Recognition

“A recent redesign has made this archeological website spectacular. With interactive maps of every known tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, an interactive and narrated ‘walk-through’ of one of the better-documented tombs, and an interface that manages to keep everything straight, the Theban Mapping Project is probably the most impressive website I’ve encountered.”

“With 3-D tours of Thomas Jefferson’s estate, this site offers an extensive survey of a more traditional property. Explorer was as impressive for its ease of navigation as for the quality of its interactive tours.”

“The three main sections are thoroughly interlinked—click on an image in the Exhibition or Themes sections, and the site will load details and access to a larger copy of the image from the Collection database. With so much to view, it’s worth noting that context plays as important a role as content in the website’s presentations. The benefits of ‘being there’ notwithstanding, technology certainly has its advantages.”

“It’s a great way to get an inside glimpse at the cream-of-the-crop in contemporary design.”

“[T]he unfinished basement of the Hilton Executive Tower, built in 2002, beckoned us into a ‘virtual concert hall’ of the future. From street level, we descended to a bunker of concrete walls and exposed pipes. Four projection screens the size of garage doors rose behind Brian Quincey, an Oregon Symphony violist, who performed two works…Johnson’s images took us down to a watery city of leaning towers glistening under reflected sunlight. Red and purple sea creatures—star shapes, sinuous tadpoles—glided about. Bubbles rose. Sitting in the dark, immersed in a watery world, I felt as if I were in a dream. Johnson somehow transformed a cold catacomb into a womb of flowing fantasies. My senses enjoyed a good soak.”

“From a redesign of the Comedy Central network logo, to the cover design for the 2001 Charles Schultz retrospective, ‘Peanuts,’ to packaging for everything from iPods to Star Wars merchandise, this site will be a valuable resource for the student of design—and for the rest of us, an entertaining spot to do a bit of poking around.”

“Monticello Explorer offers what could easily be an overwhelming amount of information, but keeps things intelligible through navigation options that are as intuitive as walking through someone’s home. (Which, as it turns out, is exactly what you’ll be doing.)”

“Monticello Explorer not only lets you walk the halls and fields of the estate, it actually gives you more access to this World Heritage Site than you’d get during a personal visit.”