Studio/Designer Exploration: 2advanced.com

They are simply cutting edge, blazing a glowing path into the future of flash and interactive websites.

They consistently use innovative and "tech" design themes while always incorporating some element of humanity so as not to produce a cold and/or sterile design that is often associated with such themes. For example their current homepage has a different color scheme and panoramic image of a distant city, yet in the foreground there is always a person incorporated into the design looking off towards the distant city.

http://www.rappcollins.com/
They also temper their designs with humor and emotion. There are often comical details and "easter eggs" hidden within their designs. Hummingbirds that react to your cursor, or "what we look like with our shirts untucked" candid photo galleries.

http://v3.2a-archive.com/flashindex.htm
A previous site they designed for themselves was named the most influential site of the decade by Adobe and set in motion a tidal wave of techo-wanna-be flash websites that still make up a disproportionate share of flash sites.

Their work takes full advantage of perceived depth and dimension with many interactive and menu items using perspective, transparency and shadow to create depth and immersion.

http://store.diesel.com/home.asp?stl=1&tskay=3FD17CD7
They create complete dimensions for their sites to exist in, for example their work on the Diesel site where they have a underwater environment with models floating in water, even the cursor moves as though through fluid and becomes murky when near clickable items.

A reliable source tells me that their founder Eric Jordan started the company and was creating some really cutting edge flash which attracted some very large clients and with them very large paychecks and explosive growth. I've since read an article on Eric and his apparent jump-start came from entering his personal portfolio site to the FlashForward contest where his work reached a wide audience.

-Peter Ochabski
http://www.ArtScientific.com