ABOUT

We have decided to 'archive' some of our old Flash Design work.

An homage to Adobe Flash! - This one's for you, bud! - RIP.


While nothing ground breaking, certainly not by today's web standards using HTML5 and/or three.js javascript, there are still certain projects - like this for MobilX in Newcastle, UK - where Flash proved to be a really fun and effective piece of software to have in our tool bag. We're still happy with the result and what was achieved for the client back then, translating a beautiful piece of print work into a fully interactive brochure microsite.


Between 1999 and 2013 we created a great deal of web content using (Initially Macromedia) Adobe's Flash software. Full websites, banners, website promos, landing pages, CD-Roms, presentations, perimeter boards, intranet sites, music players, cartoons and simple games. It was a cool piece of software that allowed us to navigate keyframe animation, and open up our creative, visual communication using motion graphics (without requiring After Effects, that needed a super expensive G4 Mac Pro tower or the stunning G4 Power Cube at the time to run it). It was all 'tweening' and interpolating shapes, animating slick masks and typography, tweaking Action Script 2.0/3.0, all to achieve effects that are often still replicated and used in websites produced in CSS/HTML5 (etc) today.


Compatibility between browsers was a big problem back in the day so getting your website to 'behave' and load correctly in Netscape Navigator, Explorer, Opera, Safari and Firefox (imagine Chrome and Edge didn't exist) could be challenging and time consuming. Providing the end user had the plugin and the HTML embed tags were configured to accommodate the plugin correctly, Flash was a great solution to that problem… your creation just worked!


Our need to use Flash in its final years before being discontinued sadly diminished and it would feature far less in our creative projects, due to the advances in mobile and tablet tech', internet connection speeds and ever changing Web2.0 landscape.


By 2020, Flash Sites or Animation or any use of Flash Web Functionality, kinetic online advertising had been replaced by slick, smoother banners using CSS & HTML. Any video and motion effects were created using Adobe Premiere or After Effects since internet speeds could handle and stream Full 720p and 1080p HD video and certainly not a problem running a 250x250 video promo in place of a Flash creative.


Adobe decided to completely Kill the Flash Plugin in December 2020, making it extremely difficult for designers to exhibit any older successful Flash Web Design, motion graphics or animation online.


Oh Flash, how we miss you! :(