First animation test for opening video.

I want to make it a bit snazzier, so I'm going to have to play around with effects and audio I think!

Snazzed up concept.

Concept logo/App icon

First concept mock up.

Sketched up design concept.

Childrens Apps.

If im going to market to parents and children, I'll have to have a look at some apps aimed at children, then have a look and general app design as a whole. Here are some children apps that I have found.

Art My Kid Made

By Gramercy Consultants

A colourful app, taking themes from real world (art on the fridge) This app allows you to share your kids drawings with other parents. simple yet bright and colourful.

Maily: Your Kids' First Email

By Goodnews.is

A much more simple interface is used here. This is an app to give your children their first Email experience, and have it be controlled by you. Colourful buttons, and a simple interface.

Farm 123 ~ StoryToys Jr

By StoryToys Entertainment Limited

 This is a story app for children. It has a lot of bright, loud colours, and very cartoonish drawings. Things are very obvious. 

Cinderella by Nosy Crow

By Nosy Crow

This one has a much more individual look at the interface and art style. Where a lot of apps have stuck with the look of the OS, this one has made its self its own look, resembling actual story books.

Concept social aspect and the apps ability.

I won't be able to make a social side to my app, but I will be able to make a working iBooks application for the iPad. The things I want in the social side will be...

Sharing - The ability to share your kids favourite books to other users

Comment - To be able to leave comments on books, like reviews.

I think ill give the stories a few options too. You can have a voice over, or no voice over for kids who can't hear very well, or for deaf/blind children.

I'll start sketching up some logos and names for the app to get the branding on the way..!

Current interactive kids books.

I found some rather nasty looking ones from a council website here. These are (well they look like) stories written for the purpose of making them interactive.

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/onlinestory.htm

There also seems to be a huge amount of them for digital download on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Interactive-Story-Books-Software/b?ie=UTF8&node=463966

I think im going to focus more on the apps interactivity more than the stories interactivity. We'll see how it all pans out though.

Brain Fart.

OKAY! So I've had an idea which I'm going to do some more research into. An application for the iPad that features a selection of animated children's books. I can do this by making a single Book using iBooks author, but creating my own navigation system within it, with multiple books. I'd love to have a social aspect to the App, like a social network that lets parents rate books, comment on books, and suggest books to other parents depending on how much their kids liked it. The name would be something bedtime related as it is for childrens bedtime stories. I'll do some research into whats out in the market at the moment, then maybe look into animated childrens stories and books.

Research: iBooks Author.

When talking about interactive story telling, you can't really forget to talk about Apples new iBooks Author. I was lucky enough to try it out last year before general release. It allows you to make books for iBooks app on iPad and iPhone. Its a very simple program, that can be used to make very simple text or story books that have the built in code for swiping to the next page. Saying that though, you can use it to make it infinetly more interactive by adding your own menu using link work arounds and such.

Research: Interactive Flash Animations

Okay, so ive been looking into some of the ways people have made flash interactive, and I found this cute little thing: http://www.tongsville.com/city/index.html

Flash has also been used for interactive menus, like in Homestarrunner.com. I feel like flash could be a very interesting way of making something interactive. Now all I need to do is add the social element.

Research: Crowd sourced music video.

I found this really awesome crowd source made music video. It records your mouse movements, and adds it to everyone else's mouse movements, creating a really nice looking effect. I urge you to do it your self, its really cool.

It's Here!

Research: Video games.

When talking about interactivity within digital media, you can't really forget to talk about video games. The ultimate in narrative interaction. Since the idea of using Cathode ray tubes to simulate a simple tennis game in Tennis for two back in the 50's, video games have made huge strides in how a user can interact with different aspects of the virtual world that has been presented. This is thanks to the technology improving, but also because the way humans socialize and interact with each other. With the invention of the internet came a brand new way of communicating with each other, a much easier way of getting to know people. This invention has made the world a much smaller place, allowing us to talk to anyone from all over the world with the click of a mouse. The first game that was able to network play with another computer was Space war!. It was just a small space fighting game, but it showed how the digital interactive game could be a communal thing, bringing people together. Fast forward to the future, and I can go home, turn on my Playstation 3 and connect with millions of people all over the world to play Grand Theft Auto at the same time, on the same map, and even talk and progress through the game with them.

Video games are a great example of how something digital can be bother interactive and social. This is also the same for social media websites like Facebook, and even user generated content sites like Newgrounds or Youtube.

Research: Interactive Video.

A cool part of interactive design is the use of YouTube to make interactive stories with different outcomes. This is done simply by having links at the end of the video that go to other videos, depending on the choice of link. A good example of this is Luigi's mansion: An Interactive Adventure Game by DrCoolSex.

Another, and possibly better example is the recent video released by Bob Dylan, which has you flipping through channels, while all the actors of the TV shows are mouthing "Like a Rolling Stone". I love this so much, and I would love to do something along these lines.

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html

Brief Two: Design for interactivity

Another brief! This time its for Design for Interactivity:

From reading the brief I got that I have to design and develop an interactive project that explores and plays with concepts of human and machine relations. It can be anything! I don't have an idea straight of the bat for this one, so i'm going to have to bite to bullet and do some real research..

Adverts/explanations.

Click here to see how it works on the web.

Shot by Shot.

Snazzed up story board shots from the composition.

Story Board sketch and Logo sketch

Progressings

H'ok so.. I've finished the bulk of my animating, and I have decided that I'm not going to do my own voice work, So I have gotten someone to come and do it with me on Thursday night, which is good..! So for this project I have an advert, but I feel like I can do more.. Sarah suggested that I do a PDF explaining my product, But I think I'm going to go one step beyond and make an illustrated HTML document. It'll look a lot nicer, plus I can set it up to be responsive so that it will work on multiple devices. So'll ill spend some time doing that tonight, hopefully I can get all the illustrations done, and even some of the code. Just one more week to go till deadline, but I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm on top of it all.

LOUD NOISES

OK! So ive got the bulk of my animation all finished up! It may need me going back in to clean it up a little, but for the most part its all good..! On Monday evening I will be recording my Voice Over, then I have something that I can hand in..! Right now I'm playing with various sound effects, and seeing what fits. I have this GREAT website that I use. Www.Freesounds.org/

Gots a script and have started to animate!

Okay! So ive got a script! which is good.. I'm struggling to get hold of a good enough microphone to record, but I should be getting one soon. Ive been playing around with the animation for a while now, and I think ive come up with a good look for it! Below are some screenshots of what I have so far! I am mostly using Flash and After Effects, plus Audition when I get hold of a decent microphone! But the balls rolling! I should be done pretty soon!

Complete 360! New advert design..

OK so i've been sketching a lot this weekend trying to come up with a different animation style to the one that I have been working with lately. I needed something that fitted with the design of the product, rather than the other way round. So I think i've decided on a more minimal clean look to the advert. Below are the sketches that I was working with. I have also drawn up a story board, and done an opening animatic to get a feel for the new direction. Those two will go up as soon as I can get to a scanner..!

Research.

I've been looking into future toaster design for this project, and i've stumbled across this fun article from the Huffington Post showcasing different toaster designs that are in the realms of the possible. A lot of them are going for the sleek, steel look, as well as integrating a conveyor belt system in one way or another. A few of them also have a lid system. It starts by saying toasters are usually made with shoddy plastic, and not a lot has gone into the design, and they have been looking the same for a very long time. I'm not designing a toaster, but it is a bread contraption, so its going to have to stick to the realms of that, as well as bread dimensions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/futuristic-toasters_n_1974758.html#slide=1652686

More Detailed Design.

Here is a mock up I did in Illustrator of the iCrust. I went for the pod look because of the way design technology is going. It will probably be the size of an iPad mini, with the thickness of a large-ish book. I'll do some ACTUAL measurements, but again, this is just a mock up, but one ill likely use..!

More sketches, more futuristic design.

I've had a bit of a brain fart, and I'm going to go towards the more compact, futuristic design. This is design futures after all. Here is the sketch that sparked the idea, and ill do up a more detailed drawing in Illustrator.

I'm still going to use Lasers, because what's more futurist than lasers?!

Sketch of product design.

I think im edging towards the idea of lasers... They seem to jump out at me as being the most futurist looking one of my ideas. Here a sketch of how I imagine all this. It tucks away right into your kitchen counter for ease of use!

The future is now!

OK! For the future of design, I figured I was going to need a sort of back story for my fabricated future.

Product Sketches

I've decided to go with this. A machine that turns cruddy end pieces from a loaf of bread, into regular slices. A bit of a niche market. I've done some sketches of possible product design!

New Year, New Brief!

Sweet Jesus. Back in the saddle! Started back with Brighton University, and the first brief sounds like a fun exciting one! What they want me to do (They being the powers at be) Is to come up with a new future product, and come up with the design for it. That could be advertising, packaging, or whatever. I'm really looking forward to jumping head first into this. Watch this space for more posts and developments!