I generally dislike Internet ads, partially because they are
often jarringly distracting and headache-inducing, with their obnoxiously
flashing motion graphics, or else they are just stupid and lame, or seemingly dishonest. But
this ad I just saw for Google’s Chrome browser download was fun, cool, and the
height of simplicity! I have done quite a bit of graphic design as well, and I
like that kind of stuff when it’s done well, and this certainly is fun and
elegant, as well as nice enough to look at and unobtrusive. I’m afraid I don’t
know how to direct people to see specific web ads, but I will describe it to
you:
The ad begins (I think) with a simple vector drawing of a
Formula 1-style racing car, and with minimal but effective motion graphics to
make it appear to be moving along at a rapid clip. Then, once this minimal
movement gets your attention (it somehow seems to know; or else it’s timed
perfectly!), the car transforms like a James Bond car turning into a briefcase
or something: the wheels flip in, the chassis collapses, and if I remember
correctly, the car becomes a web browser window that swivels in from an angled
perspective that made it seem flat, and then the motion graphics demonstrate
browsing moving efficiently, with pages loading quickly, saying: “Make the web
faster”, and the Google Chrome circular 4-color graphic appears, spooling out
the word: “chrome”, and then it ends, prompting you to download Chrome if you
want it. And if you don’t, it stops moving and leaves you alone so you don’t
get angry and hate Google (!!).
Well done, indeed! Simple, direct, etc. It’s nice to see
that some people are learning how to get people’s attention for the brief
period it takes for them to decide whether or not they’re interested, and if
not, it goes to sleep and stops nagging everyone so as not to ruin their web
experience. There will always be repugnant, insufferably irritating ads with
awful flashing/dancing graphics online that make life miserable for everyone
who sees them (and the companies who employ them will see no positive effects
from them, hopefully); but for businesses who want people to like them, there
will be more stuff like this, and hopefully soon it will begin to crowd out the
annoying tripe for the most part from the web. Here’s hoping, anyway!
