Scenography – or the Art of Holistic Space Experience

A good talk by Scenographer Uwe Brückner – Bringing the virtual and spacial together … with a dash of narrative. “Scenography – or the Art of Holistic Space Experience”

Meet Braille Bricks | #BrailleBricksForAll

Braille Bricks is a toy for literacy and inclusion of blind children.

The standard Lego brick has six dots, arranged in two columns of three–the exact same configuration of braille lettering.

It’s one of those coincidences that feels almost fated in retrospect. Which is why in a pro bono project for the Dorina Nowill Foundation–a nonprofit that offers free services to families with vision impairment–the marketing firm Lew’Lara\TBWA came up with an ingenious mashup: Braille Bricks.

Share #BrailleBricksForAll to convince toy manufactures to produce this beautiful project for children around the world.

Read more on www.fastcodesign.com

Caress of the Gaze

Caress of the Gaze from Pier 9 on Vimeo.

What if our outfit could recognise and respond to the gaze of the other? This is an interactive 3D printed wearable which can detect other people’s gaze and respond accordingly with life-like behaviour.

Created by Behnaz Farahi – (behnazfarahi.com/)

Work produced as part of the Pier 9 Artist in Residence program (autodesk.com/air)
More Pier 9 videos here – vimeopro.com/pier9/workshop/

Editor – Charlie Nordstrom

Cinematography – Elena Kulikova & Charlie Nordstrom

#Trashtag

From the 2016 Interaction awards – a great example of digital interaction in a real environment and experience design.

Project Description

Navigating the social media landscape often means spending time with our personal devices instead of with each other. We use our fingertips to transmit bits and bytes across the world more readily than we use our bodies to transmit social energy across a room. Who, at some point, hasn’t wondered if this rushing stream of ephemeral posts is leading us toward an island of social isolation rather than a true community of friends?

As part of Elevate Atlanta 2014, a pop-up gallery curated by local arts organizations, we created #Trashtag, a tangible interface for social messaging. Inspired by the weeklong exhibition’s “Social City” theme, we filled a dumpster with more than a hundred illuminated, magnetic blocks inscribed with words and emoji and beckoned the public into the installation with a phrase: “LET’S TALK.” Everyone was invited to participate by arranging the blocks to create messages of their own on the container’s walls. Strangers laughed together as they discovered hidden phrases in the piles of discarded words, and they disrupted each other’s work, playfully fighting over coveted terms and symbols. For one week in downtown Atlanta, social media became something new—a collective act undertaken together in physical space.

But #Trashtag did more than just collect these messages—it amplified them far beyond the confines of the dumpster. With the push of an oversized button, people could have the container tweet on their behalf. @TrashTagATL acted as a mouthpiece for the public’s ideas and hopes.

By the end of Elevate, #Trashtag had tweeted more than 200 posts. The messages were surprising and inspiring, at times critical, funny, and profound—a perfect reflection of the diversity of the participants. The public also littered the social media landscape with tagged Instagram photos, Facebook posts, retweets, and direct messages of their own, spreading awareness of the installation itself and the Elevate exhibition at large.

The dumpster ultimately became a symbol of the disposability of modern messaging, a place where sentiments could be tossed out and discarded as quickly as the pieces could be salvaged to create something new. But perhaps most importantly, #Trashtag transformed the dumpster into a creative space that anyone, regardless of age or background, could use to speak to others. Experimenting with what social media could look like in a physical place, we reimagined “posting” as a tangible task, a public activity, and a collective, evolving performance. In other words, we made social media truly social.

Floating Orchestra.

Here is the next generation of Floating Forecaster, the Floating Orchestra.

The Idea: 19 spheres come to life, as you become a supernatural conductor. Each ball becomes an orchestral instrument that increases in volume as it physically rises. You can create your own soundscape whilst the balls levitate and dance to the music.

This is currently controlled via the touch screen of an iPhone, however, it may soon be naturally controlled with your movement.

It’s proven to be hugely successful in engaging the public of all ages. A fun and engaging experience, that mixes digital technology with the physical world. There’s something intrinsically captivating about a levitating sphere and to have direct control over those spheres is a magical experience.

This revised version of the Floating Forecaster was most recently exhibited in Brighton Dome and filmed in the studio.

Music: Benny Goodman – Sing Sing Sing

harveyandjohn.com/portfolio/floatingorchestra/

Floating Orchestra from Harvey & John on Vimeo.

Lichtgestalten Installation

German interdisciplinary studio “KASUGA” were invited by brand agency KMS TEAM to develop the interactive installation “LICHTGESTALTEN” for their 30 years anniversary event at Villa Stuck in Munich. The installation gives each visitor the ability to express a specific image in a gestural dialogue of his individuality – intuitively and spontaneously.

Graphis Award winning goodness

Lichtgestalten Installation from KASUGA on Vimeo.

What is IDE?

“IDE” is what the students called the 3rd Year CoCA elective 222.392 Interactive Digital Experience. 

In IDE students investigate how interactive technology can be used to enhance a location-specific visitor experience. Last year we worked with Te Papa as a ‘live client’ and hope to do that again this time.
The paper has two briefs. The first stage is to design and visualise a personalised mobile guide for the institution. In this case the digital interface with the space travels with the user.
Stage two extends this experience to a detailed interpretive media for one display item – so now it is the space that provides the interface.

Students are encouraged to explore emerging technologies with an emphasis on UX and innovation and can use mobile devices, haptic, motion sensing, audio input or output to create a future focused solution.

This paper follows on very well from 197.238 Interaction and Interface and 197.379 Experience Design. It also extends learnings from the core options of 222.357 web and app.

Here are some snapshots from the 2015 student work:

Interactive Display Window

Interactive Window Concept made for the module Advanced Interface Design at Hyper Island hosted by North Kingdom.

Another good intro to “Haptic”

The word haptic, from the Greek: ἁπτικός (haptikos), means “pertaining to the sense 
 of touch”

A haptic interface is driven by physical contact and/or delivers a sensation of touch or movement.

 

Haptic interfaces intro

Haptic interfaces intro Katherine J. Kuchenbecker from the University of Pennsylvania.

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker studies how humans process tactile stimuli. Through her work, she is able to design haptic interfaces, virtual objects and distant environments that feel real to the human touch. Her work aids in everything from creating more immersive environments for surgeons to designing tablet computers with surfaces that simulate reality.