In 1994 I bought my first real work computer. My intention was to set-up shop as a graphic designer. By 1995 I considered myself a professional web-designer as I had quickly become enamoured of HTML 2.0 and it’s potential. In 1996 I discovered FutureSplash which was an easy to use animation tool. Soon after it was acquired by MacroMedia and became Flash. Then finally Adobe Flash in 2005. In 1998 I had joined forces with a proper graphic designer and an animator to form what is now LucidCircus.
Jim Wilson, the animator, excelled at Flash and he and several of our other designers brought us fame and fortune with their corporate and artistic creations. At this point, I would normally point to a gallery of our Flash games but as you likely know, Flash is now dead. I did however find that our senior designer and at the time considered one of the early ninja-guru-rockstars of the Flash era has archived some of our work in video format. Giac, Jim and the team produced this website, designed by Jon Butko, which brought us international attention and a feature in the MacroMedia 5 Flash Bible and other publications.
As Giac wrote:
“In 1999 a rough and tumble crew of Philly designers, entered the world of Flash development. Version 2.0 springboarded them into the rockstar world of the Dotcom Era. As the Internet Opportunity spread like a virus empire, LC was out there conquering it like the gladiator champion of Rome. But, Rome burned, and it leaders laughed and danced as it did.”
After the dot-bomb our HQ moved to Prague in 2004. We focused on AOL for a year and produced Flash experiences for AOL.com and Netscape. The CEO at the time called our custom Flash-based CMS’s the future. He was wrong but it was nice to hear at the time. In 2005 the work was mostly Flex-based which was basically a feature rich and data-driven version of Flash.
From 2006 on, the incoming projects mainly called for open-source CMS development with platforms such as WordPress and Drupal. Since 2014 we have worked primarily on custom software development for the web and mobile as well as a return to our design roots with a focus on UX (user experience) and graphic design.
