Designer and animator Václav Krbůšek on web design, microsites and the popular game Pussy Walk
Václav Krbůšek is a well-known designer and animator behind a number of highly successful web campaigns and microsites. Most recently, he made headlines as a member of a team behind the release of an internet game called Pussy Walk, in which players guide a bumbling character (bearing a close resemblance to the country’s president) to the crown jewels.
“My final work was basically my portfolio, an earlier version which was fully animated and flash. That got me a job in a studio which was basically a digital advertising agency. I began designing banners and websites there and in the early days had no idea how many things were done, so I was learning in the process. I wasn’t just interested in design but also animation, painting, sound and other areas. I always gravitated to work that was animated, more like games, and not just flat design.”
Obviously, this is a creative field which offers many different possibilities…
“Definitely, yeah. That’s the great thing about it. You can do simple websites which are more content-based or you can do more complex animated pages or microsites. Although - to be honest - there is a lot less of the latter after the global economic crisis. It used to be that you could work on a game or microsite for two million crowns and that is not really happening now. Now there is a lot less and what there is, is not nearly on as grand a scale.”
Is this a field which is always changing or has changed a lot over the years?
“It is a field that has changed and the greatest impact is the introduction of newer and newer devices. They changed everything, as well as html5. I thin devices have had the greatest impact: designs had to adapt, layouts had to adapt depending on the kind of screen you have.”
Are there any particular trends?
“There is still a lot of classical flat design and that has prevailed and everyone has been sticking to it. This too is influenced by the devices available now.”
“I did the main artwork for that website, which was a big painting which took me a week from scratch. The aim was to make it as 3-D as possible. I am painting more and more and it is something I relied on even before: you know, I never enjoyed forms and checkboxes and preferred microsites where you could paint and play with shadow and colours and avoid the boring ugly web 2.0 designs.”
What is a microsite? Are they sites within the main webpage?
“They can be but they are also often stand-alone for special events. Special promotion for some products someone wants to sell. But there was really huge freedom in what you could do: you could design games, it was interactive…”
You did a Hotwheels game, I believe…
“Yes and a game for Peugeot. The technologies were really crazy and you could do almost anything. But the boom is gone and if they want anything special now, it is usually in video.”
Is that one reason you have moved into video?
“Yes.”
What kind of productions are they? Short clips now or ads?
“That’s right. Videos offer new possibilities after the budgets for microsites got smaller and smaller. When making a clip for a client, if can be something they would intentionally like to see go viral or it can be something which aims at being strictly informative. There are different requests.”
“In this business you sometimes you have to be able to tell a client very sensitively that they are wrong!”
Does it happen that the client has a certain idea and you have to persuade them that there are different possibilities? Or do they leave it up to you?
“It really depends on the client. Sometimes they already have a good or bad idea, and it’s up to us to do something about it. It is a bit of a strategic game: sometimes you have to be able to tell a client very sensitively that they are wrong! There are some clients who leave everything up to us and that is where we have seen a lot of success. We know our ideas work. But it depends. On the Czech market it is a pretty big problem that many times someone thinks they understand everything, even aesthetic questions, so it has to be handled carefully. It is not often you get a client who is willing to leave it all up to you, although that is an approach I like.”
Is there any work you did recently which you found particularly interesting?
“We did a series of clips for an electronic appliances company with celebrity chef Zdeněk Pohlreich and that was a great experience. The budget was tight and it had to be done fast but the job itself was beautiful and it was successful in terms of viewing numbers: three times better than those posted before.”
“It is a reference but we began the game itself a year before in connection with another scandal, when the president appeared to be drunk – or ill – at a ceremony involving the historic crown jewels. At the time, the firm Symbio didn’t see it through to the end: it was seen as too controversial, too political, but then there was this scandal as well and so it went ahead. The game had been developed further and it was like, let’s do it, let’s put it out, the guy deserves it!”
The president is someone who has never been shy of criticizing others… to paraphrase he said in the past that a day without insulting someone would not be complete. Does this also make him fair game?
“Pussy Walk 2 takes place in the dustbin of history where things that should be forgotten end up.”
“Yes, definitely. Certainly there has been enough cause. We do not think that he represents the Czech Republic very well at all. So this was an opportunity for satire and a bit of fun, to spread among players, which it did.”
The aim of the game is to get the character, in a bumbling walk, from one end of the room to the other to eventually end up in the dustbin in history…
“That’s right.”
What will Pussy Walk 2 be about?
“It will pick up where the last game left off: in the dustbin, where things that should be forgotten end up - former communist presidents, Mr Klaus, him.”
“Anyone can be criticized, that is the point. That is what freedom and democracy is about. If someone wants to satirize even those who are liked, they certainly can. That is their right in a free country. Of course, I like Mr Havel but yeah… that’s the basis of freedom.”
