool for the
client and one that must be kept afloat 24/7. “We’re
currently hosting HiddenDangersProject.com since
we built it in-house, so there’s no hand-of on this
one. We’ve been really lucky in winning The FWA Of
The Day, a CSS Design Awards Site Of The Day, and
an Awwwards Site Of The Day, so our most recent
upkeep is adding the win banners to our site. The
site is also a portal for donations at any time for
WATERisLIFE, so ensuring this component is
constantly up and running is really important for us.”
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