Among the earliest metaphors used to structure and navigate information on a website was that of a town square or main street. It was an apt metaphor, one that helped us to understand this new thing referred to as cyberspace (remember when we called it that?) as a public space that was both parallel to real-world public spaces, and yet so completely different that to make the comparison was also a bit of an in-joke, a good gag.

The web has come a long way since its birth in the mid-nineties, and while software has become more complex, bandwidth has increased and web design grows more sophisticated by the day, the town metaphor still has relevance and, as is proved by Mambo's entertaining website designed by the Sydney-based creative agency, Soap Creative, it's still a good gag.

'There was a bit of town planning going on,' admits creative director Brad Eldridge, 33, a former print designer who now focuses on new media. 'The website is structured like a town: there is a main street and it faces the ocean. We have the newsagent where you get your Mambo news. There's some building work going on and there's a pub on the corner, but then you turn the corner into the side street and you get some shops and things. Further away from the main street it gets more residential.'

But rather than populate their Mambo suburb with the usual Australian clichés, the team hit the streets of Sydney with digital cameras, to unearth their version of the everyday. It didn't have the glamour of the Harbour Bridge or the Opera House. Instead they found a place that was a little rough around the edges though its familiarity made it no less lovable. The approach suited Mambo, a brand that made its name by thumbing its nose at Aussie icons, while becoming one in the process. To be relevant to a younger generation, its prime market, Mambo had to overcome its past success.

'Mambo was trying to get away from the farting dog and icons they'd used previously,' explains Eldridge. 'We still wanted it to feel like Mambo but it did have to evolve. We drew on the influences that are a part of our everyday lives.'

Video games were one such influence and the website borrows a gaming convention of going from left to right rather than up and down – one can go full circle around the block.

'Brad actually mocked-up a Monopoly board – that’s how we did the site map,' says technical designer Ashley Ringrose, 26. The vertical scroll encourages a kind of exploration that is familiar to gamers – think of how simple games like Super Mario Brothers unfold – and the site is scattered with easter eggs, little jokes and sight gags that anyone who is savvy enough to look for can pick up and see.

'Like Mambo itself, gaming is just ingrained in our psyche because we've grown up with it.' says Eldridge. 'I like my games simple and platform-style, so the Mambo site was really suited to me – moving left and right and jumping and clicking stuff. We've grown up with those kinds of interfaces, and being able to make choices on the screen. While we don't call ourselves usability experts because we've grown up with that kind of culture, we understand what makes a button work and understand what makes you want to scroll left or scroll right.'

Soap are expert at creating games for advertisers – there is a game at the milk bar on the Mambo website – and know that to get a person to give over part of their leisure time to your ad, the content has to be entertaining and engaging.

'The key words are exploration and experience,' says Ringrose. 'But with that there needs to be a reward and there's got to be a pay off. We've got all these little hooks kicking around the site … if you click on a peephole it will pop up a new window and you might get David Hasselhoff, the Recursive Hoff, happening.' says Ringrose. 'Those little easter eggs are a kind of reward system. If you can keep the user entertained they're going to keep looking for more.'

'We don’t make it obvious that those things are there, so if you do find one you might look for others,' continues Eldrige. 'The whole site is sort of like a game.'

All the same, Soap also recognises that not everyone has time for games. For these users, a toolbar along the bottom of the screen provides another way to navigate the site. And in keeping with the beachside suburban motif, a city bus whisks you to your destination as the pages load. It’s another apt metaphor; another good gag.

You can see Soap Creative's design for the Mambo website in the new exhibition In your face: contemporary graphic design, 5 August-5 November at the Powerhouse Museum for Sydney Design 06.

Sydney Design 06
Soap Creative
Mambo
Easter Egg (virtual)
Hot Circuits: A Video Arcade exhibition Museum of the Moving Image
History of Video Games




TAGS
+ Sydney Design 06
+ In your face: contemporary graphic design