Set your alarms - JFK50.org - The Peace Corps

Tomorrow is March 1, 1961 on the JFK50.org website and you can get a look at the graphic novel treatment of Kennedy's push for the Peace Corps in History Now when the event opens on the timeline. For an an extra layer of rich interactive goodness, you can also dive into individual frames to get more story and media.

The Monkey Sleeps With the Fishes

By Artgig:



Check out the full size masterpiece and make your own at the Draw and Fold Over website

"Being Benny" Children's Book App Coming Soon...

So, we’ve been working on some apps.

The first to release this year is “Being Benny,” a children’s book app based on the story from our good friend Dan Wetzel at Purple Sneakers Studio. We know Dan from way back in the Sunburst Technology days when we were making educational games for Houghton Mifflin. He’s a good friend and a very talented illustrator/animator and all-around creative.

When we found out Dan had written and illustrated his own book we applauded him. Sure, it’s easy to dream of writing a book but to actually sit down and craft an entertaining story and illustrate it, is no small feat. Once we got Benny in our hands, it wasn’t long before we were talking about making the leap from the page to the touchscreen.

The app is in Beta testing now and should hit the Apple App Store for iPads and iPhones in the next month or so.

Stay Tuned...

Being Benny is currently available in paperback or hardcover at the Purple Sneakers Store.

Jimmy Fallon JFK50.org Spots

Pretty cool - Jimmy Fallon did some spots pumping up the JFK50 site.

JFK 50th Anniversary Website - Part 3

JFK50 - Legacy Gallery and Beyond...

(Part 3 of 3)

Back to those killer videos... JFK was a media-savvy guy and he embraced all platforms of communication. You can see it in the televised addresses, radio speeches, photographs and films of everything he did, and how he made all this media available to as many people as possible. So we went out of our way to incorporate as much video and audio as we could. In addition to the JFK historical media, there is a growing library of videos in the Legacy Gallery that show how the JFK legacy has affected the lives and work of people today, ranging from Matt Damon and Wynton Marsalis to Stephen Colbert and Nancy Pelosi.

And finally, there is a Downloads and Resources section of the website, making themed content available to students and teachers for use in personal or classroom projects.

JFK seized the hearts and minds of America and inspired a nation to form a community focused on change. Since we launched the site on Jan 20th - the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s inauguration speech, I’ve talked to a number of clients, friends, and family, who were there in the 60’s - and the site is clearly stirring memories and emotions. That is impressive. What would really be impressive is if we can achieve our goal, and inspire a younger generation to carry the torch. Who knows? Maybe a future president is looking at History Now, right now.

JFK50.org

JFK 50th Anniversary Website - Part 2

JFK50 - History Now

(Part 2 of 3)

Working with ESI Design is always a great experience, and working for the JFK Library and Museum in Boston has been a pleasure. Their vision was to bring the life and times of President Kennedy to not only the generation that remembers him, but to engage the new generation of kids who know his name, but maybe not so much about his passion and ideas for a better world. Working for kids is one of our favorite things to do, and we wanted to make history speak in a contemporary language. And so the History Now section of the site was born - transforming formerly dry, colorless information into a graphic novel styled panorama. The timeline is peppered with major events taking place during the three years of the Kennedy presidency, like JFK’s inauguration and the Bay of Pigs invasion, that unfold on the same date they occurred 50 years ago. It's our own version of a time machine. And we think it’s pretty cool.

Next up, Legacy Gallery...

jfk50.org

JFK 50th Anniversary Website - Part 1

JFK50 - Something for Everyone

(Part 1 of 3)

The final days leading to a major launch are always nerve-wracking, but after some last-gasp coding heroics by super Steve, the site is live and we're all feeling pretty good about it. This project was another herculean team effort, featuring the combined forces of Artgig and ESI Design, along with the crack video crew at Ager Meillier Films.

The jfk50 site is a ground-breaker for us. If you've been keeping up with the iOS vs Flash war raging on the internet and here in my blog, you will have seen that at this moment in the constantly evolving primordial internet soup, it's a complicated and excessive task to make a media-rich, interactive site accessible to every person on every kind of device. But that's just what we've managed to pull off, and we've done it in a way that we hope is both transparent and intuitive. On your computer you can view the site in all of its Flash goodness, or default to HTML for accessibility. On mobile devices and the iPad you'll get all of the media delivered in a friendly lightweight HTML5 presentation. It sounds easy but video was the giant uncooperative gorilla in the room, because once you get away from the standard Flash player - there are no standards. So you better triple your time for testing and tweaking to get it right.

Next week - History Now...

jfk50.org