Something a little different…
We like making things. We like making things that make a difference.
This usually means large scale, accessible websites, full of considered content, bubbling with usability goodness and laced with juicy functionality. This summer however, we’ve taken on three student interns in our Innovation department and let them loose to make whatever they wanted.
We started out with a list of technologies and concepts that we liked.
Two days in, we had a wall covered with ideas, with the best 10 drawn out in more detail on paper.
We dived straight in using Processing to sketch out ideas in code quickly. A tag cloud of our initial code experiments would read: webcams, face recognition, smile recognition, movement sensing, reaction, engagement, excitement, emotion, real life, gestural, physical, crowds.
We’ve shared some of these experiments internally. Have a look at the video below of our Red Kiosk installation. It uses a webcam to capture live video that’s then manipulated to leave red, blurred and fading traces of users’ movements.
For such an amazingly simple file it produces fantastic reactions from passers by. It’s mysterious, hypnotic and fun to play with. It’s engaging on a physical level, blurring the lines between digital and real life. It’s great in a shared space where people react to it and with each other.
We like making things, and we like making things that make a difference. This piece has made us all smile.
