The Brief

Wired is the magazine about what's next, the trends and the big ideas that will change our lives. Each month, through thought-provoking features and stunning photography, wired explores the next big ideas in science, culture, business -- wherever innovation and new thinking are reshaping our world.

Since the US edition of Wired launched in 1993, the magazine has been synonymous with informed and intelligent analysis, and a consistently reliable predictor of change. The UK edition, launched in April 2009, is similarly committed to bringing readers the best writers and photographers; compelling long-form journalism; extraordinary photography and design; and the people, products and ideas that matter.

'The Wired Mind' is a visualisation tool that provides another way to browse the content on Wired.co.uk. It's been created in partnership with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 browser to show off some of the great things you can do with a really fast standards-based browser. You can explore the Wired Mind by searching for tags, or by seeing the most popular tags on a particular date.

How we did it

Condenast Digital came to Splendid with the concept of using the metaphor of a mind or brain as a way to navigate content on the Wired.co.uk site. We first created mood boards around two distinct visual approaches to the wired mind project, once a visual direction was identified we worked closely with Condenast sketching ideas around fun and exciting ways to navigate around Wired's article tags and their relationships.

We achieved this by:

• Understanding the broad concept and what Wired.co.uk wanted from the microsite
• Working to a process of researching, exploring, pencil sketching and visual design with key templates and modules through to delivery of a cutting edge HTML5 microsite.
• Verifying design direction through a series of moodboard presentations and brainstorming sessions
• Refining the sketches, concept and interactions with the Condenast project team.

Solution

Without hardware acceleration, browsers only use about 10% of the processing power your PC has to offer. Internet Explorer 9 unlocks that other 90%. Internet Explorer 9, taps into your graphics processor through Windows to harness the full potential of your PC. High-definition videos are smooth, graphics are clearer and more responsive, colours are truer, and websites are more interactive. Combined with the new JavaScript engine, the web performs like an application installed directly on your computer.

The new hardware acceleration and JavaScript optimizations in Internet Explorer 9 allowed us to composite hundreds of visual elements without affecting performance - a feat that was not previously possible in a native browser environment. Developing for a standards-compliant HTML 5 canvas implementation allowed us to create a fluid interactive experience that works across browsers. Finally, the Web Open Font Format and CSS3 were used to add the finishing touches that make The Wired Mind a great application.

Back to case studies