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I think Timo and Jack have made a lovely film, and they’re obviously on to something. But it’s design for designers, and I’d love to see them do design for, well, the rest of the world.
Author: Kars Alfrink
Designer turned design researcher. Postdoc at TU Delft. Exploring contestable AI.
links for 2009-10-13
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An interesting site (thanks Iskander), very much related to my ideas on using urban games to create positive effects in public space. The tagline though, is misleading: “something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better”. Beyond gimmicks, fun is neither a simple concept to understand, nor a simple experience to bring about.
links for 2009-10-09
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A new Fourth Wall Studios project. Ashley Wood’s involvement is promising.
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“The generous attitude towards failure that big cities afford is invaluable-it’s how things get created. In a small town everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you might attempt.” Finally gotten around to reading Jones piece that connects scifi, comics, urbanism and interaction design. Being fascinated by cities myself, this was a treat.
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‘”I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original,” said the great 20th Century architectural critic Reyner Banham, and the systems we’re talking about are orders of magnitude more complex than mere cars and freeways.’
Janneke Sluijs completes THUTC #4 line-up
We’ve added one more speaker to the line-up of This happened – Utrecht #4:
Janneke Sluijs will talk about Noot, a small tool meant to support creative sessions. Noots can be physically attached to paper artefacts that stimulate the creative process. This way, audio fragments are tagged, making it possible to retrieve the original audio context at a later time, for recollection or inspiration. Her story will focus on the origins and development of the product.
Have a look at the other three speakers in my previous post. Registration opens in a week on October 12 at 12:00 hours at thishappened.nl. The event takes place in Theater Kikker in Utrecht, on October 26.
links for 2009-10-02
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This certainly looks like fun. Should give it a spin some time.
links for 2009-10-01
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The Spime Pope heaps praise on BERG.
links for 2009-09-28
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“Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen.”
Announcing This happened – Utrecht #4
Four weeks from now we’re running the fourth edition of This happened – Utrecht (the last one for this year). It’ll take place in Theater Kikker again, on 26 October and we’ll start at the usual time: 20:00 hours (doors op 19:30 hours). Ianus, Alexander and I have been debating this edition’s line-up fervently, and have come up with the following three great speakers for you:
Elmo Diederiks will talk about the Ambilight feature in Philips flat panel televisions. In 2002 Elmo worked as designer and researcher at Philips Research and lead the research on how dynamic lighting in the background of the TV image enhances the viewing experience. The research resulted directly in the most differentiating feature of Philips’ flat panel televisions that remains a unique selling point today.
Sue Doeksen, member of the new media art collective Zesbaans, will present De Metronoom. Six connected installations point six laser beams into the room. Visitors play the lasers like instruments and compose a soundtrack, arranging samples from classical instruments, street artists, beats and the machine room of a printing press. De Metronoom was present at the Mood Elevator party at Trouw Amsterdam and Stekkertest at Festival aan de Werf in Utrecht. Sue gives us a look behind the scenes of De Metronoom’s development – which Zesbaans is hoping to continue in the coming period – and shares their ideas on technology, performance and interface.
Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson will present the process behind Funky Forest, an interactive ecosystem where children create trees with their body and then divert the water flowing from the waterfall to the trees to keep them alive. The health of the trees contributes to the overall health of the forest and the types of creatures that inhabit it. The Moomah Edition of ‘Funky Forest’ expands on the original by introducing four seasons, each with a unique environment and creatures to match. Each season also features an interactive particle system. The Moomah edition is permanently installed at the Moomah Children’s Cafe in New York City.
This edition is made possible by the support from the Utrecht School of the Arts and Utrecht based web agency Rhinofly. Many thanks to them for their generosity.
Registration opens October 12 at thishappened.nl at 12:00 hours. Hope to see you there!
links for 2009-09-22
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Interesting look at Apple’s methods and what it really means to be as innovative as they are.
links for 2009-08-18
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What’s the deal with the huge wiimote in this trailer? AYIM looks like it’ll offer a clean break with ‘traditional’ video game aesthetics.