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New Fi Site – April 23rd
Added by David Hugh MartinPublished Wed 2/Apr/2008
Keywords:
Fi, brand, passion
Category:
fi
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Many faithful Think Swedish posters have been wondering out loud, “where is the new Fi?” Well, you can consider this post the official announcement: the new Fi will be here April 23rd!
As a company we are focused quality over quantity, and for us, the passion is in the details. That being the case, the working name for the new Fi is Passion.
Today, Passion is undergoing our rigorous FiQ process. It is in the final stages, and you can expect to see the real Fi on April 23rd. As we transparently share with our clients, we are embarrassed with our current site. We feel it inaccurately portrays what we do, our voice and who we strive to be.
Passion will reflect our true identity and show you what Fi has been doing for the past two years, including exciting new work for SAS, Nintendo, Nordstrom and Porsche.
Warm up your popcorn =)
As a company we are focused quality over quantity, and for us, the passion is in the details. That being the case, the working name for the new Fi is Passion.
Today, Passion is undergoing our rigorous FiQ process. It is in the final stages, and you can expect to see the real Fi on April 23rd. As we transparently share with our clients, we are embarrassed with our current site. We feel it inaccurately portrays what we do, our voice and who we strive to be.
Passion will reflect our true identity and show you what Fi has been doing for the past two years, including exciting new work for SAS, Nintendo, Nordstrom and Porsche.
Warm up your popcorn =)
anyway .. at least now we know exactly when it is gonna be launched .. and you can't postpond it again ..
i have been waiting for ur new site for about a year .. no it is kinda 23 days .. i'll try to have patience ..
I can't wait to see what FI brings to the table with their new portfolio site.
Best regards!
Cheers, Cedric.
Seriously mate, I'm sure they've given that plenty of thought! :)
I think, from what I've been reading on this blog lately, that if you're expecting a lot of "whiz-bang" (a term used at my office all the time :P) then you're going to be disappointed. Fi seems to be trimming away some of their more famous-sometimes-excessive bells and whistles. Although I'll miss the little 3D figures, the tongue-in-cheek "Jackass" comments, and some of the overblown redos of major company logos ... I think where they are now is a bit more professional.
Take note of the flat, two-tone images you've seen promoting the new-new-Fi ... I just hope it's not black-and-white :P
On one hand, I've always felt that being your own worst critic is a bittersweet thing, i t helps you grow, evolve, and push yourself further because you are constantly analyzing your work against your own expectations. But again, it is still growth, it still has its purpose, so being embarrassed wasn't how I would think David would feel about their current site.
On the other hand, there are definitely times where I feel I've let down my inner critic. Many times too much time has passed. I've learned quite a bit, and grown so much that my current site is not an accurate representation of what I am capable of, and what my "passion" is. I'm guessing this is where David is coming from.
As far as the site not being released 'on time' at the end of march, anyone who knows FI at all, knows that Quality > Quantity has been their credo, so don't act so surprised, and I'll happily wait till the 23rd so that when I do see their site, it has the love and care I'd expect from a company I've admired since I was 16.
Ok, to ensure expectations are set correctly, let me explain what “embarrasses” us about our current site. The wonderful 3-d graphics were amazing when we created them and have stood-up well over the past 4 years; particularly as 3-d became more of a main stream tool for the interactive industry. We feel, and I am sure you can agree, they have simply passed their sell-by-date. Today, using fluffy graphics has become “flashturbation” to us.
Let’s move on to the rest of the site – lack of usability, rampant inconsistency, navigational disconnects, our process page is fluff. It is difficult to write generic text alongside some metallic objects and then ask a client to trust you not to screw up their project.
The colors feel like they have spent 2005, 2006 and 2007 in a tumble dryer. The holographic icons are designed beautifully, but belong in 1986. And let’s face it, the slight futuristic style, overzealous fill-outs and general copy come off cocky as we tried to look bigger than we were.
Taking a step back, I can confidently say the 2004 Fi site was one of the best sites Fi has designed in its time. In 2011 I will be cursing the new one. There are too many great minds out there, working their bums of to be the next best thing, we need to be competitive. Our new site is not going to come out with a massive 3-d animation and slap users on the face, rather it will simply present our interactive firm with a balanced focus on design, usability and technology – a harmony I feel we and others have rarely achieved, if ever.
dhm
Everyone in the design community is waiting with baited breath. From the minimal amount of released material (i.e. logo, picture in this article), I bet the new site will be very black and white.
Just a guess :-)
Oh - guys - the reflections on the 'Latest Work' section of SAS Minimap and Porsche are wrong... you should only be able to see the first page reflected, but you can see a whole bunch of them.
Keep up the good... hell... great work!
I'm expecting something flat and very two-toned. It's not going to wow me when I see it, and it'll probably be focused on getting clients more than being a portfolio. It's something my current company is proposing too.
Also, I am getting the sense we shouldn't expect much Flash in this new Fi site either. Their current site solved many usability issues (back button, book marking etc.) but if David thinks it's still not usable, then as I commented earlier, I think one of the best companies for pushing Flash technology seems to be abandoning the idea of using the product 100% ... or even 50% ... guess we'll just wait and see.
Fi + CSS + Java = April 23rd
Go ahead let'r rip guys.....
As an avid watcher of FI over the yeasr i will be sure to check this out on the 23rd. I hope to see you guys in the UK soon as we need some of this injected into our creative pool.
Best of luck Guys and Girls!
Okay I'm back. I now have the butter pecan pop corn with karmel syrup and I found my hot sauce. I have my Starbuck card that I filled up with $200 so I can go thorugh every square pixel of Fi's new site. Exciting times are ahead. Maybe I will give you guys a sneek peak of one my SIMS I developed for the CDC in Atlanta. Just maybe...
i dig that retro 3d vibe.
@Neil
I politely care to disagree Neil, I think the UK has plenty of talent. I just think the British mentallity is a little more reserved so they tend not to go round bigging themselves up - but they are here.
That of course is not to say I like what Fi do. They produce some great stuff along with many other agencies. What I'd like to see from this blog is more constructive discussion regarding design and development rather than the back slapping and "fan hysteria".
I'd be more interested to learn about topics like the Fi approach to SEO regarding Flash sites - is this a consideration or not an issue as many of their clients are flagship brands? Or some interviews with people who have been trained up through the company and the role Fi has had in their development etc.
It started out like this but there is now an influx of groupies who spend their time kissing a** and behaving like Superfans. I think there was a comment earlier from someone telling another poster to go elsewhere because he wasn't falling over himself with praise for Fi.
Some people need to get a grip - the world is about opinions and more often than not they differ from your own.
I agree, this is how we feel too.
@Yodan,
It's great you are excited Yodan.
@Steve,
You are correct, we have been focusing on larger applications and software platforms over the past 3-4 years, catering for our larger clientele, and have become rather comfortable in this area. However, we have indeed distance to regain on the glamour side of the interactive market, the FWA awards, the Micro Sites etc, of which we are now thriving on once more and excited to deliver the best interactive experiences we can.
Pixelboi (AFJ)
To address a few things:
We have focused heavily on developing proprietary applications and platforms over the past 3-4 years, as DHM has stated above. It's a somewhat trite analogy, but I will go ahead and share this anyway; when Tiger Woods came storming into the golf world, he was winning championships seemingly overnight. However, after a careful analysis of his swing, his Coach realized Tiger would have to deconstruct and re-create his swing to achieve the level of success he truly desired. So, by taking a step backwards he took a drastic leap forwards, achieving heights he many never have otherwise reached.
Likewise, Fi was fortunate to win its first FWA Site of the Year in 2001, two years after the company was founded. Fi followed-up by focusing on delivering ground-breaking interactive experiences. By 2004, Fi had proven nearly everything could in the agency capacity, from microsites to portals. At this point, Fi shifted its focus towards developing entire platforms independently, with the goal of bringing the same focus and excellence Fi has built a name on over the years.
Thus, for a period of 3-4 years, Fi was publicly quiet, but very active beneath the surface. In order for Fi to reach beyond the agency model and become the firm it is today, it became imperative for us to push our limits and “change our swing”. Passion will share this journey and our results with you in a way which will “fill in the blanks” of the last several years, and we look forward to sharing this with you.
Thank you again for your contributions to Think Swedish.
In 2 days, the new FI will come..I'm very excited about it this will certainly be amazing !!
Keep up the good work !
abc*
cheers
Cheers
vivek
i2fly