If you’re in NYC tonight, come down to the 92Y in Tribeca to play Pop ‘N Scream, the game developed by Steve Aquillano and myself using MegaPhone Labs technology.
Doors open at 8.
Tickets are $10/each.
Geekdown Website
I am honored to announce that my project, Gotham Guide, is included in the new exhibition that starts this week at MoMA titled, “
I designed the new web presence for actor and voiceover talent Nathan Kaufman.
URL: NathanKaufman.com
OVERVIEW: Nathan needed a website to showcase his resume, headshots, demo reel and reviews. He had no previous site to build off, so we started the project from scratch and tried to create a unique destination to display his work.
A review of several sites belonging to prominent stage actors left much to be desired. Although many feature information about the artist and links to past performances, most websites lack any attention to design, layout and readability. Our goal was to create a space that put a prominence on Nathan’s headshot and other performance images, since casting directors, agents and managers are his primary audience.
IMPLEMENTATION: We used WordPress as the content management system. Visitors will notice that the homepage features a Flash slideshow to display a gallery of rotating images of Nathan. The transparent navigation bar on the left can be minimized to view the whole image. We also added pages to display his resume, reviews, voiceover reel and a customized contact form. While the site is simple, it quickly communicates Nathan’s skills and provides easy navigation for visitors to easily find the information they’re looking for.
This semester, I’ve spent a lot of time working with QR codes. Specifically, I’m interested in how QR codes can be used to facilitate a multimedia, location based experience.
QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that look like this:
You can access them with your web-enabled mobile phone in three easy steps:
1. Download QR Code reading software to your mobile phone.
2. When you see a Gotham Guide QR code, snap a picture of it.
3. Enjoy multimedia content about your current location. Here’s a demo.
With Gotham Guide, I’ve tried to create a self-guided tour of Manhattan using QR codes and a mix of curated and social content. My friend Luke Miller from Real New York Tours, which is the number 1 thing to do in New York according to Trip Advisor, provided much of the video content.
You can view a demo of Gotham Guide during the ITP 2009 Spring Show.
Over Winter break, I went back to Seattle to visit family and friends. And while I was away from ITP, you know by now that you can never really be “away” from ITP. So one night, I’m visiting my friend Eli, who started a company called Alchemy Goods. They make cool messenger bags and other products out of recycled bicycle inner tubes and car seat belts. Here’s one such product:
Anyway, we were sitting around his workshop and started talking about the Greener Gadgets competition. The idea was to come up with a greener version of an existing product or otherwise create a new product that with sustainability in mind. We spent a couple of hours brainstorming, and I have to say it was one of the more fun brainstorming experiences that I’ve ever had.
We put different products on the table for inspiration, batted around ideas and issues from a few different perspectives and came up with a great list of ideas to choose from. Ultimately, we decided to tackle the issue of corporate waste management. I know it sounds boring on the surface, but it’s actually an area where a couple of habitual changes can make a huge difference to a company’s bottom line.
We then teamed up with industrial designer Zac West to flush out the idea and draft some illustrations for our design. You can read more about the Trash Talker on the project page.
Our submission didn’t make the Top 50 finalists. I’m okay with that. It was my first attempt at entering a design competition of any kind, and I’m so glad to have had the experience. Here’s one image of our design:
