I found an interesting site for the new movie "Looper", the movie basically revolves around the mob and how they use time travel to order hits on people. The site offers a very simple yet cool interactive game that can be played with just the mouse. In this game the user must eliminate the target when it appears by clicking on it, after the target is eliminated cut scenes from the actual movie play leading to the next level. After about three levels the user is surprised when their characters older self appears and actually avoids being shot, this takes the user to a new phase of the game where they must "close their loop". The game continues on for about two more phases, and it provides the user with a fun interactive way to find out more about the movie.
address: http://www.loopermovie.com/game/
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Design Exploration
I found a website I'd like to share with you all. Its pretty fun (and could be nauseating). Its called the "Infinite Oz". It is one of the leading web design sites for 2012. They start with a few (like 5-10) large images and just use the zoom tool with tweening I assume. Inside these images they nest videos for the little things, what gives the site more personality. If the whole zoom/spinning/animation doesn't blow your mind, check out the navigation. I am not 100% sure how they do this but I love how everything spins down. Theres two sets of navigation through this wheel though. There is the scrub (outer circle) for controlling the speed of the screens zoom between images, and the inner planks, which light up in the over state. The center of the wheel also has a different icon for each of the rollover states of the planks. If you dont like the zoom between the different stages of images you can click on the menu and select the scene you want to view without the animation.
Second Story: Design Studio Exploration
I chose to showcase the work of a design studio that I think is doing some really amazing things in the world of interactive media. They are constantly looking for new ways to pull the user into the experience that they are creating. To do this they are not only innovating techniques but pulling new and cutting edge technologies into their projects.
They remind me of the way the future should be shaping up, not what we have to settle for. According to back to the future we should be driving around hovercars and living in houses that talk to us. Now the smart house of the future is not far off, but its only in the reach of those with pockets deep enough to reach far enough in to pony up the cash for the experience they desire. It is not an industry that everyone can interact with.
The initial article that brought my attention to Second Story Design Studio was the way they are creating interactive advertising. The project was a mockup for the way things might work in the future. The article was “ Sightlines: Augmenting an object with Face-Tracking and Reactive Content” http://blog.secondstory.com/sightlines-augmenting-an-object-with-face-tra Users approach what appears to be a clear glass front box that has a plain old wooden clothespin inside, as the user approaches the display the real magic begins. The display recognizes where your face is in 3-d and the content displays in such a way that it does not overlap the object but enhances it. An example is brackets displaying around the object highlighting its 8 gauge steel spring for gripping strength and the durable hardwood construction.
This is a very mediocre object but it has been augmented in such a way that provides a lot of room to grow for advertising in the future. As you move past the display the augmentations do not overlap the object, rather they react to where you are and display appropriately. This is achieved by combining a see through lcd screen and a Kinect for windows sensor. This is truly innovative and groundbreaking.
Satellite: http://blog.secondstory.com/launching-satellite#!/ is the other project from this studio that caught my attention. It is an interactive music creation tool that lets users interact with a touch sensitive display and also manipulate sound creation in a 3-d space. Users pick up small Sifteo cubes with are touch sensitive, where the cube touches the screen it is picked up from dictates what chord of sound it will create. Users then touch tap and interact to create sounds and interact with the touch enabled table. This is interesting because it combines multiple technologies into one experience.
Watch the video on Second Story’s site to get a better understanding of how these two technologies are combined to get users to interact in ways that were completely unfathomable until recent advances in technology. I look forward to seeing the new ways that the people at Second Story will create new innovations and push the envelope even further.
Cool site: Machinarium
Machinarium is a highly styalized point and click adventure created by Amanita design. Though it may seem complex a lot of what is present in the game are things that we have already learned. These combined with the amazing art style have made this flash game an instant classic among many who love point and click adventure. You can try out a short demo here: http://machinarium.net/demo/
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Studio/Artist exploration
Projector Inc is a Japanese agency that does digital, web, and interactive development.
I chose this agency because I found it inspiring. I like the way they approach each project. The concepts they come up with are innovative, interesting, unique, and most importantly effective. Often times, their solutions are not directly related to the products they are showcasing, but yet they find a smart and witty way to link them together, thus achieving high product awareness and engaging people from all over the world. For example, in order to sell a navigation system by Sony, they came up with a "singing in the car" contest on YouTube. The concept being that "singing is the most natural thing to do when you have fun driving". Connecting this idea to their product sale point "driving is much more fun" when using the Sony navigation system.
While there isn't much information about the agency online or on their own website, (at least not in English!!), one thing I liked was the case studies they provided for their projects. They give enough information to let us understand their concepts and their way of approaching and resolving projects. They have two really good interactive websites, in my opinion, the first one being the one that made them famous.
The Uniqlock website:
Uniqlock is a website for the Japanese clothing company Uniqlo. They wanted to increase awareness internationally and promote their business expansion outside of Japan. The Uniqlock incorporates music and dance with a world clock. Random video clips of four Japanese girls dancing wearing Uniqlo clothing appear every five seconds. The clothing is updated with every season, and at midnight, the girls sleep for an hour.
It is a very engaging website. Users can download and add the clock to their own sites and blogs.
The website was executed in flash. It is minimalistic yet very engaging. I loved how they animated every second using just one color, depending on the time of day, but changing its animation. It alternates coming down, up or from the sides.
The Intel's Museum of Me website:
This website is another example of coming up with an engaging and clever project that is not directly related to the product they are showcasing; an Intel new processor in this case.
Facebook users log in through the website, which will then pull all their information from Facebook and turn it into an online exhibit about themselves. The show starts with a title of the Facebook user's name describing the exhibit as, "a journey of visualization that explores who I am." Then the exhibit continues with galleries of images, videos, and text constructed from the user's wall on Facebook. The show ends with robot arms going through all the images of the Facebook user's friends.
This experience is pretty cool and it is worth trying it at least once. There is a disclaimer at the beginning explaining that the website does not store any of the user's information, nor share the exhibit unless the user wants it to.
This "visual experience links to the core value of Intel, which connects people through their digital lives". This statement, from the case study on the agency's website, clearly shows the relationship between the concept and the product.
This website was also executed in flash. I loved their use of typography, the layout and the depth of perception of the whole exhibit. Most of all, I enjoyed the visual experience of an actual museum about yourself, with museum goers present at the exhibit.
I chose this agency because I found it inspiring. I like the way they approach each project. The concepts they come up with are innovative, interesting, unique, and most importantly effective. Often times, their solutions are not directly related to the products they are showcasing, but yet they find a smart and witty way to link them together, thus achieving high product awareness and engaging people from all over the world. For example, in order to sell a navigation system by Sony, they came up with a "singing in the car" contest on YouTube. The concept being that "singing is the most natural thing to do when you have fun driving". Connecting this idea to their product sale point "driving is much more fun" when using the Sony navigation system.
While there isn't much information about the agency online or on their own website, (at least not in English!!), one thing I liked was the case studies they provided for their projects. They give enough information to let us understand their concepts and their way of approaching and resolving projects. They have two really good interactive websites, in my opinion, the first one being the one that made them famous.
The Uniqlock website:
Uniqlock is a website for the Japanese clothing company Uniqlo. They wanted to increase awareness internationally and promote their business expansion outside of Japan. The Uniqlock incorporates music and dance with a world clock. Random video clips of four Japanese girls dancing wearing Uniqlo clothing appear every five seconds. The clothing is updated with every season, and at midnight, the girls sleep for an hour.
It is a very engaging website. Users can download and add the clock to their own sites and blogs.
The website was executed in flash. It is minimalistic yet very engaging. I loved how they animated every second using just one color, depending on the time of day, but changing its animation. It alternates coming down, up or from the sides.
The Intel's Museum of Me website:
This website is another example of coming up with an engaging and clever project that is not directly related to the product they are showcasing; an Intel new processor in this case.
Facebook users log in through the website, which will then pull all their information from Facebook and turn it into an online exhibit about themselves. The show starts with a title of the Facebook user's name describing the exhibit as, "a journey of visualization that explores who I am." Then the exhibit continues with galleries of images, videos, and text constructed from the user's wall on Facebook. The show ends with robot arms going through all the images of the Facebook user's friends.
This experience is pretty cool and it is worth trying it at least once. There is a disclaimer at the beginning explaining that the website does not store any of the user's information, nor share the exhibit unless the user wants it to.
This "visual experience links to the core value of Intel, which connects people through their digital lives". This statement, from the case study on the agency's website, clearly shows the relationship between the concept and the product.
This website was also executed in flash. I loved their use of typography, the layout and the depth of perception of the whole exhibit. Most of all, I enjoyed the visual experience of an actual museum about yourself, with museum goers present at the exhibit.
Pica-Pic
This site is really awesome in my opinion. Not only did the creator of the site manage to get these old games in flash and put them into Pica-Pic but he also made all of them interactive and playable with more coming soon. How you explore the site is simple and fun. Once you open then site it shows you a library of retro handheld games so just pick one that looks interesting to you and play with it. The buttons from the game work well with the keys. Go to Pica-pic to check it out.
Design Exploration
This flash website is advertising Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 by using the program itself to make an advertisement. It's easy to navigate and shows some of the features of the program. Although it's small, it does the job well. It's simple and to the point about what Adobe CS 2.3 can do for people looking for Flash.
The Creative Mind
The Creative Mind
Design Exploration
I found a website that takes the idea of "this day in history" and adds a new spin on it using flash. Its clean, clear, and easy to navigate. The only problem I have with this site is that the user can not navigate to a different date to explore. There are multiple examples (or articles) for the specific day you choose to view this site, so the maker did do an awesome job.
What I like the most is how engaging it is when you first open the web page. How the date kind of turns with the hands of a clock into focus. Then slowly the start page gets revealed. How the clock and date change is also unique. You can either let it auto play for you or you can manually click through to see the different things in history that took place. This Day in History
What I like the most is how engaging it is when you first open the web page. How the date kind of turns with the hands of a clock into focus. Then slowly the start page gets revealed. How the clock and date change is also unique. You can either let it auto play for you or you can manually click through to see the different things in history that took place. This Day in History
Design Exploration
Design Exploration
www.photoseed.com
This Webby Award winning website caught my attention as a very good example of an interactive media website. The sites subject is 19th and 20th century photography and it contains an impressive amount of photographs that are well organized with many having detailed descriptions of the medium used in shooting it, the photographer, the place and the date it was taken. The site has a very easy navigation of mouse over images that lead you into other pages and photographs with what I assume to have been created in flash. The sites design aesthetic is very clean and goes along with the style and theme of photography that is being presented. The sight can be easily used by someone who may just be “cruising” the photos with only an interest in particularly eye catching photos, to an individual who knows exactly what they are looking for. I think this is an excellent site to refer back to as an example that follows many of the “Rules” discussed in the “Game Web and Multimedia design Principles, Tips, and Good Habits” that is posted on the MAT 150 class website.
www.photoseed.com
This Webby Award winning website caught my attention as a very good example of an interactive media website. The sites subject is 19th and 20th century photography and it contains an impressive amount of photographs that are well organized with many having detailed descriptions of the medium used in shooting it, the photographer, the place and the date it was taken. The site has a very easy navigation of mouse over images that lead you into other pages and photographs with what I assume to have been created in flash. The sites design aesthetic is very clean and goes along with the style and theme of photography that is being presented. The sight can be easily used by someone who may just be “cruising” the photos with only an interest in particularly eye catching photos, to an individual who knows exactly what they are looking for. I think this is an excellent site to refer back to as an example that follows many of the “Rules” discussed in the “Game Web and Multimedia design Principles, Tips, and Good Habits” that is posted on the MAT 150 class website.
http://www.photoseed.com/uploads/2011/08/07/single-von-gloeden-angelina-medium-600-600.jpg
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Mind Lab
I found this pretty cool site that utilizes flash animation not as entertainment but for educational purposes. the site is produced by Japanese science and technology agency and Wonderful ltd. whats really cool is that it seems to use relatively simple flash techniques to make a vary professional learning experience. the material being taught is on our visual senses, in how simple tricks to the eye can go unnoticed. Click here to check it out.
Cheers,
Mike S
Thursday, September 06, 2012
I've discovered this fun site called Hello Sour Sally (http://www.hellosoursally.com). Write about the design and why its compelling and interesting.
First Exploration Blog
http://demo.fb.se/e/stadium/running/
This is an interesting site. It has some cool functionality. At first, I thought I was some kind of advertisement site when you choose the different sets of clothes and shoes. But on the map selection, which shows 33 cities on Sweden, it had some locations where it shows you the weather for that day and gives you some tips and advise for if you decide to go out for a run in that area. It tells you about certain routes and the inclines.
This is an interesting site. It has some cool functionality. At first, I thought I was some kind of advertisement site when you choose the different sets of clothes and shoes. But on the map selection, which shows 33 cities on Sweden, it had some locations where it shows you the weather for that day and gives you some tips and advise for if you decide to go out for a run in that area. It tells you about certain routes and the inclines.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Raoul Barre, Canadian animator
Raoul Barré, January 1874 – May 1932,
Canadian animator –cartoonist is one of
the pioneer in the evolution of cartoon animation. He invented two processes
that made animation simpler and faster without losing the quality of the
motion.
·
The
SLASH SYSTEM, He cut a window in the
paper used for “décor” background and
placed the window in such a way that only the picture to be animated will show.
This process did not last long but was fairly popular at the time
·
La
REGLE A TENONS, “PEG BAR”: on a ruler he
fixed two pegs, one at the top and one at the bottom where the pages will be
fixed. The paper movement was restricted by the two pegs , as the images moved on for the
animation, to keep their drawings
lined up. This process helped to guarantee the perfect movement of the
images without losing any of the background details.
.
After working for a while
with Edison, Barré, in 1914 decided to start his own studio. He wanted to concentrate his time to animation and be independent
of Edison.. With his partner Nolan he started a series for the Animated
Grouch Chaser series,
distributed by Edison.
http://youtu.be/ADy4NXvaDgI| www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yj_8OBnumc |
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