era//404 Selected for Design Interact's Second (Unofficial) Holiday E-Card Annual
by Joel Shepter
12/25/2005
It’s that time of year again. Living rooms are filled with pine trees, elevators with familiar jingles and our Inboxes with holiday e-cards. In other words, it’s time for the Second Annual “Design Interact Unofficial Holiday e-Card Annual.”
This annual honors the top holiday-themed e-mails from designers around the world. As usual, this year’s crop was unscientifically selected by rummaging through our own mailboxes during the weeks before Christmas and choosing our favorites.
Our selections range from simple animations to more complex decorating applications. Technically, the release of Flash 8 looms large, with many design firms using their e-cards to put the new software through its paces.
But most of all, this year proves that e-cards provide a great chance for small-market, interactive studios to show up their better-known counterparts. Though some well known firms are included, great entries have also come from Harrison, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Norfolk, Virginia.
Era 404: Holiday Card 2005
This fun, if somewhat off-color submission comes from era//404, an international network of designers and developers. It allows you to create holiday ornaments to hang on the firm’s Christmas tree and to write your name in the snow using a unique, er... yellow, pen.
“Each year, era//404 has produced e-cards to share our successes with clients and friends,” says Don Citarella. “The tradition allows us to not only provide this awareness in a way that relates our company culture, but to give back to the people who were crucial in these successes.”
This year, the card features the amusing illustrations of Linc Polderman, as well as several free, downloadable applications.
View the story on DesignInteract.comera//404 card
Other Communication Arts Mentions:Design Interact: Insights Interview: Don Citarella, Creative DirectorSite of the Week: Heartbeat Software
