2Advanced Studios Progressive Design Technology. The company has two global locations; one in the U.S.A., located in Aliso Viejo, CA and the other in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 2Advanced Studios has been making it’s mark on the world wide web since 1999, and has evolved into a major design firm, serving some of the biggest names out there.
The Lowdown: Lets take a look at the details of the site!
A moment of silence is in order for such a site as this…
Okay lets talk about it. Man-o-man I personally was taken aback by the creativity used in this site. Right away you feel like you are in control of a sci-fi secret operation in the works. The music in the background, and menus that drop down, pop out, and scroll really pull you in and make you feel as if you are apart of some secret organization. Okay, we know that sounds a bit over the top maybe, but the fact remains, 2Advanced Studios really did hit a home run with their site, especially for those sci-fi fanatics out there. Lets really break it down though…
Navigation:
Everything is in working order here. There are no areas of the site that leave out links to important sections. Very well organized. Click on “Expand Navigation Array” in the content area and let the fun begin! Every page has something new to offer its reader. The footer contains some great links as well; for each page you visit you have an option to download the background as a wallpaper to your computer; not an option you see very often. Also, preferences are given to the user to select the type of language, music settings, and navigation persistance… You can actually customize the site to some extent so it suits your fancy! We could tell you more about whats on the site, for navigation purposes, but that would just spoil it for you. We’re going to let you check the rest out!
Animation:
Attention to detail is key when making any website and these guys have obviously done their work. Nothing goes unaccounted for in 2Advanced’s site. From the dim flash of the company’s global location areas in their contact window of the footer, to the windows displayed in their portfolio dealing out great mouse-over effects this site is a sure eye-pleaser to anyone that visits.
Downside:
If we said there was some sort of downside to this site, we would be lieing! Simply put, we couldn’t find any. So we have to say we found an upside if nothing else. Their contact section… features two things which are important to any potential client and they hit the nail right on the head. They provide their physical address,as well as email, along with an email form they created so the potential client can use from their site. We’ve seen many sites on the net that do not offer these option as they indeed should! Great work 2Advanced!
The Round-Up:
Well, all good things must come to an end, and todays review as definitely been an interesting one! If this doesn’t caffeinate your optic neurons then someone call for life support! This site sounds the wake-up call for designers everywhere to throw back that coffee you may be drinking and burn the midnite oil, because hard work yields its rewards! Just take a look into their portfolio and see.
Our Rating:
Rating: 
Hmm… no downsides? How about the fact that it’s 100% in Flash? Content hidden from search engines? Impossible to use the normal browser controls (back button) to go back a page? Inability to render AT ALL on a mobile browser? What about people with vision disabilities? Can screen readers get at this content? How about the fact that it takes a good 10-15 seconds of waiting to get to any real content while the preloaders and intros run? In the scrolling elements on the page, you can’t use the scroll wheel on your mouse like every other non-Flash site. Tiny font size with no ability to increase it.
Sorry, but an all-Flash web site is just so 1996… Sad.
Thanks for posting! In the near future I will look into those issues for the downside of sites as I review them. The main focus of the site is to inspire others with content and ideas for their designs through the reviews.
@Ian : Impossible to use the normal browser controls (back button) to go back a page?
huhu.. test it before posting..man, you’ll see back & forward buttons are functionnals..
Ian, I feel as if you have some deep seated prejudice towards flash sites which has blurred your judgement on this one.
As Chris said, the browser controls do work, perfectly.
Concerning scrolling using the mouse wheel, yes, on this website this functionality is not implemented, but this is a fault with this website in particular as flash has a built in function that allows mouse wheel scrolling natively on Windows and with the use of JavaScript and a bit of fiddling it is possible to implement on Mac too. Anyway, I’d say this is a very small downfall considering in all cases where a scrollbar is necessary, it is mere centimetres away from the content it is scrolling.
Considering load times, do correct me if I’m wrong, but on my first visit to “Ian Pitts Photography”, I was staring at a blank page for about 30 seconds before reaching any real content, and at least with 2Advanced I had some reassurance from the loading animation that it was actually doing something. Amazing what a simple pre-loader can do.
Considering search engines, Google, and I’m sure many others, can now read text in .swf files. Just search “flash hiding content from search engines” on Google and you’ll find hundreds of articles about it.
Now, considering mobile browsers, ok I agree with you, the site cannot be rendered on most phones or PDAs, but if you were seriously a potential 2Advanced customer, especially considering the popularity of web-books and mobile internet, would you really be looking at it on your phone? Anyway I’m sure it won’t be long before Apple and Adobe put their heads together and come up with an iPhone flash player which would of course spark every other phone manufacturer to follow in their wake.
Now I’m sure people with vision impairments are a very small percentage of potential 2Advanced customers, and, without meaning to sound horribly offensive, due to the nature of “graphic design”, I doubt one with visual limitations would be able to fully appreciate what 2Advanced has to offer. Anyway, considering 2Advanced custom is aimed at large companies, rather than the individual, I’m sure this would not be much of an issue.
All in all, I think you’re forgetting that this is not just meant as a functional website to provide information about the company, it is meant as an interactive advert, a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ website if you will, the best website design and graphic design 2Advanced has to offer, and as such needs to be smooth and sleek with as many bells and whistles they can squeeze in, which I personally think they have succeeded in doing beautifully.
I’m sorry but I feel that you have a very old fashioned view of flash and its limitations. It has developed an unrecognisable amount since 1996. Criticising something you have no idea about… that’s what’s sad.
Steve, very well said…
ha ha i think Ian has had issues with flash in the past, maybe couldn’t ever learn it. there for is aggravated at it…