The Society Of The Spectacle

Panel by Jack Kirby

We Feel Fine, was one of the first truly unique explorations of the psyche of the Internet. A hugely influential (and beautiful) piece of work. Now, it’s creator, Johnathan Harris, is back in the digital storytelling fray with a new concept; Cow Bird.

Although still under wraps, Harris, in this interview with Frog Design begins to explain some of the thoughts behind the idea (that has taken over two years to craft). The over-arching thought is based around the re-configuring and re-vitalising storytelling as a long form narrative in the digital space. Harris thought goes that ‘real time’ social networks have eroded a storytelling to a series of ‘fragmentary reactions to things’. The ambition of the project is in effect to slow the pace down of online storytelling so the elements have time to gestate, and resonate.

CowBird uses fragments of peoples lives to tell long-form stories online using photos, sound maps, timelines, videos, and casts of characters. Creating in effect, a ‘meta story’ where other peoples stories interact and thread together based on their commonalities.

It’s worth reading the full interview, as Harris delves deeper and deeper into the thinking that goes behind this. But, it most certainly sounds like an intriguing project, and a must see when it finally arrives on our computers.

The blog HUDS AND GUIS, has proved to be a fascinating education, and opened up a vast hub of inspiring design work. This truly is one of the most essential bookmarks of the year.

The blog itself is a list of interesting work from both films and adverts that incorporates digital interaction. Minority Report is widely regarded as one the first (and best films) to bring to life the near future of technology in a realistic and authentic way. From those (very successful beginnings), the list of films that has applied excellent examples of HUDS has grown. Culminating this year with the stunning work created for TRON Legacy. (Which was every single design geeks wet dream…)

There’s lots and lots to explore here that frankly, isn’t going to be done justice by my brief introduction. What is fascinating is how close the future of film, has come to reflect our own contemporary UI trends. Which is really is a credit to the designers who worked on these films, (especially the work of Jake Sargeant over at MN8) as well as (dare as I say it) The holloywood filmmakers who sought out this expertise in the first place. A fascinating journey, and one that is highly recommended.

The Jumpman 23 HUDS & GUIS in action:

It always exciting to discover a creative with a genuinely innovative and distinctive perspective on life. Today, I discovered just such a talent.

Initially alerted to the work of Mr. Boonstra via his collaboration with illustrator Parra for Rimer London (see below), it turns out that he has a rather snazzy array of work, spanning digital commentary, art direction and more. Personal highlights included the RGB experiment (above). Which, well, just have a go yourself. It’s pretty cool.

The whole site itself is worth a poke around. Great stuff indeed.

Love this work from my friends over at Work Club. As ever with the guys over there, they’ve taken a brief that would befuddle many and created a fantastically fun and irreverent interpretation of the ‘Leave an Impression’ brand essence for Whiskey brand Ballantine’s.

K.A.R.L is a Parisian tattoo artist, who, through facebook, creates the first ever tattoo done live on facebook. The killer bit here is the tattoo itself. The QR (shudder) code embedded in the tattoo is actually quite awesome, and will bring a smile (literally) to your face.

The good news is ‘The Human API’ has now moved onto J.A.M.I.E the robot ice sculpture, with equally bizarre, but surprising results.

Looking forward to more insights from inside the Human API.

Nice simple execution here from Mike Bodge at LOLZ LLC.

N SKY C that tracks the sky every 5 minutes over New York City. This might sound as interesting as watching paint dry, but the tones of colour, when combined with scrolling through previous days, make for a different and cute way of looking at the weather. It is also making me jealous of the great weather they’ve been having over there.

I also like the sentiment of ‘Why The Fuck Not’ about it.

Over the last year, I have followed (and wish I had been photographed in) this project from photographer Chris Floyd. This video is the a summary of all the portraits, and some nice audio anecdotes from the participants.

Check it out. (Chris’ work is pretty sweet, so take a gander at that too)

Really nice use of Facebook here from who else but Nike.

To engage young people in Amsterdam in running, Nike Running created a platform within facebook that allowed users to create their own routes, but with a twist, more graffiti designs than just simple running routes. Skulls and Space Invaders were just some of the routes created.

Building on the digital community that had participated in the campaign, Nike provided the a space to gather in the real world; ‘The Runhouse’ became a venue for people to join in their customsied runs together, as well as a space to hang out, and enjoy the some benefits of being part of this community.

It’s a smart idea that builds on the mature platform of Nike+ (which attracts a slightly older, and more hardcore running demographic) and adding value offline that helps make it a more rounded and interesting platform. Which really is the most exciting thing about this, another example of advertising and communication beyond the campaigns and into added value platforms. Building ‘things’ that people use, not just view.

Good stuff Nike.