A history of the next 50 years – Richard Watson

http://www.thersa.org/events/vision/vision-videos/richard-watson#

Designing the barcodes of the future

You've probably seen QR Codes as they now appear on cola cans, posters and even some people's email signatures. They are basically like bar codes for the future - with them you can link both digital and physical graphics to websites and multi-media. For the most part, the codes look pretty nasty - like this:

So it was great to see some recently released designer QR symbols looking to change all that. Mixing design with technological innovation, Tokyo based creative agency SET teamed up Takashi Murakami with Louis Vuitton to create a distinctive code featuring one of the artist’s characters and the classic LV pattern.

 Check out the site for other examples like the coke one below.

Never in a Muddle when I can use Rufus Huddle

Although the camera may have missed my good side the content still works - Rufus Huddle is a fantastic tool.


Rufus Leonard case study from Zuzanna Pasierbinska on Vimeo.

That's the kind of dog i might want...

This dog is called a BigDog and is a robot. A quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads, and is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. Its a pretty cool way of carrying your shopping...

Illuminating 2012 Map

Get cartography...

A video showreel

A look at some of our digital work from late last year..

Have a break - at a site where nothing happens

Kit Kat are taking 'have a break' to the extreme with a nice idea, a site where nothing happens at all. The site kicks off with a 'loading' progress bar, accompanied by a stream of  those responsibilities you might rather forget; presentations, deadlines, kids etc. before revealing a blank screen and the brand's famous slogan:

A final flourish in the footer declares 'If you detect something happening here it's probably a bug and we'll try to fix it.'

Augmented reality in action

This is a cool area and its becoming possible to do some interesting things. All those goggles superimposing things are fun but here's a working application that really provides a new and useful finction to people. Its called the ING Wegwijzer and is designed to help people trying to find a cash machine in an unfamiliar place.

Having been built for use with the G1 Android phone it has a key advantage. Because it has a built-in compass as well as GPS, applications on the G1 can work out which way you are facing as well as where you are.

So this basically means you can pick up the phone, point the camera around and it will superimpose labels pointing directly at the buildings where ATMs are located. It can also tell you how far and update in real time as you walk towards it. A much more intuitive experience if you can avoid walking into people...

Cam Cam - Sony site

Here's a pretty new site for the Cam video camera from Sony. Sort of an interactive 'choose your own adventure' of video; apparently the segments you choose to record along the way determine the outcome at the end.

Also, they decided to allow you to embed the entire experience on your site - look here:



Let us know what you get, for me she ended up having a daughter of her own...

Nice...

Immersive media

Just caught up with this US campaign for HBO from BBDO from last year designed to reinforce HBO's positioning as a premier storytelling brand.

The agency created a multi-layered, multi-platform story about an assassin living in an NYC apartment block which was premiered in public one evening on the blank side of a downturn apartment block (people were invited to attend as 'voyeurs' via flyers given out in advance by a street team) and via a dramatic cinema ad. This drove people online to hbovoyeur.com where they could explore the material further, sign up for mobile video updates and the like and, crucially, also to HBO On Demand where people could watch the core movie. The website got 3 million unique visitors in its first week, sparking a good deal of blogging and microblogging activity.

Quite apart from the quality of creative execution, this strikes me as an excellent example of a multi-dimensional brand experience. It also underlines the way in which TV is increasingly intersecting with, or creating, online communities.

Web trend 4 - map in development

If you haven't seen this before its worth a look, its IA Japans' Web Trend Map, which takes their selection of the 300 most influential and successful websites and pins them down to the greater Tokyo-area train map.  The 2007 version looked like this:

 And the 2008 version like this:

This is the current version and you can get an A3 pdf or try this online clickable version... The 4th and 2009 version of the map is due in February and its worth watching out for. According to the preview here it is going to look a little like this (undoubtably more developed however!):

 

They are inviting discussion and contributions to what networks, websites, and trend setters should be included this time so its going to be interesting to see how they illustrate the significant changes that have taken place over the last 12 months. How will the rise of applications (and app marketplaces), the dwindling of traditional printed news, the Microhoo courtship and the impact of data portability be represented for example?