Back in December 2008, I was brought onboard to redo the official site for N*E*R*D. Another company had been working on it, but the band wasn’t happy with the direction they were going in. I was soon on a call with Pharrell, who was detailing his concepts for the new site: an old-school Atari theme.

This got some wheels churning. As luck would have it, a friend I’ve known since 3rd grade is a big Atari fan and has a pretty large collection. We arranged for him to send me a package of games, controllers and a system. I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d do with them, but hoped that the gear would spark some ideas.

And they did! I love those old, classic cartridges. The labels, the graphics, the way they were all worn down from years of use and abuse. I didn’t have an Atari growing up, (we were a Commodore family,) but it took me back.

I then looked to the album artwork, which also had great illustrations:

My next step seemed obvious…

I started laying out the different labels, naming them (some with titles that still make me chuckle,) and got to cutting and pasting (literally this time, not digitally!)

The results:

One thought was to have each cartridge associated with a section of the site, and the homepage would let you select which cartridge to put into the system. (roll over for example.)

In the end I was really happy with the results, but this “real retro” style just didn’t fit in with the “8-bit retro” style of the rest of the site. The cartridges are currently lined up next to my desk, trophies of a concept that didn’t make the cut.

First, the new N*E*R*D album. I managed to get an advanced copy, it’s good. Get that! (iTunes link here)

AND, a possibly more monumental release… our potential next governor, Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan, has a new album. It’s (obviously) called The Rent Is Too Damn High (Volume 1)

N-E-R-D.COM
Site by Fishbucket
Artwork by FriendsWithYou
Project management by Mikey Millions

This was a lot of fun. The style was inspired by oldschool Atari games, and the site even includes a game. You play as Pharrell, Chad or Shae and search a space station for Brain Power, so you can defeat the evil space gorilla. (obviously!)

N*E*R*D: The Site

N*E*R*D: The Game

BIG thanks to Matt Ringuette, my Atari connection and technical advisor on retro video games!

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