At the height of the dotcom gold rush, Hothouse Interactive was one of the first digital only agencies in Australia. They produced and hosted many leading websites including Hutchison Telecom, Telstra BigPond, ETrade, and an early version of the Microsoft Network (MSN) website. For the Australian Business Online site, Hothouse Interactive briefed Franklin on building a series of user interface icons and banners based on an approved initial concept. Stephen produced up to twenty-two icons, each having to be visually recognisable in a large, medium, small, and tiny format. The result was over eighty individual designs, which gave the Hothouse Interactive developer’s more than enough variation for multiple user experiences.
Design Direction: Hothouse Interactive
UX/UI Design: Stephen Franklin
Samples of icons were supplied to Franklin from which he developed new designs, extending the navigation UI.
Along with the primary large size icon Stephen had to develop each at a medium, small, and tiny size.
The final icons were exported as low file size GIFs to meet the internet bandwidth constraints of the day.
