Going Interactive created an immersive online toy experience for Hasbro’s – The CribLife. Each doll comes with a unique code which unlocks a world of fun. The full experience offers videos, games, interactive comics, printables, design your own crib and more. Girls can engage with any of the personality filled dolls online. There’s 7 dolls and 7 awesome ways to get to know your doll even more. Check the toy shelves at stores like Toys-R-Us and Walmart. Now go get a doll and unlock the fun!

Here’s a quick highlight reel to wet the appetite.

Immersive Online Toy Experience from Going Interactive on Vimeo.

The games were developed to integrate into a much larger online experience and hook into a point-based reward system for registered users. A Doll code is required to play, so get to the store and pick one up!

The theme for this year’s campaign is “Help RCA Reach for the Sky!”. Everyday at the Ron Clark Academy they reach for the sky, dream big and transform children’s lives.  To get a great overview of how awesome the RCA is go to http://ronclarkacademy.com and click “Watch RCA in Action” video o the home screen.

To visit the GI designed and developed campaign page go to: http://greatamericanteachersclub.com/Summer_Campaign/

Step 1: In Photoshop or an equivalent software make a graphic representing your company or business best. This works really good if you can keep it within a square canvas. I did my sample favicon at 490px x 490px. Save out as a PNG or JPG depending on if you will have a background or not, my sample image is a PNG with no background.

Step2: Go to iConvert’s website at: http://iconverticons.com/

Step3: Click the “browse” button and find the file you just made, then hit the “convert” button.

Step4: After processing you will have a bunch of file formats to choose from. Scroll down till you find the ( Window .ICO ) or towards the bottom of the list you will see the “Download ICO” buttons, which offer two sizes i usually select the bigger of the two (32px x 32px).

Step5: Find your saved ( .ICO ) file that iConvert made for you and change the name of it to ( favicon.ico ).

Step6: If you have access to your server upload this new ( favicon.ico ) file with your FTP software to the root level of your website. Give it a few minutes then refresh your web browser and you should see your beautiful new favicon icon. If you don’t have FTP access or you have no idea what I am talking about send the final file to your IT guy or girl and they will get it where it needs to be!

Thanks for checking out the tut, happy faviconning!

I apologize for the small images, you can click each one to enlarge it a little bit.

01.

First, grab a texture. Crumple a piece of paper and scan it, google a photo of dirt, run a noise filter in photoshop, whatever you want. Open in in photoshop and desaturate the image and pump up the contrast a little.

02.

Convert the texture to a bitmap. Go Image>Mode>Bitmap (if bitmap is not clickable, then convert it to grayscale, then to a bitmap). From here there are a few options, for this I went with 50% threshold. If youre going for that halftone look, then choose halftone and play with the settings until you get what you like.

03.

After you get the look you’re going for, save the image as a tiff. Placing a bitmap tiff into Illustrator allows you to change the color of the tiff in Illustrator.

04.

Open up Illustrator. I used an old vector thing I did a while back.

05.

Group the objects you want to apply texture to. Then, with that group selected, go to the transparency toolbox. If its not already there, go Window>Transparency. Click the more options icon in the right corner of the transparency toolbox. Of those options, select “Make Opacity Mask”.

06.

It looks like your illustration has disappeared. It hasn’t, it just isn’t being masked yet. In that transparency toolbox, you should now see a thumbnail of your grouped illustration and a black box next to it. Click the black box. Now you are editing the transparency mask. Selecting the box with the thumbnail of your illustration will allow you to edit the contents of the transparency mask.

07.

With the transparency mask selected, place the bitmap tiff file you made earlier. Now you should see a rougher version of your illustration. Play with the color of the bitmap to get different levels of grunge. White is most visible, and Black is least visible. From this point, just play with different bitmaps, add another to the transparency mask. Add 4 more, whatever looks good. When you’re ready to save of move on, select the illustrations thumbnail in the transparency toolbox.

08.

That’s it. I know this is slightly unclear and not totally concise, but it should be. I think if you have enough to get going, then experimentation is the best way for you to learn. There really isn’t any one way to do anything in illustrator, you have to figure out what works for you.

Most definitely an improvement over 2009 with the increase in exciting clients and projects.

2010 started a bit slow as we eased out of the MyPrinties.com big Christmas 2009 launch. We were pleased with the large sales and web registration numbers for the product. And relieved for the server holding up on December 25th (thank you Voxel.net).

Then a very cool video production for Syniverse Technologies called “We Do That”. Check it out here on their site – click the link at the bottom. They’ve won all kinds of awards for it in 2010.

In February we were pleased to receive a few Atlanta Addy awards.  A Silver and a Gold Pencil for our work on non-profit sites for The Home Safety Council and Atlanta’s Future Foundation. The awards ceremony at the Atlanta Aquarium was very classy and memorable.

From there we traveled to Detroit Lakes, MN to visit Lakeshirts and talk about producing an online custom spirit wear sales site (it launched in November – Blue84spirit.com). Then we were off to Pawtucket, RI to visit Hasbro’s corporate headquarters for another new project.

More awards in March. At the always glamourous Atlanta Marketers of the Year (AMY) Awards we picked up a winner for Printies and a finalist for Ron Clark’s Great American Teachers Club promotional site.

Through the course of the year we also completed a bunch of fun (and serious) video and motion graphics projects for the likes of Kimberly-Clark Professional (like Mr. Slim, Sustainability, SCOTT SLIMROLL),  The Retreat at Lake Tamaha and Webemetrics Monitoring.

During the summer we produced The Great American Teacher’s Awards online application and promotional site. And then attended the extremely classy and FUN awards show at the Cobb Energy Center.

In the late summer a few more awards for MyPrinties.com and HomeSafetyCouncil.org from the IABC Golden Flames Ceremony. A good time at the 80′s themed party at the Atlanta Biltmore.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a low point. And that was having the studio robbed the late summer. A blow to moral and equipment but we per-severed and recovered with full force.

2010 also saw the addition of 2 super new folks to the Going Interactive gang. GI Chris and GI Jerry (as we like to call them online).

And of course there was a LOT more super secret work we can’t yet reveal but will see the light of day this year.

As usual The year ended with our as usual last minute scramble to produce a digital Going Interactive 2010 Christmas Card. In the end it turned out to be one of the best I think.

Here’s to an exciting, productive and fulfilling 2011!

The Ron Clark Academy and Great American Financial Resources teamed up again this year to present the 2nd annual “Great American Teacher Awards“.  Their goal is to spread educational excellence; there are dynamic, skilled master teachers across the country who are making a difference each and every day. They wan to shine a spotlight on the dedicated professionals who are changing the face of education.

The first year of the Awards (2009) the process was all handled manually with paper teacher applications and hand processing of every step from judging to applicant contact. It turned out to be quite a cumbersome endeavor. This year however, Going Interactive was brought on to first produce an online application system where  teachers could digitally enter information about themselves, their school, their students and upload videos and folders.  In addition the system made it possible for teachers to send out digital reference requests. Once a peer received a reference request they could post a unique testimonial on the teacher’s application.

The application system also allowed for a team of judges to each login, review and rate each application. With the new system in place the staff from the Ron Clark Academy and GAFRI could much more efficiently handle the whole process.

When the application period winded down Going Interactive then produced an interactive Flash website to promote the actual Awards Show itself.  This site, greatamericanteacherawards.com features digital video, animation, sponsorship information, social media tie in and more.

Overall the project has been a great success for all involved and proof that modernizing a traditionally cumbersome application process with an online system offers great benefits in efficiency, cost and impact.

We encourage everyone out there to support the Ron Clark Academy (they also have a non-profit online donation area where you can help out) and teachers everywhere with positivity and thanks for the jobs they do.

Going Interactive scripted, storyboarded, designed and animated this short animated B2B online video. The video was intended to give an overview of a brand new product. Since the product hasn’t been officially produced yet, it created an interesting challenge. Therefore, we had to try to show details about a product that doesn’t physically exist yet. In the end, we were able to take a stylized graphic approach which leads the viewer through a story that focuses on the product benefits.

Needless to say, the client was very excited about the final outcome. They said – “The final version is absolutely amazing”.

If your company needs to demonstrate a product or service online, consider using online video or animation. Sometimes a simple movie can speak volumes.

To learn more, contact Going Interactive.

Web: www.goinginteractive.com.

Phone: 770-643-3014

Email: info(at)goinginteractive(dot)com

Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr | Vimeo

We’ve wrapped up another great year at Going Interactive and selected a variety of work to share in our 2009 Showreel.

Going Interactive, a digital creative agency, collected a variety of our 2009 projects in one reel. It highlights projects for both B2B and B2C clients including interactive apps, websites, videos, motion graphics, social media campaigns, games, RIA’s and more. See more at goinginteractive.com. Music clip used was “1901″ by Phoenix. Check it out!

Going Interactive 2009 Showreel from Going Interactive on Vimeo.

Are you ready to go interactive or get social?

To learn more, contact us at Going Interactive.

Atlanta Web Design: www.goinginteractive.com.

Phone: 770-643-3014

Email: info(at)goinginteractive(dot)com

Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr | Vimeo

Going Interactive worked with Neustar on another great B2B online video for Webmetrics Load Testing.

The video covers a multitude of features offered by the Load Testing service. GI worked closely with the client and after Q&A sessions, GI created the script which gave details on how the service works and how it helps. GI then designed, animated, and recorded VO for the piece.

This look and feel is part of a larger mini series of B2B service videos Going Interactive produced for Neustar. The videos help educate clients and serve as a great source for incoming social media links. The videos live throughout the web on the Webmetrics website, and sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Daily Motion and MetaCafe.

Here’s the Load Testing Video:

Even though your company knows your products and services well, that doesn’t mean your prospective clients do. Let Going Interactive help you in explaining things clearly, creatively and successfully. Check out some of our other video projects here.

To learn more, contact Going Interactive.

Web: www.goinginteractive.com.

Phone: 770-643-3014

Email: info(at)goinginteractive(dot)com

Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Flickr | Vimeo