BLE Interactive v1 & v2

Client:	Self
Role:	Design, Flash
Year:	2006(v1) & 2009(v2)
Links:	2006(v1) / 2009(v2)

A Decade of Self Promotion

I've always taken a great deal of pride in designing my own web presence and portfolio presentation. It might seem kind of silly to include past self-promotion sites in one's portfolio, but these ideas and designs represent where I was in my evolution at various points in time. I feel they represent unfettered and uncompromising design process, and they have always been a source of pride for me. They also garnered a bunch of awards and recognition, so that's pretty cool too I guess.

My Role

Well, it's my own self-promo site, so I filled all roles. Design, Flash development, sound, content, and site maintenance. Duh.

BLE v2 - Concept & Design

When first inventing the BLE Interactive moniker (v1), I was kicking around dozens of ideas on how best to describe myself and eventually began thinking of myself as a professional puzzle solver. I feel strongly that one's cumulative work has a synergistic effect and that my body of work told a story of who I am as a designer.

Stylistically speaking, the site represented by the screens below is more stark and vector than the previous version. I tried to focus on the simplicity of the simple 3-Dimensional forms, color and typography to form a powerful but simple aesthetic.

BLE v2 - Technical Details

The site, developed in Flash/AS3, utilizes the PaperVision 3D engine. I created the puzzle pieces in Illustrator, imported them into a 3D program and export Collada files from there. I used those Collada files in Flash/PV formulating a 3D puzzle that users can move around completely and even zoom into. Users can drag the puzzle pieces into place using a bit of tricky RayTracing code. Of course, it's all XML driven for easy updatability.

BLE v1 - Concept & Design

This is the original BLE Interactive site. Incorporating some realism into the experience allowed me to tell a story using familiar metaphors such as the book for details about myself and the business card that could be flipped over to view my contact info. Kinda dated by today's standards, but it still makes me proud for what it was.

BLE v1 - Technical Details

Using Flash & OO AS2, I developed the puzzle section of the site to allow me to add new portfolio pieces dynamically using xml. The puzzle logic choses piece types based on the number of pieces required and builds the puzzle on the fly at runtime.