jennyzha – looking outwards 12

For looking outwards 12 I already decided the type of projects I was looking for since I was relatively set on what I wanted to be my final project – an interactive digital coloring book.

http://whichlight.com/

First in my search, I found “whichlight,” who focuses in interactive and technical art. His passion, however, is something that comes across extremely clear not only in his work but in his about me statement: “I make media and products that invite people to be expressive, playful, and creative.” It was this optimism and happiness so clear in his work that I was drawn to his work and that further inspired my own idea.

His projects are playful, colorful, interactive, and just make people happy – exactly what I want for my project. Nonetheless, one thing I realized from viewing his projects is that there isn’t much purpose, but rather they are generally fun things to do while passing the time. Maybe adding some kind of “goal” in his projects would help drive more usage?

http://www.nanikawa.com/projects/everygallery 

The second project I found interesting was by a company called Nanika, “founded with the aim to explore interaction between man and machine beyond traditional input and output.” Of their collection, the EveryGallery project for Nokia was one of my favorites.

The idea was mixing the old with the new, framing digitally rendered photos with antique-esque frames to complement each other. While the the idea behind it was beautiful, what I found great about the project was actually the technique of brushstrokes. It sparked an idea for my own project of varying brush strokes somehow, making the process more independent for the user and to have more range in final project. Additionally, I think something Nanika could have incorporated more was the end user, possibly having pictures of them drawn instead of a pre-made stranger.