25: And Here We Are…

That’s right. My portfolio site is up and running (with 5 hours to spare!) Now I need to #BuildShit to put in there. 

Enjoy.

24: Augmented Reality and the Future of UX.

Touch screens, tablets, and the rapid development of information technologies have created so many new and innovative ways to enhance user experience. Today’s designers, software engineers, tech junkies, and strategists are looking at the most cutting edge technologies of tomorrow to understand how to implement such technologies in intuitive, creative, and pragmatic digital/interactive work.

Microsoft’s Applied Sciences division recently began toying with 3D, see through computer monitors. The monitors can be used in standard 2D and 3D. Users control the keyboard with their hands “inside” the screen. They used Xbox Kinect Technology and some very high level programming to build the device.

It’s been rumored that Google is developing Augmented Reality glasses. They keep their research and development lab, Google X, under pretty thick wraps, but speculation has been surfacing that the AR glasses could be out by years end.

Although no one outside of Google has any insight into what they might be developing, Recon Instruments’ MOD Live could be of similar caliber. Designed for skiers/snowboarders, this gadget hooks up to your ski goggles and through GPS on your Android, you can get real time info on your run down the mountain.

Eventually, AR is going to become the new medium for digital and social apps, and more and more brands will want to use it to their advantage. I think it’s important that this technology is used primarily for functionality and not just for its chic factor, although it will inevitably become flooded with brands trying to establish a presence in a new medium.

23: FRACT – Video Game/Music Production Program

Anyone remember MYST? My best memory of it was watching my older brother play when I was probably 8 years old. The first person adventure/puzzle game was the first of its kind and is considered revolutionary for it’s time (early 90s). Well now, almost 20 years later, Phosfiend Systems is developing a hybrid between MYST, Guitar Hero, and music production software.

FRACT is the brainchild of Richard Flanagan, an interactive designer/art director based out of Montreal. He’s paid his dues in the creative industry and is now looking to follow his true passion of game design. He began working on FRACT as a final project for his postgrad degree in game design at Université de Montréal. Although the full version has not been released yet, the beta won a student showcase award at the Independent Games Festival.

A description of FRACT from their website:

“FRACT is a first person puzzle adventure game much in the vein of the Myst titles, but with an electro twist. It’s an exploratory game, set in an abstract world built on sound. In the game, players explore this broken-down, abandoned world, solve puzzles that allow them to rebuild its forgotten machinery, which then allows them to create their own sounds and music within the world. Structures and sounds within the game are inspired by aspects of electronic music, and FRACT OSC focuses specifically on synthesizers. FRACT OSC is expected for release on PC/Mac in 2012.”

 

I think it’s awesome to see a guy who made his career in the creative field sort of stop everything and follow his true passion of making games.

Just goes to show you: Creativity + Digital Knowledge + Strategy = Great Work.

 

 

 

22: Vintage Films + Hip Hop Instrumentals Mash Up

The good folks at The Creators Project tipped me off to this series of vintage film mashups with hip hop instrumental soundtracks. If you read my blog, you probably know I’m a big fan of “boom-bap” style hip hop beats, which often use heavy, gritty drum samples with soulful, smooth loops strewn over the top. If you don’t know what I mean, listen to any of the tracks on the somewhat anonymous YouTube user HalloHalloDuisburg‘s channel. This (possibly?) German artist has taken some obscure vintage film and blended it with some hazy, dusty, underground hip hop instrumentals. The result is a very surreal, almost hallucinogenic visual and auditory experience. I talked about how much I respect remix/mashup artists a few posts back, and this is a perfect example of taking two original pieces of work and combining them to make something new. Kudos to you, HalloHalloDuisburg. Keeping it very underground.

Here are some of my favorites:

Ta-Ku

 

Bugseed

 

Beat Machine Aron 

 

The Stuyvesants

21: Converse Teams up with Gorillaz, Andre 3000, and James Murphy

My favorite animated band, The Gorillaz, are back once again, this time appearing with Andre 3000 and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) for a Converse promo.

The animation is a collaboration between Gorillaz illustrator Jamie Hewlett and Paris based digital creative house Fortiche Productions.  In conjunction with the video and exclusive track, Converse is putting out a limited edition Gorillaz Chuck Taylor collection. Gorillaz have always been iconic for the urban/alternative demographic, and I think the tie in is good branding on Converse’s end.

20: Everything is a Remix

Kirby Ferguson, a NY based filmmaker and producer, made this 4 part video series explaining how today, most creative work is really just a remix of something else. For instance, Transformers (the movie), is a spin off of the animated TV show, which is itself a spin off of the Hasbro action figures. We’ve been seeing this trend a lot in the past few years, especially in movies. It seems like everything is an adaptation of something else, or a sequel to the first adaptation of something else. As an amateur sample based hip hop producer, I definitely have some personal interest in the idea of using or remixing someone else’s work. When I sit down to create a track, I listen through a multitude of styles of music, ranging from jazz, soul, world, afrobeat, disco, etc. I’ll hear something in the song, like a loop or a sound, and have an idea of how to turn that into something totally new and fresh. Although there’s a ton of legal controversy surrounding sample based music, it’s how I express myself creatively, and I love producing and listening to different “flips” of songs.

Watch the 4 part series, Everything is a Remix, below:

 

 

 

 

19: Tracy Wong Drops Knowledge

I had the great opportunity to hear from Tracy Wong, Creative Director and founder of WDCW (Wong Doody Crandall Wiener). For lack of a better phrase, this dude is a fucking badass. He got his start on Madison Avenue under the tutelage of Jeff Goodby (likeness to Ben Franklin) of Goodby Silverstein and Partners fame. As a U of O alum, Tracy came out swinging and ready to “drop knowledge” onto my #UOCreativeStrat class. In between showing us some amazing work that WDCW has put out, he gave us 6 tidbits of invaluable information:

1) The biggest impediment to creativity: Your big, fat fucking ego.

He really hit this point home with the insight that although we are becoming a part of the idea industry, we are not defined by our ideas. Rather, we are the brains that generate ideas, and once they’re out of our heads they take a different form. Basically, ego hides opportunities to create great work.

2) 99% of any good idea is strategy.

It was really good to hear a creative give props to the strategists and planners. Good strategy makes it that much easier for the creatives to do their job. He made the analogy that good strategy is like a good layup shot in golf – it leaves the creatives with a “two foot putt” to execute.

3) The greatest creative weapons is your ears.

Kind of going back to the idea of creatives with big egos, Tracy told us how hard it is to work with a client when the creatives will not listen to them. He had a few great insights about this. First, knowledge talks and wisdom listens. I’ve always considered myself more of an observer and a good listener, so I think this will definitely help me in collaborating with other creatives. Second, he explained to us the difference between having an open mind vs. an empty mind: An open mind still has a bunch of crap in it, but an empty mind has room to listen.

4) The secret to advertising: embrace compromise.

I’m sure everyone in the class could understand the importance of compromise when working in teams. Compromise is of the upmost importance when working in the idea industry, and this really ties in with number 1 and 3.

5) Engage in the Democracy of Good Ideas.

This goes with the whole theme of generosity that Deb preaches. We can’t be greedy with our ideas, we have to share them in order to really push the envelop of good work. Good work comes out of mutual respect between agency and client, and also within the agency. We > Me.

6) Love your client like you love your dog.

This might not be relevant to us ad students yet, but having good client relationship is obviously imperative for making good work. Trust is crucial to the success of any client-agency partnership. There’s a cliche in the ad world that the client is the enemy. As part of the new wave of people entering the idea industry, it’s important that we learn to embrace the client and create a trusting relationship with them.

Along with the massive dropping of knowledge, Tracy showed us some awesome work that he’s done. Obviously, working on a College Gameday spot with Puddles is the ultimate project for a Duck alum like Tracy.

Thanks for the wisdom Tracy.