Click here for the animated version

I have to share this wonderful example of creativity, done by Oddly Art Director Zad. This is a great example of adding joy to a navigation system. Try it, you’ll see what I mean quite quickly. Why is it so fun to just roll up and down with the mouse on it?

This piece is a very nice example of metaphor that results in a high level of affordance. It seems very natural to extend the idea of houses as places we organize our things, our lives, ourselves! Could we pull the layers out, one by one, and examine them?

Enjoy!

As you’ve heard in previous posts, Will Wong, motion graphics specialist, has been getting busy in Maya creating character animations.

Will has started working on animating the character into a walk cycle. It’s still in the early stages, but we’ve been talking in the studio about how the character should walk. This turned into a series of pictures of Will trying different walks for the character. Once he found a walk which would work for the size and proportion of his feet, he got started on the animation.

In the end, Will hopes to make the character move across the screen, jump to face the user, and then proceed to draw Will’s logo.

Here you can see the skeletal structure.

He’s still pondering about the eyes of the character for possibly letting him blink. I think it’s very adorable the way it is, but as always, you’re always your worst critic.

Will looking at some test walk cycles

I can’t wait to see how this little guy moves later on!

The next step is to finish the animation and get the logo animated. There is also talk about this character getting pulled into Unity 3D to be made into a game, which I would definitely try out.

Volcano Science from Zad

Here is a fun little design from Art Director Sheharzad Arshad.
Anyone who knows Zad is aware that he loves to work in warm palettes. It does not get much warmer than an active volcano!
The concept is drawn in Photoshop and Illustrator, and the animation is done in Flash. The smooth animation is accomplished by using vector lines, but it is really the crisp and simple design that makes the piece appealing. Enjoy!

The Contact show by Hermann & Audrey is running all this month. I was fortunate enough to be be invited to the opening party to examine works by awesome local talents such as Jalani Morgan, Kim Yeun, Javier Lovera and more. When I arrived, the gallery was filling up nicely and continued to do so. It was a great crowd, and the room filled with animated conversation as appreciators of fine photography and interactive installations circulated among the exhibits.

Javier Lovera and Simon Rojas

Above we see pictured one of the interactive installation collaborations by Javier Lovera and Simon Rojas of DeRooted. Viewers have a chance to step outside themselves and become the exhibit. When one peers into the viewfinder, their eyes are captured and projected into the image of the eccentric man for all to see. It is a playful and unexpected twist and seemed to be a crowd favorite. I was fortunate to run into a friend of mine, Oana, a digital media artist, whom I coerced into trying it out. Below you can see the result.

This is of course how I will remember Oana.

Check it Out

I could go on much further regarding all the great artwork to be viewed. The Contact show seeks to question the ideas of hot and cold media by pulling the viewer into the photography and getting them interacting with it. To that end, both traditional and new media have been used effectively (up to and including the venue itself). But my words will not do it justice, I suggest instead that you get out yourself and take a look at the Contact show.

Featured exhibit: Hermann & Audrey
When: May 7th-29th: Thursdays & Fridays 4-9pm, Saturdays 12-9pm, Sundays 12-5pm
Where:Baitshop Gallery 358 Dufferin Street
Suite 117 Toronto, Ontario, M6K 1Z8 (Entrance off of Milky Way)