MadBallBall
Company Bluecadet
Introduction Date November 1, 2017
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Bluecadet partnered with the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York to create the signature digital experience for the 60th annual Mad Ball gala, their most important fundraiser. To entertain guests that included design luminaries, museum board members, and honorees such as Madeleine Albright, Jorge M. Pérez, and Barnaba Fornasetti, the museum tasked us with creating a memorable interactive experience that was, true to their mission, an innovative and unexpected celebration of design and the creative process. Inspired by the playful touch-based interactions in the museum’s current Sonic Arcades exhibition, we built a gala-friendly tabletop video game based on the arcade classic Pong, an elegantly designed game that’s not only worthy of the museum’s collection, but intuitive to play and instantly engaging. However, instead of the traditional joystick, our game would be controlled by fruit. Having worked with touch-capacitive sensors in the past, we knew it was technically possible to create a touch-sensitive banana, but we built a prototype to confirm the fruit’s responsiveness. After successful testing, the design was finalized with two touch inputs controlling each digital paddle — apples vs oranges. By touching the right apple, Team Apple’s paddle will slide to the right; touch the left apple, the paddle slides left. Simple. Too simple, really. Enter the “disrupter bananas,” which allow additional players to launch projectiles into the playing field. After a final phase of designing, soldering, and coding, the fruit of our labor was delivered, installed, and given pride of place in the grand venue. Guests gathered around the game, laughing, spilling drinks, and occasionally crushing fruit — all signs of healthy competition. Over the course of the evening, we composted two dozen apples, oranges, and bananas, we peeled and ate one of our controllers when its authenticity was questioned, and we overheard several competitors inventing creative fruit-based derogatory terms. It was innovative, it was unexpected, it was MAD.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
We quickly determined that a table-top form would work better than a classic arcade cabinet - this was a party after all, people should be interacting, laughing, spilling drinks, that kind of thing. A large table not only allowed people to gather around and watch, it also gave them a place to put those drinks. But after building a preliminary paper mockup, it became clear that a head-to-head game of virtual tennis wasn't engaging enough for the MAD Ball. Our literally game changing idea was to add a couple new players along the side of the table who could interfere and obstruct the back-and-forth digital volleys.
Who worked on the project?
Josh Goldblum: Chief Executive Officer Brett Renfer: Creative Director Ben Bojko: Technology Director Janet Lu: Designer
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/245433406
Magnetic VR Cube
Company Alive Entertainment LLC
Introduction Date March 1, 2018
Project Website http://www.chromawall.com
Why is this project worthy of an award?
We are seeking a fast company innovation by design award in the Experimental category because we are modernizing and mobilizing custom fabrication for special events and promotions. We are taking large format printing and metal working and designing solutions specifically for new technologies and applications. We got challenged to build clients 180 degree walls and 360 degree green screen units last year. This year we built the Magnetic VR Cube as a portable studio set for videos, photos, VR, and Mixed Reality experiences. It includes four layers of fabric to completey block outside light interference. It features USA manufactured steel bars on an adjustable cam track system in the (3) walls and ceiling. These steel bars are magnetically receptive and allow lights, cameras, sensors, and accessories to be mounted via high-powered magnets. The operators have full versatility inside the cube as to where to position the steel bars and where to mount items. The green screen flooring is an actual flooring we spent two years testing and developing. It is the World's first true vinyl flooring color matched to chroma green. All together this has enabled us to build mixed reality environments. Mixed Reality (MR) is where the person with the wearable tech on their body, goes into an environment and becomes the character, the hero, the center of the experience. Their reactions, movements, and real-World abilities are transcribed and enhanced in virtual Worlds with attributes. You put a VR headset on, are given some controllers, sensors, or wearables and asked to step into the green cube. You are then captured on cameras from different angles and superimposed in different perspectives on the green screens - just like the weather man on TV. The audience actually watches you vs. watching your first-person perspective. It's another layer of hyper realism for everyone. Imagine an NBA player getting their foul shot form analyzed from all sides and tweaked to perfection. Imagine a factory worker being trained on which levers to pull on workstations and machines, before ever having to do it LIVE on the assembly line floor. Imagine simulating the physical damage and scars done to your body before having a surgery. With mixed reality, real-life outcomes will be more predictable. Optimization will be greater than ever before. Time, money, and resources will be saved. Everything and everyone will be fine tuned with technology for optimal results.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The Magnetic VR Cube is the first attempt a complete versatile, adjustable, portable environment for you to take with your tech to enhance the end-result of every activation, special event, or promotion with Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality.
Who worked on the project?
Edward Baker, Stephen Calhoun
View the project video: https://youtu.be/kVT35O3OBEM
Margarita of the Year 2018
Company MOSIS
Introduction Date February 22, 2018
Project Website https://www.patrontequila.com/margarita-of-the-year.html
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Patrón’s Margarita of the Year, is an international margarita competition where 7 bartenders from around the world compete to be named Margarita of the Year. This event is celebrated on February 22nd, International Margarita Day. The experiential event platform MOSIS developed for this event is worthy of an award based on its use of technology and design to complete the user experience. Each experience is designed to educate the consumer in an entertaining and playful manner that also facilitates social media sharing to maximize impressions. Every design element is completely authentic to Mexican culture and employs Mexican artists and craftsmen in the production of all assets. The pyramid and voting sections outline key uses of technology throughout the event platform that connect guests directly to the voting process. Design elements such as custom contestant bars, produce market, margarita fizzers, wristbands and ponchos are detailed in the follow up question section. Pyramid – True to the design of pyramids found throughout Mexico, a 20’ wide by 20’ tall pyramid of Patrón box artwork serves as the focal point for the event. The exterior serves as a canvas for projection mapped custom created graphics. In 2017 the graphics were kaleidoscopic agave artwork. The theme for 2018 was of cities of the world and the vibrant cultures that inspired our recipes. Therefore, projection graphics consisted of collage artwork created for each city along with the Patrón bee and margaritas in a pop art style. The exterior steps of the pyramid serve as natural seating for guests to sit down and enjoy their margarita. The interior of the pyramid showcases the augmented reality experience developed for the new iPhone X. Guests could try the AR experience, which transports users down to the Patrón Hacienda in the hills outside of Guadalajara, where they go through the experience of learning to make tequila first hand. The interior walls of the pyramid are designed with the cultural heritage tin collector artwork, which is specific to Mexican culture. The top cube of the pyramid is 4 sided and multifunctional. Two opposing sides showcase a digital leader board for margarita votes and a social feed, while the other two sides show boomerang photos of users voting for their margarita of choice surrounded by animated graphics. In total, the pyramid utilizes 6 projectors on the exterior and one projector on the interior floor surface to create a one of a kind experience! Voting – guest’s vote for their margarita of choice by using one of two custom designed stations, each with three surfaces (6 total). The votes are tallied and displayed on top of the pyramid as a leader board for visibility throughout the event. Once the guest has voted, the process asks them if they would like to take a boomerang photo. The kiosks double as a voting station and photo booth for social media. The photos are then projected on top of the pyramid as well as the leader board. Each margarita vote has its own set of custom created artwork graphics that are animated around the person taking the boomerang.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Every designed element of this event platform is completely original and created in collaboration with Mexican heritage artists. The artwork is unique to each designed element, however maintains the same point of view and overall aesthetic to stay on message. Seven contestant bars were designed to accommodate the seven bartenders competing to be named margarita of the year. As the theme was “Cities of the World” it was logical to have each bar represent a city. I went for a clean white theme with color pops in the form of collage artwork representing key cultural identifiers from each city. On the front of each bar, a white neon sign with each city name was standing off the artwork and illuminating to collage beneath. The back wall had additional artwork of the ingredients, drink name, bar tender name and social media callouts. A screen was mounted to the back-bar wall that plays a custom produced video on location in the city of the bar tenders origin. This video consists of a stylized interview with the bartender and their inspirational story. Placed between each contestant bar were mature blue weber tequila agaves, direct from the hills of Mexico. Covering a 60’ white wall behind all of the contestant stations a projector displayed mood setting b-roll footage from each location around the world. For example, Osaka Japan had cherry blossoms opening and closing, Los Angeles had scenes for the boardwalk, etc. This enhanced the overall space and set the mood for the event. In addition to the contestant bar stations, I custom designed four “Bar Chef” stations and a “Produce Market” where guests can have a one-on-one consultation with a bar tender to determine their personal margarita flavor profile. The graphic artwork is inspired by a chrome grille. The produce market has arranged pre-cut produce the bar chefs use as fresh ingredients, which the guests place in a miniature shopping basket. The guest experience started with the invitation. VIP’s were mailed a printed invitation that featured the multi-city collage artwork. Inside the invitation was the Patrón Passport which had a margarita timeline, bartender bios and recipes for each drink. A handmade beaded bracelet by the Huichol peoples of Mexico was wrapped around the binding of the passport and served as the wristband for the event. I wanted to provide a wristband that connected the guest to the Mexican culture and is something people would continue to wear after the event. Non-VIP guests received their passport and bracelets at the door. Each bartender had a stamp with their city name and stamped the guest’s passports when they tasted their margarita. Staff for the event wore custom designed ponchos made in Mexico City. Each event season I create a new poncho design using the brand colors. The first season featured abstract ingredients, while the second is a mosaic of the agave fields at the Patrón Hacienda and a sun setting behind distant mountains. I created a one-of-a-kind cinegraph (motion portrait) photo booth using green screen technology. This took a still image of a person / group of people with a bar set up in front of a fruit wall. While the image was still, a continuous flow of margarita poured from the shaker into a glass.
Who worked on the project?
Jack Connolly - Producer & Creative Director
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/260324880 https://vimeo.com/208432808 https://vimeo.com/260325477
MARS Pavilion
Company Form Found Design
Introduction Date May 20, 2017
Project Website http://www.formfounddesign.com
Why is this project worthy of an award?
The MARS Pavilion is the first robotically-cast concrete pavilion in the world. Using the precision of robots and the flexibility of fabric, Form Found Design has automated the ancient process of concrete casting to achieve novel building forms for the twenty-first century. Lead by co-founders Joseph Sarafian and Ron Culver, Form Found Design (FFD) took on this project for Amazon’s MARS Conference in Palm Springs in March, 2017. This proof-of concept is the largest built use of FFD’s Robotically Positioned Fabric Formwork concept (RPFF) in which 6-axis industrial robots manipulate sleeves of fabric into custom shapes for delivery to the construction site. To show how robust the system is, all seventy components are unique and can be cast in under an hour each.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The MARS Pavilion introduces mass customization into the building construction industry by creating a “just-in-time” production method in which designs can be 3D modeled, analyzed, then sent to robots for fabrication. Instead of relying on traditional steel reinforcing, FFD turned to Helix Steel Micro-Rebar (one inch twisted steel fibers) to satisfy the reinforcing requirements necessary in concrete. Helix is mixed into the concrete during the pour to fully integrate into the concrete. This yielded a nearly blast-proof concrete, which was beneficial as the pavilion weighed 5,000 lbs. FFD is continuing their work to build out the next phase of research, validating a more building-ready solution for the construction industry.
Who worked on the project?
Joseph Sarafian, CEO Ron Culver, COO Steve Fuchs, Associate Andrew Lindauer David Spiva
View the project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=3TCzymgOeCc
Microsoft Envisioning Center
Company Studio O+A
Introduction Date June 1, 2016
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
When a technology company has been hugely successful for decades continuing prosperity depends on an ability to anticipate the impact innovative technologies will have on the future. Microsoft employs a lot of people to imagine how innovations will change the way we live and work, but conceptualization is only the first step of developing new products. A physical space dedicated to experiencing technology as it will be used in the office and home is an essential part of identifying new trends and assessing their viability. Microsoft’s Envisioning Center is a lab, and like labs everywhere, it makes use of forms and structures unique to its purpose. The design challenge here was to create a fluid, adaptable space in which a company dedicated to making the future brighter could audition emerging technologies in a plausible version of what an office 10 or 20 years from now will likely be. The space O+A designed combined mercurial physical versatility with an appreciation for the spirit of exploration that informs the work of product development. While the office maintained the austerity of a typical researcher’s lab, it augmented that aesthetic with the comforts and colors that tech professionals have come to expect. The result: an office of the future that made the future inviting.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Given the speed of change in the tech world, O+A believed a prototyping lab should be able to change shape as quickly as a prototyper changes focus. The stadium seating in this project built that capacity for change into the Center’s infrastructure. These modular components could be reconfigured to meet the challenge of each new day, zeroing in, as necessary, on interactive walls, interactive desktops or the physical requirements of specific events. The core of the Envisioning Center was the Next Generation Meeting Hexagon. Designed for advanced video conferencing, it allowed multi-dimensional interaction between in-person participants, off-site participants and live tech info walls. Light cues emanating from the structure announced its user status—green for available, red for in use, blue for open to the office at large. The next step toward a conference room that reads its users’ needs and responds to them, the Hexagon again demonstrated how technology and physical space will increasingly work together to provide seamless services in the work environment. If the brightness of this space and the playfulness inherent in some of its shapes suggests a school setting, that was not an accident. “Activity landscape,” was the phrase applied to this concept. O+A created an environment that encouraged the unfettered thinking and passion for experimentation that animates a physics class or a team of project-oriented biologists. At Microsoft it is understood that the future will be an amalgamation of all the sciences and arts—and that it will be (or anyway should be) a bright and playful activity landscape.
Who worked on the project?
Primo Orpilla, Perry Stephney, Rita Bradley Sarah Dzubia, Olivia, David Hunter, Alfred Socias, Alex Bautista
View the project video:
