Modernista Entrusts Identity to Able Hands of Internet
For its latest site redesign, Modernista tossed caution to the winds. It did away with elaborate imagery, hype-laced content and the notion of using a website at all.
Now, users that run a search for Modernista -- and that click on the link to Modernista.com -- will be redirected to the search engine they used. In the upper left-hand corner they'll find a funky red nav bar. (Look past the bizarre 'net-speak and spelling; it is so Web 2.0.)
Clicking on "ab.ou.t" will give you the option of bookmarking Modernista and visiting the agency's page on Wikipedia or Facebook.
"wrk" drives users to flickr images of Modernista's client efforts, organized by client, category or medium. "n3wz" sends you to recent Google News stories about Modernista, and "cont@ct" will give you USA/global contact info to copy onto a clipboard, as well as a link to job and internship options.
Direct visits to Modernista.com now point to the Wikipedia article. UPDATE, 3/20: Looks like the Modernista Wikipedia article was pulled. (Thanks for the heads-up, Kevin.) Uh-oh. Was Modernista's surrender to the zeitgeist just too much for the people's encyclopedia?
MarketingVOX says giving itself over to the whimsies of the 'net makes Modernista vulnerable to negative stories (mainly on Google News) as well as positive ones. (Not to mention the Wikipedia power-tripping.) But PSFK digs it and we do too.
Considering most anybody in the digital space can pretty much be defined by what appears in a vanity search, we don't just find the Modernista approach inspired. We think it paints a picture of the inevitable: near-total transparency, and the taken-for-granted notion that you are what the world says you are.
That's scary, but powerful, and it's the direction the online world has increasingly chosen to take.
Plus, the Modernista creative team will never again have to fight about mastheads and the merits of curved vs. sharp webpage corners. (Which in itself is a great reason for burning down your proprietary online destination.)
Comments
I love the approach. Certainly demonstrates demand of the digital space, but I would rework the red overlay nav that covers the Google “G” and the related drop down menus. The performance of that small, red overlay nav gets really funky when they are taking you to YouTube, flickr and del.icio.us to review their work. Also, maybe I’m getting old and losing my sight, but the 6 pt, throwback monochrome-screen font in the navigation is a tough read. More thought into the integration of the Modernista navigation and where they are taking you to review work would be beneficial to the visitor.
Looks like the site has stirred something up at Wikipedia. The article is gone.
http://www.modernista.com/7/?ref=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernista!
This is getting interesting.
"Los Siete Modernista is a Mexican multi national music group."
I hereby dub this a mashout.
Book deals welcome.
TL
http://britnista.com/
http://www.ilovenewwork.com/2008/01/18/all-you-need-is-flickr/
It's a bad idea. The Wiki entry has already been altered by do-badders. Their TV reel will get polluted with ugly (but probably true) comments. And it's kinda gimmicky, you have to admit, in an interesting-for-about-four-seconds kind of way.