History Channel
website and game
The universe is vast and panoramic. AETV’s History channel wanted a website to promote their upcoming television series (The Universe) that would be up to the task.
I created and pitched the concept of a full-screen site with no fixed navigation. Images were imported directly from the NASA public domain library (thank you, U.S. government!). The background images fade slowly in an endless gallery, accompanied by my ambient sound design (proprietary secret: there are undersea whale songs mixed in—funny how something so earthly feels so alien). The navigation is a thin translucent menu bar floating over the screen, following the mouse movement with delayed easing like a weightless object. Think of the iconic pen scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like that.
I also conceived, designed and developed an original interactive game for the website. The player is shown the schematic of a random constellation. They must navigate through space to find it. While browsing the universe, they pass by nebulas, comets, asteroids, black holes, planets, and other constellations. When they locate the correct constellation, they must rotate the cluster in three-dimensional space to align the stars into the classic mythological figure pattern. Houston, we have a winner!
The whole website was designed to give a visual sense of the awesome expanse and beauty of the universe. Considering the age of this project, I include it in my portfolio because it holds up so well. A professional photographer claimed it was “the most beautiful site” he had ever seen. The lush yet minimal aesthetic is always timely.
What I did
- Creative Direction
- Design
- Game concept
- Web and game development