#digitaldumbo

dd:OUTPOST _ Personalized Environment

Not Just Mapping, Reshaping: VVOX on Projection for Personalizing Architecture, Space

by Peter Kirn

dd:OUTPOST _ Personalized Environment from volvoxlabs on Vimeo.

Light on its own can be a powerful medium for transforming a space. When that light is formed into an image, the customization is as fluid as pixels on a display. So, there’s a reason we hear terms like “responsive architecture” or even “interactive architecture.” We may see environments become as changing as the computer before our eyes. The question is, how, exactly?

VolvoxLabs, a Brooklyn-based design house specializing in visual effects and projection design, showed one vision of how this might work, for Digital Dumbo (in partnership with Bing).

The ingredients, in short, involve the display, data, and human presence and control: A mapped projection screen and connected lighting Internet-connected, socially-wired data sources A touchscreen interface for control Presence sensing via Kinect

Lots of gadgets connect here – this is projection mapping meets the Internet of Things, potentially. There are 70 LED strips, an Xbox, Windows 8, Kinect cameras, Twitter and Instagram feeds at work. And big screens matter, too – 200″ in this case.

In this case, there’s a nice corporate client and some money. But similar sorts of connections could be made on the cheap in future, suggesting fluid embedded connections in many, many contexts.

TouchDesigner was at work again, natch.

Details: ddOUTPOST | Digital Dumbo at Volvox Labs

Images courtesy Volvox Labs (top) and Derivative (bottom).

Tell us about Beyond…

Beyond was formed three years ago through the merger of an analytics company and a creative digital agency. Our founding ethos is that in today’s complex world, the analysis of data, and the insights that come from it, are key to forming and executing successful digital programs. We aim to make people’s lives easier and more enjoyable through the creative application of technology.

  What makes you different from the other guys?

Traditional account planning and strategy is influenced by insights taken from focus groups, which rely on interviewees being a true representation of a target audience and the right questions being asked. Beyond do things differently.

We look at thousands of conversations happening online and through ‘social listening’ we analyse genuine, un-prompted conversations and take more accurate insights to inform our strategic and creative work.

  What’s the best part about working at Beyond?

It’s a really humble and curious place. We like everyone to have the tools, confidence and chance to add to our creative thinking and ideations no matter what their 'role' is. Creativity can come from anywhere and is the lifeblood of Beyond.

  What’s Beyond’s favourite drinking hole?

That would be The Ship on New Cavendish Street. On Thursday nights or after a pitch you will always find a good crew of Beyonders getting “ship wrecked” in there.

  What’s the best company perk?

Each month the whole agency (from San Francisco to London) get on a Google Hangout and the 'Above & Beyond' prize is handed to one employee in the UK and one in the US who has done some great work during that month. Winners get a cash reward and the chance to spend a week in another Beyond office all expenses paid.

  What have you been working on over the past few weeks?

A creative workshop with some of our client's digital teams. It's very interactive and fun. Participants do exercises, reflect on what they have just done and then draw principles and lessons from it. This means people learn simple, effective and at times counter intuitive creative principles through experiences rather than lectures.

We also use briefs they are working on and show them a new way of generating ideas other than brain storming including negative brainstorming, mashups and random picture association. For clients it helps them understand that they can be creative if they see creativity as a process with tangible tools rather than a mysterious art form.

Without giving too much away, tell us what you’ll be showing at the next dd:Social event?

We have been working on the new Virgin.com website for about a year and we are really proud of it. It was a great brief. Virgin wanted us the rethink why Virgin.com should exist given that each of their operating companies had their own websites. They wanted the .com to be more than just a portal through to those companies. It needed to show Virgin understood how to tell engaging stories around the principles their company is built on.

We believe this website is disruptive in the way it uses data to inform the content written, the mechanisms it displays that content so each reader has an experience tailored to them and because it provides a platform for entrepreneurs to learn and talk about how things could be done better.

  What’s Beyond’s proudest achievement?

Our roster of exciting clients, many of whom are leading their industries, is a representation of a lot of the best things about Beyond. We have had to build our data driven process, creative methodology and technical capabilities from scratch and with each new client you need to push your limits a little more.

  What’s exciting you in the digital world right now?