Arcadia – part one (2011) by Citizen Smith on Mixcloud

Opinion-based individual blogs all seem a bit 2005. It’s time to do something more collaborative.

Bye
CS

Some of his more circular work is below. He has a full portfolio site here.

This video is the result of R & D work with Swedish media giant Bonnier. They’ve used After Effects to make the video and everything…

Film theorist David Bordwell discusses the eye movement  of film viewers, highlighting work done by The DIEM project on a sequence from There Will Be Blood.

As Bordwell highlights, the striking discoveries are how erratic the eye movement initially seems – but then how co-ordinated the pattern of eye movement is across multiple viewers.

Film – like design for web and mobile – has developed it’s own grammar and conventions. It’s interesting to see when these can, and do, directly influence the attention of the viewer (or user).

Maybe someone could test this with the front facing camera on the iPhone?  Maybe that would be a lot of hard work. This is what R & D budgets are for…

Blinky™ from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

On the bus, I took a look at the Apple Store to see what I should get. To my horror (I was horrified), I discovered what you see in the left image below. It’s a major surprise that Apple haven’t optimised their retail site (or brand site) for mobile devices. I guess there are three potential explanations…

1) They are doing it – but their design and QA processes mean it won’t be launched until it’s the most amazing mcommerce site ever.

2) They’re still thinking about it. Hey, there are more important things going on right now.

3) They aren’t doing it. They get a perverse enjoyment out of iPhone users zooming and scrolling all over the place to try and buy something from their site.

It’s a simple equation… effective usability + mobile-centred design = increased product exploration time and purchasing through mobile. I know this, we’ve designed and built mcommerce sites for various brands (including M & S). Many brands have launched or are launching mobile optimised versions of their sites because of this. Apple even has an Mcommerce UI webkit on it’s site for others to use!

I don’t do much design work myself nowadays – so I set myself a 20-minute challenge of creating a mobile version of the Apple site. A whirlwind of cut and paste later – I came up with the above (the image on the right).

What do you think? I’d like to see others take on this…

Now the InMaps platform can visualise your own personal networks and those of your colleagues.

You can also label your different networks. The orange lot in the top left all seem to work at ITV…

It’s a mobile web platform that uses Instagram’s API to display the lovely, filtered Instagram images captured near you. It’s a great early implementation of Instagram’s API with location and also has a good slick UI. I hear there’s a load more features on the way.

Check it out on your handset here.

Now – with Boxpark – the tramps will be replaced by East London fashionistas flogging angular clothing that will fall apart within days.

I’m being cynical. In the summer this current wasteland will be revitalised as ‘not some run-of- the-mall shopping centre. it’s a living, fertile community packed with talent, innovation and attitude that puts creativity and fashion back where they belong: on the street.’

Let’s see…

It now lives at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam – it’s also featured in Google’s new Art Project – so you can get up close and personal.

I’d then recommend (example conspiracy theorist) Peter Greenaway’s forensic film J’Accuse, which justifies the sinister implications of his feature about the painting, Nightwatching. That’s a whole day of Rembrandt sorted.

This year is no exception – take a look at the clips below from three of the students: Dan Tassell, Chris Lees and Kibwe Tavares

The video below – from Amnesia Razorfish (Aus) – shows their Connect platform seamlessly integrating iPhone and Microsoft Surface. This shows an alternative to the ‘send and receive’ model for integrating mobile with other interactive platforms.

I spent Sunday afternoon watching designer Saul Bass‘ only effort as feature film director – Phase IV.

It starts off with an amazing, psychedelic sequence foretelling the rise of intelligent ants determined to wipe out humanity – unfortunately it descends into an over earnest 70s sci-fi flick (a bit like The Andromeda Strain but less fun).

You should still check out the first 10 minutes on YouTube.

Back in the day, hours turned to days as I played Sierra On-Line’s adventure games on the Commodore Amiga. After all, which self respecting 12 year old wouldn’t want to choose actions such as “use prophylactic” or “caress blonde’s leg” like you could in Leisure Suit Larry.

Now you can play Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest and Space Quest on the iPad via Martin Kool’s Sarien.net site. Something to do this afternoon.

Cheaters by Teengirl Fantasy

Pioneer have finally built dedicated DJ controllers with the DDJ-T1 for Traktor and the DDJ-S1 for Serato. Having been a happy user of CDJ-800s, 100s and DVJs over the years – this is another cool development for laptop DJs.

With these and the Traktor S4 there are now some serious options for digital mixing. Will clubs and bars start installing these units? If yes, which controller will become industry standard as Technics and DVJs did?

See below for a couple of trailers to whet your appetite…

Exceeda – Fresh Breaks

Si Begg and Robin Mahoney – We Made Our Own Disaster

The Swiss designer produced a wealth of designs, logos and diagrams for the evil US defence and weapons company  - combining the shapes and colour of post-war modernist design with texture and depth.

This is a sample of his work borrowed from the Hyperakt site – and a nice set of images on Flickr.

Not one for bucking a trend, I’ve started using the Daytum iPhone application. A simple concept executed well – it tracks and visualises your behaviour and achievements against time. A bit like Mint for everything.

As you can see above – I’ve not been running much this year.

You can track anything: how tall your kids are; how many coffees you’ve had; how many people you’ve slept with – whatever floats your boat.

Hopefully they’ll integrate more display options (like the website) and some social sharing.

As Geotic he releases his non-vocal, more ambient stuff, and it’s great. It doesn’t do much, but that’s good right?

You can get the latest album, Mend, and previous albums here.

Agent Raybans via The Daft Club is getting much exposure for his graphic  ’A Visual History of Daft Punk’s Helmets’. Click on the image to get a massive high res version.

While I’m on the subject, take another look at props maker Harrison Krix’s guide on how to build your own Daft Punk helmet.

What’s interesting here is the use of QR codes in a massive format to create narratives and interaction on a grand scale. This show’s an ambition beyond sticking the codes on posters and ads to generate a direct (often disappointing) response. And when, inevitably, NFC gains significant penetration on mobile handsets – storytelling through interactive ‘places’ will be quicker, more direct and mass market.

Flux (2010) – Dj Mix By Citizen Smith by Citizensmith on Mixcloud

Effective Mobile Marketing Awards (EMMAs) – Most Effective Mobile Site

World Summit Mobile Awards – Mobile Commerce