"This is the first Flash store I’ve seen that outperforms an HTML experience. The functionality, layout and motion design fit together seamlessly and the clean, modern style is well-suited for the type of products being sold. So much for the old adage that Flash isn’t suited for e-commerce." —juror Melissa Haworth

"Great, clean design and flawless functionality. Large photography combined with a simple UI makes this online shopping experience completely pain free." —juror Robert Hodgin

Overview: This Flash-driven e-commerce site brings the modern feel of Denver's Shop Composition to a wider audience. Aided by fun transitions, friendly copy and a wealth of products, it makes visitors feel welcome to explore (and shop).

• SSL Secured Flash front end
• 120 products
• Custom content management system

Comments by Ian Coyle:
"This site was created to expand the reach of Composition, a unique modern goods store in Denver, Colorado, that's designed for interaction and discovery. "It was essential that the site reflect the in-store experience. Which we achieved through high impact, large format photography and a unique navigation that provides a sliding thumbnail view of the products.

"Since most of the products lacked quality, professional photographs, the products had to be shot and integrated into the site very quickly. With a site development schedule of two months, we decided to do the shoot in-house. The images came out great. However, using large, high quality images, bandwidth quickly became an issue. Ultimately, we ended up with less than 85k per shot; we didn't have to sacrifice quality and users wouldn't be forced to wait too long to see them.

"Our client's willingness to experiment allowed us to focus on a component that we were very interested in—improving the typical online checkout procedure. The end result is one of the great achievements of this site. A streamlined checkout process is distilled into three simple steps that allows users to easily enter and modify cart information and checkout without having to repost data or use the back button. While most shopping carts take users from page to page with long waits in between, this site has only one data transfer with the server. It's not only faster, it's less confusing.

"It was a great experience for us as designers and our client is thrilled with the exposure to an audience of design enthusiasts that isn't limited by immediate geographic reach."