Motion graphics house Black Swan have had a hand in creating a variety of visually exciting commercials for TV. As great as the final products are, I’m more interested in the behind-the-scenes photos and videos they include in their portfolio.
How one software maverick is pioneering the future of digital publishing
by Meghan Killeen
Digital design prodigy Mike Matas combines the ease of navigating the physical world to create lifelike interfaces that feel so unobtrusive you hardly notice you’re using complex technology. Motivated by the desire to do things on a computer more like in reality, Matas set out to create virtual interfaces driven by touch. “If you want to do something [on a computer] you should just be able to reach out your hand and do it, no buttons, and no user interface required,” concludes Matas.
Near the end of high school, Matas along with genius coder Wil Shipley founded the proprietary software company Delicious Monster, creators of Delicious Library, a media cataloging application for Mac OS X. The system enables users to visually categorize their multimedia library by placing photo-realistic icons of the products on a simulated bookshelf. Extending the library theme, Delicious Library also offers barcode scanning capabilities via the Mac webcam software, iSight, and allows interloan connections with friends.
The ingenuity and authenticity of Delicious Library earned it the coveted Apple Design Awards “Best Mac OS X User Experience” (2005) and “Best OS X Leopard Application” (2007), catapulting Matas’ design talents into the spotlight. He reflects, “It was a pretty radical departure from what most software looked like at that time and people reacted very positively to it.”
At the mere age of 19, Matas captured the attention of Apple and was invited to join the company’s Human Interface team. Anticipating the design of Apple’s desktop computer operating system, Matas quickly discovered that he would instead be working on an innovative, covert project—the iPhone. “Working on the original iPhone was a lot of fun because it was a completely new product where nothing was off limits,” states Matas. Capitalizing on its multi-touch conventions, Matas went on to design interfaces for the iPhone’s interactive maps and camera applications, including the iPhone’s phosphorescent green battery screen.
After just four years with Apple, Matas left in 2009 to partner with friend and fellow Apple alum, Kimon Tsinteris. They launched Push Pop Press, a publishing company offering dynamic digital solutions without the fuss of labor intensive and pricey programming. Approached by publishing firm Melcher Media, Matas began to develop the first full-length interactive book for iPad, “Our Choice,” the sequel to Al Gore’s cautionary environmental tale “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Matas demoed the digitized book at the recent TED conference, highlighting its specialized pinch-and-place navigation, culminating in a mind-blowing demonstration of Matas powering an animated windmill on the screen with his breath. “You can navigate the entire book this way, without any extra computer interface to stumble over and distraction from the content. The technology disappears and you can get lost in the content,” explains Matas.
Push Pop’s watershed title release is as revolutionary as it is rudimentary, bringing a human touch to touch-screen technology. Matas’ eye for design and interaction is also revealed through his stunning photography. Armed with a backpack full of lenses, Matas captures lush images of nature and documents his globetrotting travels through beautifully rendered time-lapse videos. His photo talent also graces the food blog he runs with his girlfriend, called My Cooking Diary.
Balancing functionality and emotion are key elements for pioneering the future of digital publishing, however, Matas also predicts its potential. “I think digital publishing is going to look less and less like a scanned printed book under glass and more like its own thing that was born to be digital.”
The Audi Icons series, inspired by the all-new Audi A7, showcases 16 leading figures united by their dedication to innovation and design.
The Decision Science Laboratory at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government uses some rather futuristic displays in their experiments. The display monitors subjects’ audial responses, heart rate, skin temperature, and sweat, as well as allows experimenters to interact with their subjects and control the testing environment. I want one!
The National Fire Prevention Association’s annual expo is in Boston this week. Given my background in firefighting and emergency response, I knew I had to check this out! While there weren’t any actual flames, I did find some cool, new fire prevention and response products.
Hand-Held Fire Extinguisher
First up is the DKL Portable Fire Extinguisher from J&R Fire Fighting in China. We’ve seen a whole bunch of fire extinguisher re-designs, but this is the first completely hand-held one I’ve seen. Apparently the one-time-use DKL can shoot suppressant about 10 feet out of the nozzle. The grip end could probably use a new design, but this thing has some serious potential for kitchen or home use.
Evacuation Chair Comparison
Ever since 9-11, evacuation chairs for evacuating immobile people out of high-rises have been a hot product. I saw three different companies at the show. This first one from Evac-Chair is extremely lightweight at 19lbs. I hopped in for a ride and felt both comfortable and secure. The downside is that there’s no breaking system, but it seamlessly converts between stairs and landings.
Lighting design professor, researcher and expert Thomas Schielke has collected ten years’ worth of LED designs and developments and put them all together in one video:
The video timeline covers a fascinating selection of the first LED luminaries for interior lighting. The first decade with white LED light reveals how designers have implemented new technology in existing housing, added LED as part of a product group or created a unique design specifically for LED. State-of-the art LED technology requires just about one third of energy for the same lumen output if compared to low-voltage tungsten lamps, thereby enabling task lights for offices with less than 10W. The timeline includes international designers and architects like Norman Foster or Yves Behar as well as new products from the recent Euroluce.
San Francisco’s Cooper has been tackling design and strategy challenges for nearly two decades now, and over the past couple years (workload permitting), they’ve been illustrating their approach to creative problem-solving—arguably the essence of design—through a series of exercises entitled “The Drawing Board.”
The latest episode, “Smart Checks,” addresses an issue that we’ve all faced: splitting the bill at restaurants. (I find that this often comes down to how many drinks people have ordered—in the immortal words of Homer Simpson, alcohol is “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems”—and Cooper’s example is no exception. But I digress…)
Go from stage to studio with a full spectrum of sound packed into a mini-synth
Critter and Guitari, the same experimental audiophiles that came up with a Kaleidescope-inspired music device, recently added a new creation to their line-up of avant-tools. Ultra-portable, simple and versatile, don’t let the clean lines of the Pocket Piano’s aluminum and hardwood case fool you. This petite battery-powered synth’s six modes achieve large sound that cranks up for live performances yet is customizable and nuanced enough for studio work. Including vibrato and a control that cascades tones over two octaves, it delivers a wide range for such a small box.
Other digital instruments in the works include the Single-String Flash Guitar, which records on the go but isn’t yet available. The Pocket Piano is; order it from the Critter and Guitari online store for $175 a pop.
Check out the above video demo to see the ins-and-outs of the Piano.
Jean-Christophe Naour, a French Interaction Designer currently based in Seoul, South Korea, recently uploaded video documentation of his Kinect Graffiti™ project. The result is visually striking if nothing else:
Kinect Graffiti™ is a digital graffiti tool using “Microsoft Kinect” camera. [The] Idea behind this project is to use the kinect to track the motion behind graffiti. Visualizing the body and drawing trough different angles in realtime, understanding surrounding space, pausing the time, etc… Kinect Graffiti™ is a tool built in processing & openGL, SimpleOpenNI, openNI and primeSense libraries.
The stills (via jcnaour’s Flickr) look a lot like light painting / graffiti trend that’s picked up with the rise of digital photography, though I’m still not quite sure how to interpret the output—i.e. whether the colors carry data or if they are purely aesthetic.
Take better iPhone snaps with a handy button add-on
Instagram addicts will love what the innovators at U.K. startup Beep Industries recently came up with to follow their clever MoviePeg stand. Their new product Red Pop, another iPhone add-on, eliminates awkward poking at the touchscreen button by replacing it with an actual big red button. Simply attach the accessory to the bottom of your phone and presto—it transforms into a camera!
Not only is the device extremely convenient to use, it has the familiarity of classic cameras and adds a modern twist. The free downloadable app allows for rapid-fire photography, ensuring that you never miss that perfect moment. Once you have the shot, the app also allows you to easily share the image via Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. Beep Industries also hopes to integrate their Red Pop app with other popular camera apps.
Red Pop comes with a wrist strap and protective pouch for easy transport, and designs for other accessories (such as cases and tripod stands) are in the works. Look for this handy product online in early September.
Get an incredible behind-the-scenes look at the development and production of the stage set for Brazilian electronic musician Amon Tobin’s current 6-city international tour. Meet the fabricator, set designer, interactive video director, scientists, engineers and their teams. A beautiful combination of physical geometric stage models based on a “2-bit digital roots” concept and interactive video projections, those who are lucky enough to check out Tobin on his ISAM tour are in for a serious treat!
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