Common Thread: Augmented Reality

Future of Internet Search

Augmented Reality (AR) is one of many technologies that gets me truly excited for the future. For those unfamiliar with the concept, AR is a field of computer science that strives to combine real-world and computer-generated data. This technology has the potential to change and enhance how we interact with the physical world. In the example pictured above, conceived by Mac Funamizu of petitinvention, you can…I should probably let Mac handle the description,

Choose a building and touch a floor and it tells you more details of the building. Well, it doesn’t have to be a building, but it can be any object you see. You can use it when you want to know a car model, an insect name, what kind of food is served at a restaurant and how much, who built a bridge, etc. etc. But as a designer myself, I hope it’s able to tell me a name of a font of the type I see, the size, color (in RGB), and so on.

This is all well and good, and points to a promising future. Luckily we’re already able to experience AR to certain extent; anybody who has a location enabled phone and location enabled apps can get information about restaurants, directions and locations of friends based off of their whereabouts. More significantly, developers have used the ARToolKit to put together an AR app for the iPhone. Although it’s in prototype phase, this app shows potential for novel uses of existing technology.

So what about those of you who don’t have an iPhone? You mean, like underprivileged kids? That’s taking it to an extreme, but sure, what about those underprivileged children? Well don’t fret, designer Bas Groenendaal has them covered. He’s created in his words,

A photocamera that supports and stimulates the psycho-social development of underprivileged children, such as children living in (former) warzones.

He’s dubbed this camera, Scope. There’s no doubt that his intentions for Scope and pure and noble, but what I find most interesting is how intuitive he’s made the process of taking a picture. All a child has to do to take a picture is hold Scope like a steering wheel and squeeze. The lack of viewfinder or screen allows the child to directly interact with what they see.

Scope Prototype

This may not be augmented reality exactly, but it does allow the user to naturally interact with their environment in such way that photography becomes an extension of seeing. Ultimately it is this type of intuitive interactivity that AR aims to fulfill.

Note:
Thanks to the wonderful folks at TED for pointing me to Bas’s work, and I would suggest checking out his portfolio, it’s definitely worth your time.

The Litmus

Drink Design [Bombay Sapphire via Wallpaper]

As if you needed an excuse to go to Athens [Green Design via NOTCOT.org]

Groovy Green [Inhabitat]

Word of the Day: Materiality [/Mtrl via Dexigner]

Design Like You Give a Damn, a must read [Architecture for Humanity]

The Litmus

History’s 100 greatest journeys [GOOD Magazine via FlowingData]

Intelligent interiors [DVICE]

Medieval Nanotech [Emerging Tech]

BBC Experimental Film Showcase [BBC via Computerlove]

Stunning work from Paul Graves [paul graves photography via FormFiftyFive]

M-R-I meets A-R-T

When most people get an MRI or CT scan it’s a pretty passive and occasionally uncomfortable proposition. However, when Angela Palmer undergoes these procedures she does something quite unexpected, she creates art. MRI and CT scanning are used to image every part of the human body and with the aid of contrasting agents elucidate finer structures, like blood vessels. Ms. Palmer uses the detail gleaned from MRI and CT scan images as the jumping point for her art. She etches these features on planes of glass layer by layer. Ms. Palmer describes her process in the following manner,

“This technique allows me to use the scientific anatomy of the human body stripped of its recognisable features.”

She recently produced a piece exhibited at Waterhouse & Dodd in London. Based off of 2500 images taken with a CT scanner of a mummified toddler. The piece, which consists of stacked ink drawings on 111 pieces of glass, is a haunting look into the past and into the human body. Adding another dimension to the sculpture, Angela used sycamore as its base, which is a wood that was commonly used by the ancient Egyptians.

Angela Palmer’s work is very fascinating as it explores the inner forms that comprise the human body. Most people have an innate disconnect with these forms because they’re not readily perceived. The body consists of compartmentalized systems that join to form a continuity; this is evident in the numerous medical specialties that exist. Using MRI and CT scanning one can image the entire body, but never all at once. The complexities of entire systems are stratified to aid our understanding. However the stratification, in and of itself, is a man-made creation that serves to unnaturally divide the human body. This where the brilliance of Ms. Palmer’s work comes to light, by combining these discretized planes she contextualizes these relatively alien contours and features into a medium that her viewers can relate to and on a subconscious level recognize.

Notes:

For more information about Angela Palmer’s work head to her website.

The Litmus

Behold the Nerf Fire Extinguisher [Yanko Design]

If you work in a cubicle, you might want to avoid this link [Open Tables via designboom]

Design for Democracy [AIGA via Campaign Stops]

Going green for the lazy [greenUPGRADER]

The benefits of organic tweed [Eloise Grey via TreeHugger]

The Litmus

Changing Room at La Biennale di Venezia [La Biennale di Venezia via Dezeen]

Green roof, solar panels and denim insulation make for one cool, eco building [CAS via NOTCOT.com]

Forget Me Knot [I.D.]

Fantastic posters from Change the Thought [Change the Thought via Computerlove]

A door I wouldn’t mind having slammed in my face [Nódesign via designboom]

The Litmus

What I wish was at PS1 [su11 via Yanko Design]

Eco you’d be caught dead in [Bagir via greenUPGRADER]

Putting style into sustainable [Asiatica via Inhabitat]

Add one part chemistry and two parts design and you get…jewelry? [Mctega via Cool Hunting]

The Bank of Moscow may be the hippest financial institution in existence [Behance Network via FFFFound!]

Good Design Saves Lives

Properly administering drugs to children is a continuing problem in developing nations. Often, health care professionals in these areas only have adult doses of medication, which are then incorrectly prescribed and can lead to increased child mortality. To answer this call Nectar Design has designed a new adjustable medicine dispenser that allows health care professionals to administer drugs to children in precise doses. This effort is in collaboration with The Releef Initiative, a non-profit pharmaceutical corporation that’s dedicated to reducing childhood mortality in the developing world through innovative pharmaceutical products.

The Releef Initiative has responded to this issue with a new pharmaceutical form factor, a small, coated medicinal bead which ranges from 0.5 to 1 millimeter in diameter; this can be readily mixed with food or water and given to children with their meals. Although pharmaceutical companies will manufacture the beads, Nectar Design was commissioned with the creation of the dispenser, which allows for easy drug administration. Nectar Design supplied all the industrial design services for the Releef dispenser on a pro bono basis, including general research and human factor studies, configuration, refined mechanical layouts, and prototypes.

The genius of this design is in its simplicity. Administering drugs is not an arbitrary task, however this device makes the process intuitive. Bringing attention to the dosing and dispensing mechanism, one immediately notices that the dosing indicator is pictographic which allows for the device to be used in any country. Furthermore, the dispensing mechanism is a simple button, whose use is a no-brainer. So can design save lives? If applied properly and with conscience, yes. So bravo to Nectar Design and The Releef Initiative for creating such a beautiful, intuitive and ultimately life saving device.

The Litmus

Haunting Alien Invasion Short from The Shift [CGSociety via Motiongraphics.it]

Inspired design from Invisible Creature [Invisible Creature via fubiz]

Uniforms for the Dedicated just made Ping Pong cool [Uniforms for the Dedicated via manindie]

Damn those Swedes! Why do they have to be so bloody talented? [TAF via I.D.]

Beer that’s too good for the frat boy [Good-Creative via FFFFound!]

The Litmus

Reciprocity’s breathtaking photography [Bending Light flickr set via Computerlove]

ACL’s Michael Williams on Men’s Vogue Daily. Someone’s moving on up [Men's Vogue Daily via A Continuous Lean]

Colors of Summer [Off the Cuff]

Alex Dukal, whimsy be thy name [Alex Dukal via KENT Magazine]

Dezeen’s Top 10 Interiors [Dezeen]