Blog 01

Blog 01 | Think about an interactive and/or computational project involving a creative or artistic bent (from anywhere, by anyone except yourself) that you knew about before starting this course, and which you find inspirational.

I chose the “Connected Worlds” interactive installation, designed by Design I/O. As an environments designer, I admire this project because it creates a learning experience that embeds digital and physical interactions with beautiful visuals. Essentially, the experience is made up of 6 digital ecosystems that all rely on a water source. Visitors are able to mold the path of the water source on
the ground using foam logs that use motion tracking devices to affect the behavior of the digital water. The ecosystems react to the water and the goal is to show how water is vital to wildlife and their homes. The ecosystem wildlife also react to visitors’ hand movements. I love that it is fun and playful and yet still holds purpose. Design I/O developed with openFrameworks (an open source creative coding toolkit). They needed software for their single system network, the interactive floor, and interactive walls. There is a lot of feedback and reactions that are a part of this experience, leading to a very complicated computer system. There are 8 different MacBook Pros that control the different environments and are communicating with each other! Here is a “Behind the
Scenes” video (https://vimeo.com/131665883) that explains all the technology! I feel this project exemplifies what future experiences can morph into and can ultimately be applied to anything from education, to retail, to social experiences.

Reference: https://www.design-io.com/projects/connectedworlds (I definitely recommend looking though the imagery!)
Designers: Design I/O Team: Emily Gobeille, Theo Watson, & Nicholas Hardeman
Title: Connected Worlds