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| Eric Jordan from 2Advanced Studios | Sat 25 May 2002
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Hi Eric,
Welcome to FlashDevils Community and thank you for joining this interview.
Q: What were the intentions for starting with 2advanced?
A: "2advanced began as a culmination of ideas that had been building for quite some time before Flash had ever come into existence. Many people think the name “2advanced” was meant to imply mastery of everything, when in reality it constitutes a love of the future and the underlying feeling that somehow I wish I had been born in the distant future. Not because I don’t appreciate the era I was born in, simply because the idea of deep technological advances and a rise in the collective human consciousness are alluring to me. 2advanced was a way for me to tell the story. Some people pick up on the message, some don’t. But even if one person understands the 2advanced voice, it makes it all worth it."
Q: Did you start 2advanced by yourself and later on extended it with employees or did you started it with other founders?
A: "I began 2advanced as a personal endeavour while working for a company called Binus. I later moved on to become the Creative Director for Design Insites. It was there that I lost faith in the company as a whole and decided to move 2advanced forward as a standalone entity. A few of the friends I had made at Design Insites had seen how much potential 2advanced had, and so they joined me in building it as a company. We now stand with 10 employees."
Q: What programs are used for 2advanced.com?
A: "2advanced was built using Flash 5 and Photoshop 5.5, and Freehand 9. Its backend consists of custom Java and MySql."
Q: How many people and how much time was spent on making 2advanced.com from start to finish?
A: "The 2advanced interface design (including all flash animations) were built by me, however I required help from 2 developers working on backend integration for our custom contact form, our merchandise portal, and dynamic portions that could be updated via administration tools designed specifically for 2advanced.com. The entire process from conception to launch took around 2 weeks."
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your history to Flash? What is your story behind this wonderful concept of 2advanced?
A: "I was introduced to Flash when I saw Gabocorp.com. The first ever 100% flash site, which blew me away. It was a new type of experience. I originally wanted to do movie title sequences, and had actually been creating mini-movies using Powerpoint before ever seeing Flash, because it was the only way to animate images and text on a PC that I knew of. I didn’t have any kind of access to an animation program, because there weren’t really any at the consumer level.
Once I was able to get a hold Flash, I spent nearly 3 nights animating and learning without sleep. I couldn’t get over the idea that there was finally a program in my hands that would let me create everything I saw in my head, and deliver it via the Web to a massive audience. I guess you could say 2advanced is a reflection of my soul, told through animation and sound. "
Q: How do you see the future of Flash or motion media on the web? You think it will rise pretty fast when broadband is active in more regions?
A: "Flash is a springboard for an entirely new type of interactive platform that we will eventually dream up and implement. The virtual environments you see in movies aren’t just a disjointed fragment of human imagination. I know we will make that type of stuff a reality because we shape the future according to the way we imagine it. We always have. Based on that notion, I think Flash is a step toward accepting advanced interactivity, and we will always have an underlying desire to take it to the next level. Once broadband has more market penetration, I think we will see even more advanced methods of delivering animation over the Web. Not just Flash, but even more graphic intensive GUIs based on new technologies that will certainly develop. We’ll just have to wait and see."
Q: You’re still a young man, how does your life look like besides 2advanced and giving interviews and all?
A: "I’ve been quite busy building the company. It takes a lot out of you. It isn’t exactly easy handling the workload we have and balancing a normal life outside of it. Its actually a strange feeling to run a company at 23, because in the back of your mind you always question “Am I giving up my youth for this?”. But I always come back to the same answer, which is that I love what I am doing and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I am a creative person by nature, and I think if I weren’t creating on a daily basis, I would feel incomplete. I try and maintain a balance between work and play, though. I make sure I don’t spend too many hours in front of the screen, and try to stay grounded in reality."
Q: A lot of people found their inspiration by you…for example Billy Bussey who we will Interview later on. What was your idol, who gave you your inspiration in Flash?
A: "I can’t really say I had an idol when I started, because Flash was so new there was no one really creating anything with it. More of my inspiration came from music (trance, house, etc) and books like Neuromancer, which paint pictures of picturesque future worlds where halogen burns along the freeway and life is deep and intrinsic from the blending of cultures and the emotional struggle that comes along with the dominance of technology. It is both beautiful and nightmarish at the same time. Provocative."
Q: When I come on other communities and I go to the “cool sites” section, I always see the name 2advanced in at least the top10. Do you have a site that you like the most?
A: "The sites that I feel are of any inspiration, are the one that make me feel “uncomfortable”. Anything inspiring is always new and dangerous. For that reason I respect sites like Designgraphik.com and prate.com, because it makes me uneasy, it has an edge that makes you think “what’s behind all this madness?”."
Q: I think I can talk for a lot of people when I say you really made a new style in Flashdesign with 2advanced. A lot of flashers get inspirited by it and are making their sites in exact the same style. What you think about that?
A: "It’s a double edged sword in a lot of ways, because I can tell that people are so moved by the message that they feel they must emulate it in some way. It’s satisfying to think that people really feel the message, but it’s also disheartening when I see the work duplicated without any sort of reverence for the originality of the message. I understand inspiration, but it is sad to see people attempt to recreate the story. Everyone has a different story to tell. If you emulate the essence of another site, you are merely copying the story behind the designer’s voice. There is no growth that can come about from that. Design is a process by which you learn about yourself, your own essence. It only inhibits you to lie to yourself and to others. "
Q: You got a motto you often use?
A: "It never rains in Los Angeles. Always remember this."
Q: What you think of the new features in Flash MX?
A: "Ive been trying to incorporate full motion video into Flash for quite some time now, by faking it with image sequences exported from Premiere. Now that we actually have the support of the Sorenson codec behind FlashMX, I can add video to my heart’s content. I think it’s a great step the evolution of Flash and I couldn’t be happier. Also, the move from generator, to a consolidated dynamic solution streamlines the development process so much more, and creates less headaches during the process of building dynamic sites."
Q: Whats the main inspiration?
A: "Lights on the freeway at twilight, dreams of robot police, overpasses bending into the horizon at just the right angle, human progress…..I am inspired by just about everything that makes this planet unique."
Q: Got any advice to newbies?
A: "Let your own voice come out through design, you will never get anywhere emulating the voice of others. Find what you have to say, and say it your way."
Q: Timewise, whats the balance between design and functionality?
A: "The balance between design and functionality depends on the project. At 2advanced we like to spend time conceptualizing both aspects of the project and creating a balance. If you’ll notice, most of our sites don’t consist of solely “eye-candy”, but also impressive backend functionality that adds usability, ease of use, and puts power in the hand of the client for them to have a more automated solutions that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance/intervention from 2advanced."
Q: Do you get complaints about your site? How have they helped you improve?
A: "Most of the complaints we receive are focused on the size of our fonts. We tend to discount them however, as we design for a younger audience who typically has excellent vision. Call us biased. We like 2advanced just the way it is."
Q: When everything becomes dull and repetitive, what keeps you going?
A: "We get a bit tired of hearing new clients telling us “We basically want 2advanced.com with our name on it”. We hear it nine times out of ten. What we try to bring to each solution are fresh ideas that build upon the 2A methodology, but move beyond it. Its been difficult convincing clients to allow us the freedom to diversify from our known style, but we’re slowly getting there. What keeps us going is the drive to be different, even though we may not succeed in every endeavour."
Q: Do you ever make concessions on a concept when the connectionspeed of an average user comes in the picture?
A: "Absolutely, but that is typically a decision for the client. When Ford came to us for the 2003 Expedition site, we were required to create an interface & animation that maxed out at 100k. In those situations it is absolutely a consideration. However when the client understands that we are pushing for a broadband future and that it is a sort of evolutionary push towards acceptance of the high speed sites, we have freedom to deliver larger file sizes. Thus, we have more creative freedom to do what we envision."
Q: As everyone you have to do your shopping. You walk on the street and then some stranger just calls and recoqnizes you! Ever happend to you?
A: "It happened to me once in Millers Outpost. I was writing a check, and had to present identification. The checker recognized my name and asked me if I was related to 2advanced in anyway. I denied any relation to 2A and told him I was a Mexican fisherman who travelled to America to buy quality Jeans now and then."
Q: What is your reaction in such situation?
A: "It was very frightening. At that point you realize you loose all sense of privacy. That’s what the secret of the 25 milligrams video is about, not necessarily just the balance between work and play, but also the anxiety that comes along with the spotlight."
Q: Did you ever use Flash or an other animation program to create games or for commercials on television/internet? I wonder this because Flash is very multi-functional.
A: "We have been asked recently to create some Flash-based games, we have yet to see if they come to fruition."
Q: If you want to create an flash animation do you draw it first with a pencil on a piece of paper, or do you draw it straight within flash?
A: "Typically my Flash animations are “stream of consciousness”, which gives them a sense of progression. I actually think it is limiting to create a storyboard concept for a flash animation because it is such a definitive process. I think the better material comes out of the organic process of linear thought."
Q: Eric you have gathered a lot of knowledge in Flash the last years, have you ever thought of writing a bestseller?
A: "We’re actually in the process of conceptualizing a book at the moment, documenting the progress of 2A, its methodology, and the techniques we use. We have had so many requests in the past few years about those things, but I simply don’t have the time to respond to every one of them in the comprehensive manner that I would like to. So, out of respect for the people who encourage us on a daily basis, we are currently in the process of conceptualizing a comprehensive visual diary of our work along with an insightful narrative that will give insight to the thought processes we invoke."
Q: Are you often invited to be part of a conference or happening?
A: "I have been invited on many occasions, but due to the fact that I am extremely shy, I tend to decline :-)"
Q: If you had to start your career all over again, what would you do differently?
A: "Nothing. It has been nothing but enjoyable."
We would like to thank you for this interview!
"Thanks for having me. It was a pleasure." |
| Total views: 49354 times |
Posted by: TheDutch |
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