At the core of so many web-based ideas is a sense of community. Unfortunately, given any number of constraints, ideas which seem great often fall over in their execution. The idea didn’t stay pure, and the visuals fell over too. NEC are lucky enough to have not only a project in which the idea has stayed pure, but one which stays fresh and relevant 2 years later - and no doubt beyond. It’s an execution that works well on every branch, so to speak.

Using a simple interface, users enter a word which is added to a virtual tree, reset each day. Users can view past trees, add more words, send greeting cards and everything else you’d expect. It works as it should, and does it beautifully.

Visit Ecotonoha

Most folios or websites try to be userfriendly, try to explain themselves and give information about what you’re looking at. Dextro is the opposite. It doesn’t tell you what you just clicked on - it let’s you observe the pure language of flash actionscript.

An artform relying on algorithms to create the abstract. It feels like getting lost in an entire universe that Dextro put together and the best: most of it is interactive (if you can figure out what’s actually going on).

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It’s one thing to show everyone how fantastic your stuff is, but it’s another entirely to tell people how you did it. We seem to be in an age where it’s all Show, and no Tell. It’s refreshing when you have the opportunity to start your thinking halfway up the mountain - you can get along with doing something new, rather than going over the same track, carved out by everyone else.

Levitated.net is on the educational side of the fence - open source flash files which can be utilised for art purposes, programming education, or even website navigation tools, given a certain amount of tweaking. It’s a goldmine resource for those in the market, and even more amazing given they were created many years ago.

Visit Levitated.net and click open source.

Sculpture is not as widespread as other arts - it must be a costly hobby. Perhaps the physical space, resources, technical know-how and monetary requirements that sculpture needs, filters out the dabblers. So you get higher quality work, generally speaking.

The steampunk-themed art of Pierre Matter draws clear influences yet continues to astound. It’s gripping and visually strong. The kind of thing you want to own. The feeling of Matters scultpures is one you don’t often come across, but when you do, it’s memorable, untill it comes around again for a refresher, months or years later.

See more here, but any web search for Pierre Matter will give plenty more.

Playing with size is one of the simplest and most effective methods for creating memorable artwork. Going small lends itself to a whole world of possibilities - most which will translate seamlessly into different mediums and cross cultural and geographic boundaries.

Life can be hard in the big city for little people. Sometimes you feel swamped by life and all its possibilities. If there even was a concept to begin with, Little People stands out as memorable, cute, and endless fun.

slinkachu - little people