Life is defined by movement. I remember being struck by how beautifully a molecule and solar system mimic each other in their respective orbital ballets. Yet whether fast or slow, large or small, movement, or lack thereof, can be incredibly inspiring. A large part of many artistic works is attempting to successfully capture a feeling of speed or lethargy which goes to show: movement is inspiring.

Still mediums have always been the most interesting to me due to their static limitations. The successful illusion of motion within a single frame is astounding. Even such effects in moving mediums can be difficult to properly capture and impart.  Yet somehow Kyle Thompson not only accomplishes this trick but further twists it to a beautiful and surreal extreme.

Websites in motion are the new thing apparently if you look at any recent design-centric site (see last week's website for example). The magic of HTML5 animation and video have made cross browser, flash-free, motion graphics on sites a stunning reality. The homepage for Impero based in London and Sydney is a striking example of this hot trend. Complimented by a stellar design, the site's bright colors undoubtedly leave a lasting memory in this visitor's mind.

But it's not just the web that is seeing captivating technological advances when it comes to motion. The rise of digital film and the subsequent falling cost of the equipment involved has helped fuel one of the most popular genres of web clip: slow motion. Granted, such cameras are still thousands of dollars, yet there's something infinitely interesting about seeing the invisible world of speedy things that's constantly happening all around us. The production company Marmalade lives for this world and leverages our fascination with it to create unique brand images for some big corporate players. The following behind the scenes and demo-reel  video shows off the level of talent involved in producing such work which looks so perfect I have, up to now, assumed it was computer generated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKC6j7pW6T0

The Sketching Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Mondays, containing the artistic musings of Mobile Designer/Developer Ben Chirlin during our Monday morning meeting at the NY Creative Bunker as well as his inspiring artistic finds of the week.