The Museum of Modern Art approached The Chopping Block to design what would essentially be an online resource that displayed the various steps in each of the processes. What was delivered instead was an highly interactive flash site that allowed the user to learn each process by actually doing. Instead of simply being presented text and accompanying images, the user actually grabs a brush, a roller or any one of the various printing tools and completes each task progressively until a print is produced at the end of each method.

The project was awarded many times, including: Flash Forward, Communication Arts, The One Show and several others. To this day, many instructors and other sites dealing with any one of the processes still link to the site and use it as a tool to educate future print artists.

This was a complete design of the Phish IT festival DVD, which extended our overall identity design for the festival iteself. The DVD design involved interactive menus, introduction animation and all materials involved in the 2-disc DVD print package.

The animation for “What is Lupus?” may seem to be a basic to the average user, but the project required an deep understanding of the theories behind what Lupus. To do this, CB attended multiple educational meetings with one of the top Rheumatologists in the US. When executed, the animation needed to remain as close to the scientific facts as any animation can possibly do.

The result is a 17 minute animation that both entertains and informs in equal parts. With characters that illustrate the many effects of the disease without being either too scary or too lighthearted.

“No!” was the first album by They Might Be Giants specifically geared for children. Chopping Block created the entire identity and a whole imaginary world for “No!” to exist in. In addition to that work, the interactive portion of the project was also designed, programmed and fully conceptualized by The Chopping Block. 14 of the CDs 18 songs were fully animated and most had an interactive component. In keeping with They Might Be Giants bizarre world-view, the interactive parts stay true to what is happening in the lyrics. For example, in “Fibber Island” a real house and dog become a house made of pie with the dog two-miles wide. Perhaps the key moment on the disc is when the user is able to sort through quarter segments of George Washington’s head which culminates in four segmented presidential heads of Mount Rushmore in “Violin”.

“No!” was the first album by They Might Be Giants specifically geared for children. The Chopping Block created the entire identity and a whole imaginary world for “No!” to exist in. The print material was actually based upon the creative work executed for the interactive CD/ROM included on the disc. Most of the illustrations that adorn the booklet along with the lyrics are re-drawn scenes from the interactive portion of the project also designed, programmed and conceptualized by The Chopping Block.

The Mousetrap Project is an initiative to protect America’s children from online predators. The Chopping Block partnered with the truly inspiring folks at the Virginia Community Policing Institute to build a beautiful & captivating education resource about the danger of online pedophilia. Originally created for release on disc and later published online, Mousetrap is an interactive data driven experience for parents and kids. Telling stories & using our design skills simplify the complex is our favorite challenge, and with Mousetrap the complexity was emotional. The studio designed, illustrated and animated the entire project. Successfully tackling a difficult subject is rewarding enough, but hopefully, this educational resource will also help some parents keep their children safe from online predators.