Jorge Arango

The Museum of Biodiversity will be the first museum devoted exclusively to presenting the diversity and complexity of life on Earth. The building is being designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s most famous architects, and the exhibits are being created by Bruce Mau. I’m working on the website.

The site’s splash screen gives a first glimp of the spectacular Gehry design. By cropping a photograph of one of the building’s models, we created an abstract, striking image that makes the visitor curious.

Site splash screen; select your language (80k)

Visitors are immediately presented with a very clearly laid out main screen. In keeping with the spirit of the Gehry building, the main site sections are color coded:

Main site screen (200k)

The design for the site attempts to convey the beauty and complexity of nature by objectifying natural elements and presenting them in an abstract setting.

“About Biodiversity” (164k)

“About Panama” (136k)

“Contact Us” (96k)

The building and exhibits are presented, along with short biographies of their creators:

“The Building” (156k)

“The Exhibits” (156k)

Navigation on third-level pages is more detailed, complex, and specific to each section. In the Exhibits section, for example, users can navigate via a plan of the building that shows the layout of the exhibits in the design:

“Panamarama” (188k)

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Bluefield was a website created by Cable & Wireless Global to serve the SME (small/medium enterprise) market. Initially, the site sold dedicated Windows 2000 servers on Cable & Wireless’ internet backbone. More services were added later on, including dedicated firewalls and internet access. Bluefield was eventually decommissioned when Cable & Wireless completed its acquisitions of hosting companies Exodus and Digital Island.

I was “Web Czar” (this was my real title!) in the Bluefield project, and had the great pleasure to work with very professional folks both inside and outside of CW. Here are some screenshots of the site just before it got pulled:

Select your location (114k)

Bluefield was available in three geographies: the US, the UK, and continental Europe. Two languages were used (US and UK English), although there were plans underway to serve continental Europe in various languages.

Bluefield US homepage (174k)

Bluefield UK homepage (168k)

Note the simpler interface on the UK page. This is due to the fact that there were less services offered in the UK site; the platform allowed full personalization in order to simplify site management.

Hosting services page (131k)

DHTML dropdown interface (146k)

NavPad navigation tool (149k)

The site featured a clean DHTML drop-down menu interface. It also included Cable & Wireless’ trademarked NavPad navigation tool.

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Aj? Pintao is Panama’s leading visual communications studio. In 2000, I helped them design and develop their website, which they wanted to be highly dynamic and visual. As a result, there is a lot of Flash in the site.

Site sections are laid out in a whimsical animation:

Initial animation (92k)

Internal pages have a very clean layout, and feature Aj? Pintao’s striking color combinations:

Internal page layout (176k)

Lists of items, such as the firm’s portfolio and their personnel, are presented in popup boxes with their own navigation:

Aj? Pintao personnel (200k)

Aj? Pintao’s portfolio (152k)

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During my tenure in 2000 as Manager of Marketing and Product Development for Cable & Wireless Panama’s Internet business unit, I led the development of various sites and brands. Here are some of them.

Main CW Internet site

This was the main Internet business unit site. It is based on the standard CW corporate template at the time, but with a slightly different, more “consumer-friendly” look, mainly conveyed by a customized background (the “swoosh”) and a clear and consistent navigation layout.

Main CW Panama Internet site (148k)

Hosting Services page (112k)

Flashpoint

Flashpoint was the brand name for Cable & Wireless Panama’s consumer broadband service. We worked with Qu?mica, a panamanian advertising agency, to develop the branding, which was meant to convey excitement and speed.

Flashpoint splash screen (92k)

Introduction to the Flashpoint service (164k)

International Roaming service

A comprehensive guide to setting up and using international dialup internet roaming services. Again, a twist of the traditional CW templates.

Internet Roaming service site (172k)

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Panamainfo is Panama’s #1 tourism site. Until very recently, it was the official site of IPAT, Panama’s official tourism board. It is operated by Nancy Hanna, an amazing american expat who moved to Panama with her family.

When we originally designed Panamainfo in 1998, we tried to twist the classic Yahoo!-style directory into something more exciting and visually appealing that conveyed the tropical excitement of Panama.

Splash screen; select your language (72k)

Main index (176k)

Inside, things got a bit more standard:

Attractions (188k)

Hotels and Resorts (168k)

Panama City is notoriously difficult to navigate, due to the lack of good street signage. We designed an abstract map of the city that allows site visitors to quickly grasp the relationship between locations and major landmarks.

Attractions (196k)

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