Berliner Morgenpost’s interactive experience, “Berlin’s New Skyline” sends users on an interactive journey through time and space. Users are able to witness and manipulate first hand how Berlin’s famous skyline came to be exactly what it is.
This homepage seamlessly launches users into this urban experience as the camera descends into the 3D modeled streets of Berlin. This homepage wastes no time getting users right into the action, immediately thrusting them into the first stop on this intriguing journey. From a design standpoint, the look is colorful but technical, providing a user friendly interface without compromising the richness of the experience.
One of the first areas of Berlin, that users can explore is Alexanderplata. Here, the precedent for the rest of the experience is set. Between the interactive technical graphic to the left, and the informational text blurb to the right, users are fully immersed in everything there is to know about the history and growth of this city.
The graphic dynamically imagines the past, present, and future of Berlin’s skyline, providing multi-tiered movement to catch the viewer’s eye. This is an excellent example of how web mechanics can be used to manipulate time and space, creating an all-encompassing educational experience. Through its clever use of illustrations, this site is able to show people, a bird’s eye view of the history and future of the city. What’s more, the blueprint-esque color scheme and design meshes well with the overall theme of the site.
But the experience refuses to stagnate on a single platform. Instead, as users click through the various sections of the site, they’re presented with graphical information in several different ways. Above is an example of a page that seeks to give users a more macro view of the city. By continually augmenting the format of both visual and textual information, this site avoids growing stale. Rather than continually shove the same sights and text down users’ throats, the designer has decided to continually change it up and provide a more dynamic experience.
Most impressively, once users have finished exploring the prepared text and visuals of the experience, they are granted access to freely explore the city on their own. Users take the reigns on this interactive map, and can at their own pace look at the past and potential of the Berlin skyline. This interactive map is a great way to end this rich urban experience, allowing users to fulfill their own curiosity now that you’ve peaked their interest. This page is a great example of narrative web design; you introduce an interesting idea and mechanic, then after you have their attention, allow them to roam free.
Berliner Morgenpost is a creative website design in the Architecture industry.
