PETA and AIS just completed a great Silverlight 2 application for the Animal Testing Breaks Hearts campaign.
Almost exactly two years ago, in time for the 7/7/7 Live Earth event, AIS created the first Silverlight managed code application ever to go live. It was a carbon offset calculator written for Conservation International using Silverlight 1.1alpha. AIS’s RIA practice, Silverlight itself, and the tools like Blend, have all grown since then.
Two years later, and we’re again working with a non-profit on a socially conscious application. This time, the cause is animal testing rather than environmental conservation, and the technology is the final version of Silverlight 2 rather than an early alpha preview of the technology
For this application, PETA supplied all the comps in Adobe Illustrator format and AIS converted the assets into Silverlight. Tad Van Fleet took the heart images and others and imported them into Blend 3 using the new Illustrator import function, and created the appropriate Xaml. A team consisting of Jim Jackson, Tad Van Fleet and Tom Snider with contractual work and a little oversight from me, put together the complete application, including the database, WCF services, server-side image generation for embedding, and of course the Silverlight client - all in just two calendar weeks.
The target audience for the application is 14 to 22 year olds; the graphics reflect a playful approach that will appeal to that group.
The application enables the guest to email the heart to friends, and post it on facebook or myspace.
Sign the petition (requires Silverlight 2 or higher)
AIS was contacted about this and had our first call with the client on Thursday 6/11. Work started on Monday the 15th. As to be expected, the overall design went through some pretty significant iterations over the duration of the project. The client was able to use what they were most comfortable with (Illustrator) and AIS worked in Blend and Visual Studio to use those assets. While not the ideal “designers all use Blend” workflow we often hear about, this approach is both practical and reflects the reality of these types of projects.
With more time, there’s of course more than we’d have done (a custom pre-loader tops my list), but the team did an amazing job getting this out so quickly.
The site went leave earlier this week. We have a performance tweak to get out, but otherwise it’s all wrapped up. Congratulations to the AIS and PETA on a job well done!