Online game for the New England Aquarium

Business challenge
Working with Interactive Factory, a local multimedia production shop, I invited the New England Aquarium to partner with us to produce a CD-ROM about penguins.

What I did
The Web was just taking off, so Interactive Factory’s David Rose and I decided to produce a Web site where kids could interact with animated penguins to learn about penguin behavior and ecology. I researched penguins, designed the site’s information architecture and wrote the copy. David developed the interactive component in Shockwave.

Impact
We asked Microsoft and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for start-up funds, but got only compliments (no money). “Be A Penguin!” flapped and squawked on the New England Aquarium site for almost 8 years before succumbing to technical senility.

High point: This e-mail from a Dutch visitor:

“Hello. My girlfriend just found your website today. We are both pinguin fans and my account name here is Jive, which is an ice cream in Holland and in the commercials where pinguins were involved. Good site, good information! Now we are waiting to ‘be a pinguin’… regards, JIVE”

Work samples