Yosuke Abe is an Art Director at tha ltd., a Japanese web design agency. He is one of the creators of FFFFOUND!, one of my favorite websites. I’ve featured almost every project by tha ltd., I guess I’m a true fan of their work. They did the Design and the Elastic Mind website, they made that lush screensaver called Dropclock, that funny Softbank website and the multi user UNIQLO Grid.
Back to Yosuke, he did some nice projects himself too. Here are 2 which I really like.
‘JOCATORE / ALLENATORE‘, you can switch the focus of the video between the ball and the window.
The second project is called ‘Family Affair‘, a very funny video about the Jackson family.
The adidas Y-3 is one of the few websites who relaunch twice a year. It’s a fashion thing I guess, adidas Y-3 is a cooperation between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto. Over the years, the website was always on the forefront of Flash based web design. But it is nice to see that they are cutting down on the effects and go for a more straight forward approach. I’ve noticed this on many websites lately, simplicity is making a big comeback. So maybe the spring/summer 2009 website will be mix between Flash and HTML.
This womens shoe called ‘Molnet’ is definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen with 3 stripes on. It is so hideous that is cool again, just never ever put those red things on.
Timbap is a platform-independent application for augmented DJing. It was developed by students and assistants of the University of Ulm (Germany). It provides a rugged tangible interface for browsing your music collection and manipulating playback by scratching, pitching, skipping etc. Like many others it is based on an acoustic timecode signal recorded to vinyl records. In contrast to existing digital solutions however, it completely releases the DJ from mouse, keyboard and monitor. Instead it relies on physical interaction with the standard club turntable only.
It still sounds quite strange, right? So basically it is a projected video interface for selecting mp3’s. Maybe this video will make it all clear to you.
Guessing from the amount of student DJ projects, there are a lot of bedroom DJ’s among the students out there.
So Audi developed a new version of its Multi Media Interface system for the A8. Okay, the screens don’t really look exciting to me, that’s why I don’t show them here. But this image of their lab on the other hand, that’s a nice user testing setup!
But if you want to see some real screenshots of the MMI, go here.
Playing Fold Loud involves folding origami shapes to create soothing harmonic vocal sounds. Each fold is assigned to a different human vocal sound so that combinations of folds create harmonies. Users can fold multiple Fold Loud sheets together to produce a chorus of voices. Opened circuits made out of conductive fabric are visibly stitched onto the sheets of paper which creates a meta-technological aesthetic. When the sheets are folded along crease lines, a circuit is closed like a switch. Thus, the interface guides participants to use repetitive delicate hand gestures such as flipping, pushing and creasing. Fold Loud invites users to slow down and reflect on different physical senses by crafting paper into both geometric origami objects and harmonic music.
Blog Bot Platform is an open source system which I have developed for creating Different types of Blogging objects. Turning Simple experiences into online encounters. These bots ‘tweet’ to their experiences to micro blogging services. I am interested in how people react when they encounter these Blogjects invading their web 2.0 space.
This scale allows one to lie to him/herself.
The further back you stand, the lighter you become.
The user can gradually move closer and closer to reality.
Rather than focusing on the current development of nanotechnology, such as creating lighter and stronger materials, this project focuses on exploring its potential further, creating more manipulative prototypes such as organic electronics.
What do organic computing look like and how will our relationship with these products change? Can organic electronics with biosensors open up new possibilities for sensual and poetic designs?
Seeds contain material and information needed to grow organisms as well as algorithms for device networking. Using seeds as a simulation for smart dust, it allows one to easily visualize new interactions such as breaking, sharing, throwing away and mining data. These new interactions not only generate new behaviors but also redefine existing stereotypical electronic products.
Plugless sink is exactly that, a sink without a plughole. To get rid of the grey water we have to tip the water out. By doing so we become more conscious of how much water we are using and mainly throwing away. This sink shows the value of water through its volume and promotes water re-usage.
The AirPiano is project by Omer Yosha, an Interface Design student from the FH Potsdam (Germany).
The AirPiano is an innovative musical interface which allows playing and controlling software instruments simply by moving hands in the air.
Above the AirPiano is a virtual matrix of keys and faders, each assigned with MIDI messages and ready to be triggered. The length of a triggered note is equivalent to the time a hand
is placed on the corresponding virtual key.
This is also confirmed by LED feedback.
The AirPiano Software allows easy setup, loading/saving presets and transposing notes.
The AirPiano is still in its prototype phase and its concept of a virtual matrix might eventually be used for other applications and purposes.
The AirPiano concept is filled as a Provisional U.S. Patent Application (Number: 60/989,986).
In this video he uses his AirPiano to control Ableton Live.
play > smart is a small website to promote the smart in Japan. You can customize your own car and the drive it in simple game. You can even printout a paper model of your design. The game itself is quite simple, you just have to follow the numbers. In the end you’ll get a drawing, almost like those GPS ones. Worth checking out.
ECAL is an University of art and design in Lausanne, Switzerland. This showreel is a short overview of works done in the Media&Interaction Design Unit. You just have to love student projects.
found at Fubiz
The Aftermath by Caroline Tattersall (Ceramics & Glass).
