1. What are you working on today?
An online mini-game for Stride Gum’s “Spit Out Your Gum” ad campaign for JWT.


2. What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out in the last year?
Facebook is brilliant. They’ve perfected the social platform that MySpace pioneered. There’s a wealth of toolsets for the end user and developer. Their API is extremely accommodating and allows virtually any nifty idea to be realized, and their reach is unbelievable. This should give them true staying power. Speaking of staying power the Nintendo Wii is right up there in terms of innovation even for the hardcore gamer. Never under-estimate Nintendo and Miyamoto.

3. The project (film, television, commercial or music video) that most impressed you in the last year? Why?
My opinion may be a bit skewed since I’m a hardcore gamer but the Halo 3 Believe campaign sticks out in my mind. The set design was beautiful and they did something quite unique for the gaming industry. We’re so used to seeing over the top 3D animations that really aren’t too memorable so it was such a breath of fresh air to see something void of special fx (ie. 3D, green screen…). When I first saw the ads I did a double take and was blown away by the detail and beauty of the scale model. It’s quite amazing. Just goes to show that you don’t need the de facto 3D and blown out fx trailers to push a game.


4. The best or favorite project that you worked on in the past year? And why?
VirginAmerica.com was a blast to work on. It’s important to be totally behind a brand, a cheerleader sort of speak, when you’re working on a project. We were given the chance to design an airline site from scratch! The fact that the Virgin brand stems from innovation and high design allowed us to create something new and exciting in a pretty stale legacy industry. We tried to bring as much of the flight experience online. When you fly the plane there’s what we call the “duh factor”. For example, “Duh…of course there should be power plugs and usb inputs on every seat.” This methodology was the driver for the online booking flights process we created.


5. Name the top 4 artists on your iPod?
Galneryus
Cube Juice
Hall & Oats
Pantera