What it takes to make

Each still here represents months and months of hundreds upon hundreds of individuals working diligently. A Pixar film averages three to four years of production. Just imagine how much we take on and accomplish at Noir when we are only three.  I'm not saying we are  like Pixar in production quality... but who is? It is company's like them  that provide us with our gold standard.

Emmy Nominations!

This Saturday September 7th is the 2013 Emmy Awards Gala! (Mid Atlantic chapter). Our very own David Van Allen and Jeffrey Baxter were nominated for "Best Commercial Spot" and "Best Graphics/Animation" Wish us luck and we hope to bring home our 5th Emmy!

Ceasars Fire

Check out some Photoshop magic by our own David Van Allen! Photo by Chris Razoyk. Audio by Baker Sound. Stay tuned there is more to come!

Ferrari Test

Here is a virtual Ferrari we have been toying with. — with Jeffrey Baxter, David Van Allen and Shama Chohan.

Here's the New Kid

Check out our latest creation for the Philadelphia Zoo, Kid Zoo U campaign. We teamed up with the talents of Left Hand Creative, Visual Innovations, and music by Joe Fusco. We are really excited about the spot, congratulations to all involved!

"There's a New Kid in Town"

We've had a lot of fun working with Left Hand Creative, Visual Innovations and the Philadelphia Zoo on the new campaign for their newest attraction "Kid Zoo U".

There's a New Kid in Town: Boat House from Noir Worldwide on Vimeo.

There's a New Kid in Town:Charge from Noir Worldwide on Vimeo.

There's a New Kid in Town: City Hall from Noir Worldwide on Vimeo.

Interrogation Photo (Making of)

Created by our very own David Van Allen

Dave: I've been fortunate enough to work with some amazing photographers on some of my photo manipulations. Photographer Chris Razoyk is no exception. His amazing attention to detail and well trained eye make my job that much more fun.



Music: Killbot – sound surgery


The trick to getting this photo just right was the tone of the overhead light. Chris and I spent some time figuring out how it should look and feel in conjunction with the subject matter. After all we are trying to tell a pretty compelling story so it had to be just right. Chris and I also wanted the blue tone in the background to stay prevalent in order to give the photo a good sense of depth. Overall I feel the piece is a great success. I used Photoshop CS6 My trusty Wacom and Red Giant plugins for the lights.

Check out Chris's blog for more details on the shoot and an amazing video about it.

Chris also had a great article written up about his process in ISO1200 Photography Magazine's Blog.

Better safe than sorry

When backing up your data, you should be thoughtful about a few details. First off, always make sure the data is stored in at least 2 locations. Secondly, always get the most data on the most reliable and inexpensive device.

At Noir Worldwide we have a few procedures we use to keep us up and running. All of our data is on a server with RAID level 5. RAID 5 is designed to restore the data upon the failure of a drive. So, for example, consider a situation where you had 4 hard drives in your RAID system and one failed. What do you do? With RAID 5, you could replace the disk that has failed and the information will be rebuilt. This is helpful, but you would still lose a day while the data is rebuilt. The philosophy we developed from experience enables us to stay up and running in case of a hardware failure of this magnitude. We make this possible with redundancy.

Here is how it works: All of our workstations have a similar, but smaller RAID on them, [smaller than what? The system on the main server? Say what the system is smaller than] with the jobs we are working on. This way, if a server or a workstation fails, we can keep working while it is repaired. At the end of the day, we are quadruple redundant. Every job and project we are working on is on our server and three workstations simultaneously. A few years ago, we had to deal with an unforeseen event that ruined my well-thought-out system--a fire. Prior to having that fire, I would have stopped at this point in developing our security system. Needless to say, if you have a server and 3 workstations and they all burn in a fire, you will be without data and unable to work.

After the fire I wanted to make sure we had an off-site data backup solution. For the first year, we used the online backup system Carbonite. This was a viable solution (other than the fact that it took a month for the initial backup). Unfortunately, Carbonite and other such solutions have removed the “Unlimited” data option. As we have about 6 Terabytes of data on our server, we needed a less expensive solution.

We started by getting a hard drive dock that can easily be hooked up to any computer. They normally have a large variety of connections available. Typically, connections include USB 2 and 3, eSata, Firewire, and the new Thunderbolt. The faster the better if you have large amounts of data to deal with and move. We backed up the data that stays on the server onto inexpensive sata hard drives. Then, we began a daily procedure in which those drives were moved to one of our homes in case of fire. As we finish projects, we always back them up onto a hard drive. So we have both a work copy and a home copy of all the projects we have ever worked on.

The specific projects we are working on from day-to-day range in size from 10 gigabytes to 200  gigabytes. We all have small USB3 1 Terabyte drives. At the end of every day, we sync these drives to our server for all our current projects. This way, if a client needs something over the weekend or at night, we can access it remotely. This also covers us in case of a catastrophic event (such as a fire), and even after such an event, we could continue to work from home. Just remember: It's always much better to be safe than sorry and unable to serve your clients!

"An Animated Happy Holidays!"

Our very own David Van Allen concepted, designed, and animated this quirky and whimsical spot. It was completed in two days with the help of Bakersound and David Witz. The spot was delivered to ABC, NBC,  CBS and Comcast Sportsnet.

Design: Inspiration

As designers, We find it helpful to search everywhere for inspiration, especially the internet. Our glorious interweb is a goldmine of resources for design and development. Recently, we stumbled upon a compilation of outstanding website designs that set the latest trends, use innovative and progressive development technologies to enhance user interactivity.

The guys at Designmodo have the scoop.
http://designmodo.com/responsive-design-examples/

Our Studio

Noir Studio at the MAC facility, now with more computers and an amazing streamlined layout.

Webdesign: Photography Driven Websites

Large scale photography is changing the way websites are designed and experienced. It creates a world for the site, sets the mood and invokes an emotion. Here are some wonderful Photography driven websites.

The folks over at Web Design Ledger have some really great examples.
http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/21-examples-of-big-photography-in-web-design

Web Design: Retro style

Lately, retro vintage designed websites are all the rage. These older styles capture much attention from users because of the texture, fonts and use of color. Elements used in retro and vintage websites communicate information effectively using emotions, nostalgia, and triggering memories. 

The people at noupe have selected a few great examples.
http://www.noupe.com/design/web-throwback-showcase-of-vintage-and-retro-web-design.html

Web Design and Development Inspiration

We found a collection of beautifully designed and developed websites. Most of these are single page websites which have well suited interactivity. They are pretty engaging and the themes invoke emotions from users.

Overall these are impressive, a favorite is "Bagigia". It's design is photography driven and it has playful interactivity, which creates an enjoyable experience for the user.

Which site do you like, what do you like about it?

This compilation was created by Speckyboy Design Magazine.
View website compilation.

Inspiration: Urban Calligraphy

There's something charming about the free flowing nature of the Calligraphy pieces, created by Alexis Persani, Jackson Alves, Ivan Lyashenko, Boglárka Nádi and Mauro Melis. The grittiness and texture make it feel tactical and human, while the confident strokes give it elegance. It's like refined graffiti.

In my opinion Calligraphy tends to hold its own ground in design. It's hand drawn quality adds and organic flow to type that traditional typesetting can't seem to replicate. Type can be rigid and structured, it often has to be placed, and even when it's distorted it's being manipulated within constraints and rules. That's why I feel Calligraphy flourishes in font, typography and logo design.

Check out their work on this blog post.
www.noupe.com/graphics/typography-inspiration-calligraphic-masterpieces.html

Interaction Design
Bombay Sapphire Sky Pavilion
This piece is definately next level work. This interactive installation displays a sky which can be manipulated by users with the use of motion sensing technology. In addition to this the pavilion has it's own atmosphere composed of sounds, scents and temperature. What a unique sensory experience for users, it looks like so much fun to play with.

View Bombay Sapphire Sky Pavilion

Web Design
Arguably, one of the most important content elements can be a websites about page. This single element, when made well, not only introduces who you are to your visitors, but also is a great way to reveal some tidbits about yourself or your business.

The folks at Web Design Ledger made this collection of brilliant about pages that captivate users long enough for the viewer to read the information, which leads to good interaction.


What do you think works best on about pages?


webdesignledger.com | inspiring examples of about pages

Design: Typography

In typography, the theme, style, emotion and meaning of the project are the most important factors when selecting the font. During this porcess it's helpful to see fonts in environments that best suit them.

Linked below is a collection of fonts, from Webdesigner Depot, which would be great for all kinds of design projects. The fonts are from various styles and each one conveys a unique feeling. These are so diverse and can be used in almost any theme.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2012/03/20-examples-of-beautiful-and-inspiring-fonts/

What's in a name...

What’s in a name…uh, we mean job title? 

Here at Noir we are always serious. In fact we are so serious, even prospective interns have to walk on hot coals and complete a series of “mock trust falls” just to prove their worthiness to enter the room. In the spirit of our time honored tradition of what like to tell our wide eyed hopefuls are “the trials” we’ve come up with some wonderful new job titles they can aspire to.

-          Human Branding Planner

-          Better Esteem Enhancement Facilitator or “B.E.E.F.”

-          Frame Advancement Technician

-          Pod Caddy

-          K-Cup Specialist

-          Advanced Human Input Device Depressor

-          Digital Eye Candy Confectioner

-          Pixel Magician or what we like to call “Copperfield Standards Consultant”

-          Motion Graphic Artist or “Dueling Gratification Specialist”

Of course there are many other titles available here of the highest esteem such as “Grand Puba of Swingline” but sadly most of these positions have been filled. Who knows maybe you can be one of the lucky few who earn the title of P.O.O. “Pharaoh of Outgoing Operations”.

Sincerely,

    

            Noir Scrabbleizer Department

Deco Rules! No, Seriously…

Art Deco is our main source of inspiration. We live it everyday and continue to see its influence in contemporary work of all styles. It is our belief that this art style and movement is one of the unsung heroes of the modern age. So prevalent in almost every aspect of our lives most of us don’t even notice. Art Deco is one of the most culturally dominant, influential, diverse, multicultural and popular art forms ever created and that’s why Noir Worldwide chose to associate it with our image.

I think this Wikipedia entry says it best:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco

Ok, now that we have a good footing on the style you get it, right? Art deco is in essence an attempt to blend all cultures and styles into one human style. Spanning all mediums, a concept of total design, sometimes minimal, sometimes ornate and beyond visually pleasing, Deco, just like our name Noir, is an attempt to become completely open to all possibilities. To blend philosophy, art, architecture, culture, history, design and the human experience into one open art form is truly beyond even the most up-to-date vision of the visual arts that most people have. Ahead of its time and even the technology available, we feel all modern creative professionals owe it a respectful nod.  We’ve taken the liberty of placing a few links at the bottom for extra reference. Who knows? Maybe you’ll become as inspired by this timeless movement as we are.

http://goo.gl/jatkI

http://goo.gl/NZPwh

http://goo.gl/T5LXA

http://goo.gl/r99cL

http://goo.gl/HsqHL

http://goo.gl/tQc7p

http://goo.gl/ee4Ix