Weekly Highlights

Sorry about the missed week - things were a little hectic. Here they are for last week and this week:

Audi TT
Very well executed flash micro site for the 2008 Audi TT - of note are the navigation that remind me of wireframe flows and the 'Build Your Own' section with an intuitive selection.

Rolex
Rolex created a new collection of watches and launched them on their site just in time for Baselworld. Beautiful watches, amazing video footage, worth dreaming about..

Volkswagen
VW launched a new site for North America, pushing the Jetta, Beetle and Rabbit looks, leasing deals, and interesting 'Compare-o-tron'-comparisons to competitor cars like the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Also of note - the navigation that reminds me of the cassette radio in my first Golf 3...

This American Life
I've heard comments from 'interesting' and 'hilarious' to 'surprising' and 'scary'... personally, I find This American Life to be an interesting look into the US society, offering unique stories of mostly unknown, everyday people. Worth a look or listen.

HP
An interesting approach - HP partners with Vera Wang for 'Work in Style', a campaign that pushes an HP notebook. This is one of the very few approaches that focuses on attracting female computer buyers. On this section of the HP site, Vera Wang, her work and fashion itself take center stage, while the HP notebook is supporting this look into Vera Wang's work. This is a smart and fairly new move for any of the computer giants to partner with a great name to reach female customers (as opposed to men, hipsters, gamers, or families).

Webby Awards Announced

Enjoy the latest and greatest of our industry at the 2007 Webby Awards line-up. Impressive if you're looking for inspiration, glorious, if you're one of the nominees.

Fifth Portfolio Night

www.ihaveanidea.org just announced the next round of Portfolio Nights on May 3rd 2007. Interesting twist this year - they signed hard rock band Burn Back to headline Portfolio Night 5.

Weekly Highlights

This week - all time favorites! The sites I refer to the most when brainstorming, for best-in-class examples, for great site experiences etc.

Mercedes Benz UK
Great execution on this Mercedes Benz site - copy, design, animation.. the concepts are great and break the touch-feel barrier. One of the best sites I've seen.

Albertsons
A smart, helpful, well-organized micro site called Albertsons Everyday Rhythms makes planning and preparing meals for the whole family easier.

Whirlpool
The Whirlpool site offers inspiration for every type of page, every type of content and smart content disclosure. From tutorials to hot spots and product details - every item is well thought through and never overwhelming.

The Home Depot
Given the breadth of product choices, The Home Depot has managed to create a solid flow, robust search functionality and smart search results that are even helpful when no results can be found.

Rolex
The brand is strong and established and sales are seemingly no concern. The site ozes aspiration, inspiration and beauty and shows what's possible for motion, flash, video, photo shoots, 3D and copy. Enjoy the world of Rolex.

Google Maps Go Personal

You can now create a 'personalized, annotated, customized map' with Google Maps. This includes adding photos and videos or sharing maps.
Read more on the O'Reilly Radar.