Alex Wright

hats off to frog

January 21, 2002

i've just been playing with the new RealOne Player, RealNetwork's next-generation client software, with a brand new identity and GUI designed, i believe, by frog (hi denise).

this may be the best interface design work i've seen come out of frog. and definitely piques my interest as to what they might have in store for Napster (if and when that project ever sees the light of day...)

what impressed me:

• the integration of visual and interaction design - no sign of "over-the-wall"
  design processes here. the new identity - with its clean soft palette
  and approachable type treatment - makes a supple foundation that blends
  in beautifully with the user controls
  

  
  

• Real has finally learned to stop worrying and embrace (and extend)
  the browser, incorporating a mini-web browser in the bottom half of
  the interface window - meaning you can access the web from directly
  within the client. So instead of serving primarily as a "player"
  application - as in its former incarnations - RealOne has been reconstrued
  as a broadband browser that "plays" the Web
  

  
  

• a nice balance of Web and GUI conventions - a traditional old WIMP
  menu bar (File-Edit-View) over here, a browser control panel and URL
  bar there - yet it's neither a web browser nor a desktop app, but
  a great example of the evolving new species of hybrid Web apps that
  are increasingly taking shape out there. a sign of things to come,
  i'm sure.
  

here's a screenshot
of the new RealOne player

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