I recently did two interactive calculators for US Pipe & Foundry, a company that makes pipes and pipe fittings for the water works industry.

The two pieces I worked on are the MJ FIELD LOK® Time-Savings Calculator and the HDD with TR FLEX® Pipe Calculator; you can find them in US Pipe’s suite of online tools.

This is the kind of project I really enjoy, combining elements of information design in the context of an industry that I know nothing about. I love learning about infrastructure and process in all forms, particularly ones that are not readily discernable unless you’re paying attention. There is an entire waterworks system that is one of the everyday miracles of modern society, and we take it for granted.

If that isn’t interesting enough, US Pipe also does their marketing differently than what one might expect with respect to their industry. For example, US Pipe has a separate website for their MJ FIELD LOK® GASKETS, which are used to connect and restrain water pipes without the fuss of pouring concrete. Instead of drab tables and ugly photos (par for the course with most industrial B2B), there’s a slick Flash-based presentation stuffed with professionally art-directed photo assets, coordinated by a real creative agency. Who knew the pipe industry had a sense of humor? I find the combination of creative presentation and tangible benefit just awesome. YEAH!

So anyway, you can check out the MJ FIELD LOK® Time-Savings Calculator and the HDD with TR FLEX® Pipe Calculator in US Pipe’s suite of online tools. Pretty straightfoward stuff from a technical Flash perspective, but a lot of fun to make. I implemented this using the hybrid-movieclip approach, which is quite fast and flexible; wrapping some AS2 stuff on top made it a bit more convenient from the scripting side of things.