February 4th, 2008

Clean is happy - high-tech toilets

OK, I know that y'all hated the naked photos of Robert and Shel.  Now I'm forcing you to look at naked bums.  It is a pure coincidence that my last two posts involve nudity, must be something in the cold Canadian air. 

Cleanishappy

I was doing some web navigation research and came across this site (long story how I got to Toto toilets in the first place).  Although these happy (clean) bums and faces could be annoying time and time again, I do really like the innovative way that Washlet uses Flash video and multiple hosts to guide toilet-loving users through its site. 

If you've seen any other interesting site navigation that breaks traditional web design standards, post a comment here.  Am off to watch The Daily Show, so good to have it back (perhaps it's my late-night posting that is leading to nudity >:-).

March 14th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (15)

Posted by: hoberion | around 6 months ago

its A Daily Show now :)

Posted by: Anjuan | around 6 months ago

I have to say that I at least can appreciate the diversity of the models featured on the site. Good mix of genders and races. Amber, is diversity a part of good web design?

Posted by: mace | around 6 months ago

I wonder if those are their real butts or butt doubles? It is interesting site navigation, but would get annoying if it was on a site you visited every day.

Posted by: Jim H. Moreno | around 6 months ago

Groovy link Amber. I do just fine keeping my own toilet (and myself) clean. What I need and have always wanted is a heated toilet seat!

Posted by: majortk | around 6 months ago

toto toilets site does double duty, as it appeals to both "toilet-loving users" and "bum-loving users". innovative site design indeed. oh, and thanks for making up for that last post. this one makes me (bum included) happy, even while sitting on a big blue ball rather than a toto toilet.

Posted by: RichC | around 6 months ago

Well designed site ... and web media used well to present their product. (and I'm betting 'butt doubles' since I did a little research -- for science of course -- and assembled the bottoms being displayed.) http://tinyurl.com/379jbq As for another 'sort of site' navigation ... here's an interesting shopping site -- in Dutch. (click and wait a few moments) http://producten.hema.nl/

Posted by: Dave | around 6 months ago

Wow, that site is something else. (I have to admit the toilet seat looks pretty cool too.) Yes it wouldn't be the most convenient thing to navigate around all the time, but I don't think it's designed with that in mind at all. It works very well as kind of an interactive infomercial. It's neat, thanks for sharing.

Posted by: yannick | around 6 months ago

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVoLz88hiU to keep with the toilet spirit

Posted by: Matt Y | around 6 months ago

Do they have a mobile device?

Posted by: Saskboy | around 6 months ago

I used to watch the Daily Show almost every day by getting it off Bit Torrent. Then I'd watch the clip on YouTube. When Viacom killed that method, I practically stopped even though it was among my most favourite shows. With a full hard drive it's hard to download any more episodes :-) and during the strike the website for Daily Shows wasn't working. Whether that due to the strike, or because I'm in Canada, I don't know.

Posted by: Sarah Connor | around 6 months ago

Not your best.

Posted by: Louis Simoneau | around 6 months ago

I wouldn't call what this site is doing "breaking traditional web design standards": like Dave said, it's more of an interactive infomercial, so I wouldn't even call it web design at all. To quote Jeffrey Zeldman: "Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity." (from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingwebdesign) To call the washlet site "web design" would be like calling a billboard urban planning.

Posted by: corewerkz | around 6 months ago

i had a client a few months ago that had some asian made toilet seat, it was heated and also a washer/dryer (for your...)! pretty crazy, said he got it in LA chinatown, so keep your eye out if you ever make it there. peace, brian <a href="http://blog.briancometa.com" rel="nofollow">corewerkz</a>

Posted by: Jeff Bebe | around 5 months ago

This is the future of websites. Notice the lack of information in text form. Not everything is best conveyed by video, but we have just tapped the surface of the power of video.

Posted by: Colin Ochel | around 5 months ago

I am actually the one who put a face to the butts. I appreciate the comments and agree that this is the future for particular segments in the interactive world. Actually it is already here. I designed/developed the site about a year ago and I feel it is already dated. www.limeinteractive.com/red212 is a site I did a few months ago which allows you to interact with the video a bit. This is just scratching the surface though. Other sites have done a much better job and I am ready taking it to another level on a current project. I am curious about the comment that it is not "web design". Did I not encourage you to interact (make "human activity") with the site? Maybe the site was not "graceful" enough while it changed over time. I would classify the site as a brochure site, not an infomercial but it is still a site.