Type by Hand

Sometimes you need to just let go of the mouse and grab a good old pencil or pen. And bang out out some lovely “Type by Hand“. Three of us signed up for this endeavor last weekend and had a blast. Run by Wayne Thompson (of the Australian Type Foundry) and Gemma Eaves (of For the love of type fame), it consisted of almost non-stop 4 hours of fast-paced drawing. What a nice change to all the computer work we are doing day in day out.

How would you like to pay for that, ma’am?

Conventional wisdom has it that when someone wants to buy goods, they go to a retailer, purchase a product at a predetermined price, and then become owner of that product. We don’t often think of different ways for this transaction to take place.

But what if there was another way?

Electronic tinkering in The Rocks

Amnesia Sydney’s home ground, The Rocks, is a very pretty and tourist-friendly destination. And as we keep discovering through the council’s pop-up initiative, it is also fertile ground for creative experimentation. The case in hand is ‘&Company’ who have temporarily taken over a store next to the MCA.

Apart from showcasing emerging design talents they are offering quality hands-on creative workshops. Courses range from ‘Powertools for Girls‘ to ‘Interactive Electronic Objects‘.

I took the latter which was an introductory course into Arduino, the open-source microcontroller / software suite for programming. And I had a blast tinkering away my Sunday, plugging cables into speakers, triggering LED lights and getting my hands dirty with (processing-based) code. There is an intermediate course still available – get amongst it!

Caine’s Arcade

What an amazing kid! which games company is going to snap him up?

I love the calculator authentication bit…

The Fun Pass is an awesome deal!

 

Title Scream

Simple and cool idea, a collection of 8 and 16-bit video game title graphics.

Title Scream

@danKrause

Unexpected Thinking : 3 of the best from Cannes

The APG held a Cannes Highlights evening last night at the Verona, themed around ‘Unexpected Thinking’. As well as the usual suspects (Nike ‘Write the Future’, Walkers ‘Sandwich’, TippEx ‘Hunter Shoots A Bear’ etc) here are a few examples that hopefully haven’t been blogged to death:

1. Heartbreaker, Kaizers Orchestra
(Starcom, Norway)

Media generally doesn’t turn up the most electrifying case studies but this was a truly ingenious idea: build up anticipation for a new album release by giving it away – as sheet music. The outcome: cover version mania sweeps Norway.

Kaizers Orchestra – Hjerteknuser (Case study, English) from Anorak on Vimeo.

2. Gigantic Nose, BGH
(Saatchi & Saatchi, Buenos Aires)

It’s fashionable for digital people to slag off big ideas but this is a great example of how a creative strategy can create excitement over the dryest of product benefits. To promote a new airconditioner with an above average filtration system, Saatchis focused on those who needed it most – people with massive noses.

3. Monopoly City Streets, Hasbro
(Tribal DDB, UK)

OK, so this has been around a while but it’s still a nice idea. A lot of digital campaigns try and get people to participate for the sake of it but this is a lovely example of how a campaign that’s genuinely fun to get involved in can yield dramatic results. How do you promote a board game that’s already turned out more ‘special editions’ than Sports Illustrated? Go large by turning the whole world into a giant game.

@bdecastella

Very cool project! Mill Touch ‘Behind the Scenes’

The Mill

Arguably the best post production house on the planet have put together a project that documents the back catalogue of their work into an interactive touch experience.

Apart from being a brilliant project I thought the documentation of the process was handled brilliantly and makes a great case study.

Underwater Sydney and 52 Suburbs meets Creative Social

Creative Social is the monthly gathering of Australian Creative Directors working in digital. Tim Buesing Digital CD for Mojos put his post on his blog http://between0and1.org/ – go check it out or read on…

We interviewed our speakers Louise and Richard before Tuesday’s get togetherat MOJO / Amnesia Razorfish and here’s the video of the night, a bit rough around the edges.

Both speakers are keen to take their projects further, so if you are intrigued by their work, identify with their projects and feel like you could contribute, please do get in touch via their respective sites:

Louise Hawson’s 52 Suburbs
Louise is planning to get ’52 Cities’ underway soon, and you would guess she is not talking about 52 cities within Australia. So as per Ben Cooper‘s suggestion, you might see her project gain traction on Kickstarter soon.

Richard Vevers Underwater Sydney
Richard’s project is getting major digital support from BMF through our Creative Social member Aaron Michie. But BMF building a new site won’t be enough, so if you are an agency willing to donate time and expertise in whatever field of communication, please get in touch. The underwater sea life literally needs more visibility.

The next Creative Social takes place at The Hallway, hosted by Jules Hall andJamie Corker, speaker still to be announced.

 

Ultimate list of Cool Touch and Gesture Based Video Walls

So who has the best interactive walls? Here’s some of our picks below. As we move into a world which is transitioning to devices using the NUI (Natural User Interface) there’s a lot to keep an eye on. If you know any more please post them in the comments.

1.University of Groningen:
Pros: Looks awesome, very responsive. Multi-user capable.
Cons: You can’t go out and buy one off the shelf. Touch based only?

2. Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect AND Windows Phone 7, working together!
Pros: Kinect SDK on the way for PC (fingers crossed) so a very affordable way to develop. Multi user. Facial recognition. Supports second screen in this video.
Cons: None. Seriously! SDK pending, this will be the easiest entry point to start building your first video wall.

3. Toyota Vision Multi Touch Wall:
Pros: Massive 82 inch screens at high res. Very responsive.
Cons: Expensive setup.

4. HD 18 Screen 20 ft Paint Wall with iPad integration.
Pros: Very cool. Huge. HD. Responsive. Works with a second screen (iPad)
Cons: Looks a bit like a one off application for now. Can’t go out and buy one.

5.Yahoo’s Gesture based Video Wall. http://vimeo.com/19177169
Pros: Looks good, hi-resolution and seems responsive.
Cons: Tiled screens. Looks like only one user at a time?

6. Microsoft LightSpace
Pros: It’s a true 3D interface for an entire toom. It projects working interfaces onto your arm/ hand.
Cons: Early days. Long way to go here (but still very cool).

7. Hard Rock Cafe Vegas:
Pros: Multi user. Smooth and responsive. Great content.
Cons: Looks expensive?

8. Ring Wall http://vimeo.com/6648869
Pros: It’s a massive 425 square metres in size. Enough room for everyone to play.
Cons: With 15 HD projectors we’re betting the ongoing running costs might stack up? 

9. The Schematic TouchWall with RFID
Pros: It recognises RFID cards allowing you access to personal info. Social integration.
Cons: Nothing obvious. This wall is pretty cool.

10. The BendDesk.
Pros: It’s horizontal AND vertical.
Cons: Not quite wall sized! It’s a prototype so a little rough round the edges.

 

11. Canon’s big wall – Expo 2010
Pros: It’s looks big and multi user.
Cons: We can’t quite tell if this is a ‘smoke and mirrors’ job. This video is more about the camera than the wall itself.

12. HP’s video wall of touch (link):
Pros: Nice tight looking tiled screens. Cons Already looking a bit dated compered to the others. Touch only. Touch looks a little laggy.
 

13. The Giant iPhone – Table Connect
Pros: Pretty simple concept. Just plug in your iphone and mount it on a wall!
Cons: Do they make a wall sized one yet?

We’re pretty sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of these soon. Please send us any good ones we might have missed! 🙂

Power Pinata from Vodafone

Here’s a nice idea for a game. Smash the living daylights out of this Piñata using facebook, a robot connected to the internet and baseball bat. When the Piñata bursts it’s a free for all to grab a prize.

Here it is in action. It’s a little like watching cricket … the difference is the English are actually smashing the Aussies.

Anyone discovered any cheats to make the robot smash the Piñata a bit harder?

Lovely idea though. I’m jealous. @handypearce

Mini get-away: Virtual reality game from Stockholm

I love this game. The rules are simple but the game is not easy. You download the iphone app. Find the virtual mini and you ‘take’ it if you get within 50 metres of it. Then comes the tricky bit … you have to keep other players from taking the mini from you. Keep hold of it and you win a real life mini. Nice.

Watch this space for mash-ups from every agency going 🙂

From here

@handypearce

 

Wonderful Computer Graphics seem almost too real…

This is 10 minutes of your time you won’t regret spending. Breathtaking CGI / animation meets architecture and photography. Hard to believe this is all computer rendered. Quite stunning – just watch it:

The Third & The Seventh by Alex Roman. “A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.”

Awesome work. http://vimeo.com/7809605

The Designer Energy Saving Light Bulb

Plumen is the antithesis of low energy light bulbs as we know them. Rather than hide the unappealing traditional compact fluorescent light behind boring utility, Plumen 001 is a bulb you’ll want on show.

The Plumen bulb uses 80% less energy and lasts 8 times longer than incandescent bulbs, giving you the opportunity to purchase an ecological product with style. It works just like any low energy bulb but it has a lot more presence.

Plumen Bulb Loop from Plumen on Vimeo.

 

@danKrause

The Speed Camera Lottery

The Cannes award winning VW Fun Theory set a competition to come-up with cool ways to make boring things more fun. Here’s the winner

@handypearce

ESPN’s brilliant, possibly borderline offensive 2010 World Cup Posters

On the eve of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, this brilliantly executed set of 33 posters (including 1 from each of the 32 nations competing) is sure to cause a stir and hopefully a laugh or two.

 

Australian poster

Why pantless?

 

French poster

Note Henry’s glowing hand. Cheeky. (nicely spotted Stephen)

See them all here or download them from ESPN’s facebook

[via World Cup Buzz]

WIN an exclusive Razorfish iPhone cover

We’ve been asked to submit an A4 image for the Digital Who’s Who of Australia. It would be boring if we just submitted the image so in true socialist media stylee, we thought we’d throw it open to you to pick an image.

Here’s the brief:

‘Lastly, please provide a single A4 image (at 300dpi) that you feel most effectively communicates your strengths to prospective clients.

The content is absolutely up to you, as long as we can print it on an A4 page.’

Submit your entry in the comments below.

Best image wins one of these snazzy Razorfish iPhone covers:

@handypearce

Life Beyond Social: The Next Big Thing?

Now the wheels are finally in motion on the Social Media train, I find myself becoming increasingly keen to focus on the next big thing, and the approach to make it all a reality.

But first thing first: what IS the next big thing?

For me, the next significant phase in marketing is a [much deeper] convergence of the real and digital worlds, in a way that will not only amaze, but adds value to our every day activities.

OK, before I go off into crazy ideas land, I’d like to say that Real:Digital Convergence isn’t a diversion from Social Media. It’s a build on it.

Social Networking has enabled us to locate and connect with many more like-minded people than would be possible for the majority of us in the real-world. And thanks to that, we’re able to efficiently distill the masses of information on the internet, through [explicit and implicit] recommendation from those like-minded people, on what’s worth a look/read/buy and what’s not.

R:D convergence simply extends the ability to do the same distilling of information [to aid fast & informed decision-making] in the real world.

So now to the fun part: what it could look like.

Sixth Sense
If I were a VC, I’d be backing MIT labs’ Sixth Sense, which conceptualizes R:D Convergence exceptionally well.

I imagine being out shopping, seeing a product that I like but am unsure about, and using a ‘reviews’ gesture to project the latest reviews [from my social networks and beyond] on the product or my hand; and a similar thing when out looking for a good restaurant to eat at. Of course, you could do this research at home, but this doesn’t work for spontaneous decisions. A critical success factor of this then, would be the speed or returning the relevant information, and displaying it in a way that makes it quick and easy to absorb – you are, after all, out and about and unlikely to have the time to read a novel to inform that spontaneous decision.

I then drift off on thought-tangents, thinking about the introduction of unique product/service codes (perhaps in place of bar codes, and on business cards) that are instantly recognised by your Sixth Sense-style device: simply give it the reverse-review gesture and up pops the ‘what YOU will love / hate about this product/service/company’ [based on a personal profile, built on your internet behaviours, previous reviews, diggs, likes, blog comments, etc]. You can later tell it how accurate it was in guessing, which teaches it to adapt for later reverse-review requests. Ooo, this would be good!

Augmented Reality
And then there’s the combination of real world image recognition [eg, building outlines etc] combined with mobile + internet capabilities (location + web content/data] to provide a situation contextual internet… and it’s already starting to happen, with early Augmented Reality applications starting to appear: check out this Real Estate AR app from Holland.

Truly Interactive Advertising

In a similar vein, I see new forms of advertising developing too, along the lines of an ‘integrated sponsor’ model. For example, in TV, the products and services (whether a car, clothing, furniture, or even fast-food) used in the program could be clicked to get info on that product, including the ability to ‘[Facebook] Like’ the product, and even purchase it direct from your screen.

In this model, the retailers loan the products for the TV program rather than paying for traditional advertising; the production company no longer has to buy the products in, and; the consumer gets an opportunity to have a richer experience and the ability to build stronger association with their favourite shows, by ‘owning’ the lifestyle it represents, as well as benefitting from fewer interruptions during the show. The retailer also could benefit from increased exposure [no ad skipping] and measurability [click-thru; ‘like’-ing etc].

OK, I’m going to stop there before I get tangled up in my own thoughts. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – what do YOU think the next big change in marketing will be?

@jbewes

Brain controlled pinball machine

Brain controlled pinball machine. NUI 2.0?

@handypearce

Inspiring examples of tactile creative execution

Before computers became useful and the internets invaded our homes, people made things from wood and fabric and paint and sticks. It was messy and sometimes smelly and quite often you’d cut your finger.

What I love about these examples is they demonstrate people going out of their way to use real world materials and knowing when to slow down and consider a different approach. An approach that might seem absurd at the time but could lead to great things.

HunterGatherer makes simply beautiful things. Then they make them appear to move. These guys love their wood grain.

HunterGatherer from Arkitip, Inc. on Vimeo.

Johnny Kelly likes paper a lot. Someone should tell him he could really cut his finger on that.

Making of ‘The Seed’ from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

I’m seriously hoping no interns were harmed in the making of this bit of stop motion animation from THANK YOU in Denmark.

BOOGIE Prisen from THANK YOU on Vimeo.

Here in the studio at Amnesia Razorfish we’ve been known to occasionally step away from the keyboards to create things out of real materials.

Sandor Moldan and Mike Kleinman worked bizarre magic on the previous incarnation of Mountain Dew’s site for Australia. Claymation zombies and bitchslapped rhinos adorned a hand crafted mountain of delights. (The site is no longer live, unfortunately.)

…and more recently Sandor and @eunmac created a wave tank for the background effect in the site we concepted and built for P&O Cruises Australia.

Check out the “making of” here…

@iclazie

5 Amazing and Unique Portfolio Interfaces

There’s a sea of portfolio sites out there. Of the best ones there are many that look great but don’t stray far from the typical interface design frameworks and information architecture.

Here’s a collection of five seriously impressive efforts to innovate, take chances, do something unique, delight and surprise… Great stuff.

1. Wonderwall Inc. – www.wonder-wall.com

This Japanese interior design firm presents their work via a sproingy, elastic, 3D, slightly off the grid mosaic interface. It’s just fun to play with and tightly executed. It’s not a facade, either – the transitions and detail views are well thought through.

2. Resn – www.resn.co.nz

Not a new site, but if this New Zealand based creative agency ever changes their portfolio I look forward to seeing how they plan to improve on it. The imagination behind the navigation rollover effects and the presentation of the work in the portfolio section are inspiring. Use of full bleed background imagery and subtle audio really surround the visitor. Great balance of creativity and usability.

3. thetoke – www.thetoke.com

Slick, clean, technical. Slightly ambiguous concept around the identity and the intro, but it all makes for good eye candy. Play with the viewing modes in the top right hand corner to see cool applications of 3D in Flash.

4. bio-bak – www.bio-bak.nl

Wow. Also been around a while but something truly bizarre. It’s a game. The object is to find the site’s navigation. This site has balls. And they’re hairy and badly drawn.

5. Futuretainment – www.futuretainment.com

Ok, so it’s a book launch, not a portfolio, but it’s classic Frost and fits beautifully with the others for a range of inspiration on how to simultaneously provide a stage and set a tone.

Enjoy!

@iclazie