It’s amazing how creative people can be. We live in a material world though, and people are expecting to get paid for their creativeness… This is why most of the cool websites are promoting a brand, an artist, or even an agenda. Luckily, as users we don’t care why this amazing content was created, we’re just happy that it’s there for us to enjoy. On this blog post we have gathered 10 of the coolest, jaw dropping, and most likely to make you go Wow! websites that the past year has provided us with.
While you scroll through this list, make sure to bookmark your favorites to your Wibki so it will not get lost…
1. Perrier Secret Place
Perrier Secret Place is a perfect example for a brand that is using the web’s innovation for some smart branding. When you look at their product; it’s sparkling water… probably as far from exciting as a product can be. So they try to brand it as something that is more then a simple soda, a lifestyle. They started a year ago by creating ‘societe perrier‘ which is a culture and lifestyle online guide, and then launched this amazing interactive website. on Perrier Secret Place you take part in a crazy party, trying to find the alluring “Golden Woman”. By clicking on different people during the hip, dream-like party, you take on their first-person perspective. You only have 90 seconds to find her, and over 60 people to go through… Can you do it?
2. The Serengeti Lion
National Geographic is known for their amazing wildlife photos and videos for years. When YouTube, Instagram and other powerful photo and video sharing services have conquered the web, many thought that the old fashioned gient will slowly fade away, but the outcome was the exact opposite. This past year National Geographic launched several mini sites, each celebrating a different part of earth’s wildlife. The Serengeti Lion is probably their most impressive project. This amazing site is designed to get you up close and personal with some of the most majestic and mysterious creatures in the world. Using a specially designed robot that allowed them to get close, unobtrusive shots of the beasts, the photographers really make you feel like you actually spent some time among the lions, and not on your laptop. Whether you’re a cat person or not, you will be amazed by the range of personality and character the photographers capture, and will fall in love with the king of the savanna.
3. The Hobbit: A Journey Through Middle-earth
A Journey Through Middle-earth was a promotional site for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug movie. This amazing site allows Tolkien fans to travel first-person into the places you spent your childhood (and adulthood) reading about, and see all the awesome details that Peter Jackson made come to life on his latest film. You can explore the fantastic landscapes of Middle Earth and enter some of the movie’s spectacular locations for some interactive glimpses at important scenes from it. When we talked about cool websites at the title, this is what we meant!
Life-Saver
Every one should know First Aid basics. It is an essential asset that can literally become a lifesaver when you least expect it. Life-Saver does not certify you as a paramedic, but it can definitely make a difference if an emergency crosses your path. This interactive site, created by The Resuscitation Council (UK), throws you into the middle of an emergency situation. It gives you the chance to test your knowledge, and see how you will function in these life-or-death circumstances. As a father to three beautiful kids, I know how to perform a heimlich maneuver, because I refuse to take the chance that I might need to do it one day and will not know how. Visit Life-Saver and learn what to do if a situation like this ever happens to someone you care about, or even to someone that is randomly passing by you.
The Avant Garde Diaries
The Avant Garde Diaries is an amazing website, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, that expose you to the most extraordinary and innovative aspects of today’s culture. It introduces you to the freshest faces in the art world and shows different and pioneering approaches to music, design, fashion, and technology. The Avant Garde Diaries also allows you to meet interesting and controversial individuals from many fields, who are doing things that most of us don’t even dream of doing. Although you will find an occasional Mercedes-Benz oriented article on it, this site is still an amazing place to browse to for inspiration on your precious spare time. enjoy.
Just a Reflektor
Just a Reflektor is a showcase of how the Internet can make a great song even better. The site offers an interactive music video for Arcade Fire’s new song, Reflektor. It’s an amazing journey where you follow a dancing girl through a Haitian festival and affect her movements and surroundings by tilting your synced smartphone in different directions. the site is a real tribute to the song itself (which is damn good by it’s own right…) and the result is an awesome experience that makes you wish it will never end.
Hello Again
Hello Again is the fruit of a collaboration between musician Beck and chris Milk. On this impressive project the user is being placed at the center of a concert with 360 degrees accessibility. You have a total control over the cameras, which has facial recognition that allows you to change the angle of the cameras just by moving your head. The result is bound to make you gape in awe as you admire both the good music and the amazing technology that makes it so vivid and alive. Don’t let the long time it requires to upload to hold you back, good things are worth waiting for…
GlacierWorks
Conquering Mount Everest has become a synonym to achieving the impossible. GlacierWorks allows you to feel like you’ve actually accomplished that, from the comfort of your cozy home. It’s a first hand view of the tiring and demanding climb, accompanied with breath taking photography and a vast amount of information regarding the area and the climb itself. Also, GlacierWorks supply you with important educational materials regarding to the ‘endangered’ glaciers. This amazing website is the perfect example to what the Internet can provide you with, if you know where to look for it. Now everyone can Conquer Mount Everest.
Skrillex Quest
Everyone knows Skrillex, he is probably the most hyped artist in the music industry. To promote his new released tracks “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites;” and “The Devil’s Den,”(when they were still new…) he created Skrillex Quest; a retro RPG game where you play as a the heroic P1. Your mission is to rid the inside of your gaming cartridge of the dreaded “speck of dust” that ruins the retro gaming consul’s cartridge. You must be fast and complete as many mini quests as possible to get that high score, just getting to the end is not enough. So put your headphones on, and let the game begin.
82nd & Fifth
Last but most certainly not least, 82nd & Fifth. In case the address doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the home of The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York. When people talk about added value in a web site, this is what they mean! The website is designed to get laymen acquainted with art in short, 2 minute explanations from some of the world’s top curators. Every curator chooses an exhibition that he or she relates to, and share the enthusiasm with us users. It’s an eye opening experience that will make you feel better about yourselves, and will inspire you like only art can.
