Advertising and Movie-making

Coopers "Light After Dark" campaign launched a "handcrafted" luminous UV painted billboard.


Another great use of the glowy paint was in the construction and design of Lord of the Rings' scale models of Minas Morgul.

Back Again!

So huge delay since I last posted. I'm lazy. And sick. Mostly over a cold now. How lame. But I am relishing my mid-semester week off! 

Anyway, last week Brad turned me towards a mix of biology and technology in design and art. Natalie Jeremijenko is a "design engineer and technoartist" now based in USA. She is super talented and an all-around genius with awards and commissions and features. More info here: fondation-langlois.org. 

Allan Giddy was another mentioned more specified towards sustainable energy systems. Part of COFA school of art staff (cofa.unsw.edu.au) he directs the ERIA (The Environmental Research Initiative for Art) at COFA, an "organisation aimed at reinvigorating decaying public spaces through the installation of "active" artwork".

And lastly, James turned me towards social experiments including Studio Moniker's "Do Not Touch" interactive video. Ta Da:http://donottouch.org/. Have a go! Its strangely addictive. Like 'pong' or 'pacman' or 'tetris'. (Are these still around?)

While I had seen this particular game before meeting James, I felt slightly narrow-minded or more-so narrow-sighted in identifying the process as a designed element. Perhaps being so focused in 3rd year on a particular niche, I havent exercised my thinking too much. Maybe I just have slacked off and have shut off the part of thinking that allows experimentation in outside design elements to be considered. Does that make sense? Probably not. On the other hand it may have been the way the university has been conditioned to teach. Im not saying or trying to imply that COFA teaches in an archaic way...at all. I feel that teaching has not developed as far as I believed it should have. Do we rely on principles that have not evolved to the level we should demand of it? Its always been understood (in my mind at least) that university study is a more personal, independent-driven level of learning. So why does it still revolve around high school systems? The courses themselves are designed to expand your knowledge on a particular subject you are aiming to pursue in future. They are tailored to inspire, educate, contemplate, drive...If they develop people and their thinking, why is the idea of obtaining optimum marks such a high consideration? Shouldn't the focus be on your ever evolving sense of self and design philosophies and personal growth within said subject? Waaaaay off topic.

Ive been researching the idea of social experiments, particularly frog and TouchTunes' Crowd Sourced DJ'ing at South by South West (SXSW). core77 - has a blog outlining the process of generating and realising this project. Its pretty damn interesting. 

It got me thinking of the Sony Bravia ad. What I would give to let this happen at COFA or UNSW campuses! Screw safety. I want to be emersed in colourful bouncy balls. Perhaps we should stick them to the grey concrete encasing the cofa campus.

Sony BRAVIA Bouncy Ball Advert from Josip Kostic on Vimeo.

Back to the project. The more I look into social experimentation, it develops a stronger tie to the project I am undertaking. Last week I was stuck on the idea of "melting walls". It was really bugging me. Somehow melted cheese was stuck in my head (which is odd, because I hate cheese). Its not necessarily the direction I want to take, but I would like to know the Why behind its consistent reappearance. Perhaps its just the aesthetic I find appealing, or maybe im just too damn narrow in my thoughts.

So. Next step: research (yay) into tech and social experiment (and how to display and integrate this information). Oh yeah, presentations coming up on thursday. Its gonna be interesting: Richard and Karina are "judging"...High school all over again. Maybe I should re-direct and element within my project to question and develop ideals of education. Too late to start a new project? Maybe i'll keep that on the back burner.

DFTBA

Update

Hi. Its been a somewhat big week. Which is why I havent posted anything in four days. Meh. Had a presentation due for a theory class, which was not a big deal aside from the fact the theory we had to apply to a thing was a linguistic nightmare. The actual class presentation for this project however was cake. After staying up for a considerable time finishing this abnoxious Brief and other assignments, it was finally due in on tuesday. Then presentation on thursday. The brief is a big ass file. I am not posting it. No. 

BIG NEWS! Lucky enough to land a mentor: James Dive from The Glue Society. If you don't know of him you've been living under a rock...a rock under the sea....even the little mermaid knows of him. He's part of a creative collective which can be seen here: thegluesociety. They do crazy stuff like this:

And this:

And this:

Why do they do such things? GO WATCH THE VIDEO!

Did I mention you can find them here: THEGLUESOCIETY

I stumbled across these guys years ago researching for something related to something of which I can't remember. They're quirky, funny, clever etc. Essentially that is why I like their work. I am a little design-struck. Is that a thing? Being impressed by people who design? Is there a name for that? I'll just leave it as Star-struck.

Anyway. Back to the presentation. Despite time restrains, no air-con, flickering "sensor" lights and a bad case of no-one turning up at the right time, it ran on time. It was my intention to write a bit of a speech in the break before class, but it ended as dot-points - I didn't really use them. At all. Once I got a few pages from my brief on the projector, and a video up, I came up some pretty impressive inprov. Basically judging from the "criteria" we got in our outlines I talked about Concept, Mentor, Precedents, Solutions and Next Step. Not mind blowing stuff, but my winning personality made up for it. That and stepping away from the damn computer. But seriously: thegluesociety

Its almost midnight. Im not really sure of what else I should add. And this strange contemporary-hillbilly music is playing so Im going to leave it for tonight. Or today. Perhaps another day. Or two. 

Its Easter. Go eat until you're left rolling around on soft furnishings like a walrus or sea lion. HAPPY EASTER. Is that the right salutation? Maybe. Here's another: happy easter

....Bet you knew that was coming.

More videos....

Yep. More flicks about energy!

This is a great little movie about "Deploying Home Energy Management Agents" from the Aladdin project. Focusing on energy use in England, the illustrative movie looks at COST more than anything. 

Unfortunately it wont let me embed it. So you're just going to have to click the link : Deploying Home Energy Management Agents

The Energy Literacy Platform looks at the conservation of household electricity. 

"With the Energy Literacy Platform we offer, users can learn about the amount of electricity they are consuming every day in a more intuitive wat and increase their home energy literacy. Through this our goal is to reduce wasteful electricity usage and promote more efficient home energy consumption."

 

The system utilises in-home 'plugs', websites and applications to combine the most effective platform current technology is able to provide. 

Energy Literacy Platform from sassor on Vimeo.




Energy Rehab is another energy saving concept using STICKERS! Of all things! A little concept vid with oversized bills, tiny european apartments, and borrowing money from siblings, the 'sticker' concept uses future technology. How this is achieved, I have no idea. I have a hard enough time keeping my travel10 bus ticket, so this card would have a rough time in my house. 

Energy rehab from Marcin Ignac on Vimeo.




Im out!

Facts are Sacred

Found this in my newsfeed this morning. 


A book by Guardian news and Datablog editor Simon Rogers comes to the defence of data-journalism in media : Facts Are Sacred

The book states that design "only works when managed by people who understand - and are responsible about - the stories they are reporting. Distilling vast amounts of data in a beautiful and easily understandable chart is pointless and potentially mendacious if that information is either worthless or false."

While not directly related to the project, it does review how designing information can be visually inspiring and easier to understand. It provides an interest and gains more attention than just dot-point form. 

So how do I start designing information? 

Information is Beautiful is a company that bumps out some interesting designs. Their site is here: informationisbeautiful

They teamed up with GE to create this interactive display about carbon emissions.

This is a review on "recent climate change talks in Doha" which discussed facts, figures and future projections. They "condensed all the key numbers into a single diagram. It lays out the perils and potential effects of our global fossil fuel habit - and the urgency to balance our "carbon budget."" This link will take you to the pdf: infobeautiful

Idea

Pitching the concept to class groups went over well. Goodwin suggested actually making the product as a user-interface surface. Yeah. Immediately words rushed through my head including scale and cost and time and quality. I am in no way a programmer. A unit of Processing & Arduino does not make one even closely adequate. I could always try it. Besides wasted time and pulled-put-hair what really would I loose? 

researching researching researching. 

Spanish design agency "Think Big Factory" have developed and interactive "Ipad House" using technology existing today. The 'Openarch' system utilises projectors and sensors that turn normal everyday surfaces (ie walls/floors) into interactive planes. Watch it.




To be honest I was mostly excited for Tetris on the floor. Is it too much though? I mean really I though I was on my laptop far too much. If this becomes a reality, optometrists will make a bundle (or more so than they do already) and Panadol sales will sky rocket. Though the opposite may happen, where being submerged within media filled homes will overwhelm our senses and we revert back to the norm.

Austrian design agency Strukt Design Studio was commissioned to design a digital wall that used video projectors. The vid below shows how the 'digital wallpaper' was created and its possible uses. While not interactive, its still a pretty cool way to have different patterned interiors.




Inspiration Point

The guys from Oglivy and Mather were hired by HSBC in India to develop a campaign for global warming. This was a pic I used for the first week "inspiring imagery" tute. Its pretty damn cool (no pun intended). 

So do I hit up the advertising route and subject myself to the pain and suffering of trying to find an angle that hasnt yet been hit? Changed my mind. I want to be a clown.