Augmented technology

My group and I are looking into augmented reality technology for our app design. There is some incredible stuff out there, and the technology is being developed everyday. It's so current and the possibilities seem endless. If you don't know what augmented reality is, check out this.

Some cool apps/technologies around now:

A bit scary, but pretty cool anyway.

This one is crazy. We printed out the piece of paper with a kind of QR code

on it and it really did work - pretty fun!

And talking of QR codes, I made this:

If you have a barcode scanning app, you can work it out.

&

I want to draw some letters/numbers/characters.

Not that I ever finished Twilight Princess...

But new Zelda!

Asha: Guest lecture

Yesterday we had a brilliant and inspiring guest lecture - Mark Steen from Asha, a "London design studio, outside of London." (Cheltenham). They have worked on a wide variety of projects, big and small, which you can check out on the website. But the project that really stood out for me was their 'brand refresh of' WWF.

"The world’s leading conservation organisation have been working with ArthurSteenHorneAdamson in a global brand refresh, aiming to clarify the public's understanding of the breadth of its work."

WWF is a worldwide known environmental organisation with its iconic panda logo. But the panda was all it was know for, "Noone really knows what it [WWF] is for." Which is where Asha came in.

One of the key things that Mark kept stressing was the importance in separating the science and emotion - science being the facts and figures, and emotion - the cute cuddly toy animals. And it's the sciencey side that I really liked, how the facts and figures are displayed so clean and simply.

"WWF is a science-led organisation, but it is important to recognise that the emotional aspect of what they do helps them to engage with a wider audience. To ensure their science-led approach is given appropriate emphasis, and to enable WWF audiences to understand and engage with the science quickly, ASHA developed a signature style for portraying scientific information."


Asha even designed a new condensed typeface specifically for WWF.

Really great stuff. The sort of thing I'd like to be a part of, something meaningful - science, environmental, geography, information etc.

Tales of the Otori

I am currently re-reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn, for what I think must be about the fourth time. It is the first book in a three part series which I guess you could call Tales of the Otori – as it's centred around the Otori family, particularly Takeo.

I am pretty sure these are my favourite series of books.

The author has also written before and after books which are also excellent.

 

My parents bought me these miniature versions of the books. Each book is split into two episodes. They thought I'd like them for the Japanese prints on the covers, which I did. Unfortunately they didn't realise that the books being miniature meant there should be six and not just three. But I have them all now.

"Tales of the Otori is a series of historical fantasy novels by Lian Hearn, set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan. The books follow a young warrior named Takeo in his struggles to avenge an adoptive father, escape the legacy of his biological father, and pursue the love of his life in the midst of an enormous power struggle involving dozens of clan lords and thousands of warriors.

Five battles to fight. Four to win, one to lose." – Ta, wikipedia.

Stacey Rozich

These illustrations are incredible. Reminiscent of fairytales and folklore, and like author of this post said strangely like Hayao Miyazaki. Created by Stacey Rozich.

The Supermarket

I started my essay today, 2400 words later, I've also nearly finished it.

There was a particularly interesting and useful documentary on a few weeks ago, I watched it whilst it was on but also recorded it to watch back – taking notes. It was a Panorama special, 'SUPERMARKETS: What Price Cheap Food'. (I'm pretty sure that title doesn't actually make grammatical or logical sense.)

I have found said documentary on YouTube if anyone is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E7C5A03225114D54

An extract from my essay:

“Salesmanship isn't the science of selling people goods they do not require – it is more the art of teaching them to require and buy the goods you have for sale.” A quote that is as relevant today as when it was published in Grocery, a grocer's journal, in July 1924. It is our way of life, we have to consume to survive, more so in terms of food than any other industry. We get our food where we can, most of us from the local supermarket as it is the easiest and most reliable source of food consumption. There are more food products on offer to us now than ever before, but when did this begin? And how did it become so easy for the consumer?

Lego album covers

I came across these by accident, looking for a large image of Muse's Absolution artwork to use as my desktop wallpaper – as designed by the graphic genius Storm Thorgerson.

These are pretty genius too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/savagearrow/