/Middle_Finger_Pub

The debut agency website for Andre Matarazzo's “Gringo” provides a way for unhappy employees to vent their frustration at their bosses. In this playful website, visitors are allowed to watch and select different complains from each of the typical digital agency employees: the webdesigner, the programmer, the account manager, and so on. Then, with all complaints selected, a video is created and sent to the visitor's boss, along with a friendly message - all anonymously.

In concept, this is a simple website: select some videos, sort them out, send them to somebody that will play them back. However, other than the subversive (and highly talked about!) idea, I especially like it for its design (the work of Ricardo Landim) and for some of the flash solutions I was able to get into it when coding the website. The parody of Mac OSX's “genie effect” and the pseudo-3D interface involved in the video selection are still among my favorite visual implementations of all time.

Implemented in 5 languages in its final form, this website was the perfect launch campaign for Gringo. It followed its fresh approach to concept, design, and technology, and judging from some of the hate mail the agency got from targeted bosses, widely successful. Talk about starting with a bang.