Method

RSA sat down with Principal Marc Shillum for a quick meet and greet to discuss his recent learnings and tidbits that inspires his work. Read a bit below.

What recent bit of news have you heard which inspires you?

Finding the neurological proof that memory is physically manifested in the brain. Understanding the relationships inside the hippocampus has implications for brain disorders, intelligence, and communication.

What did you learn last week?

Industrialization moved the populous to consume rather than make. Consumerism decontextualized consumption, from the lack of resource. Due to the cost of goods, and the ecological crisis. We are facing another industrial revolution, with technology fueling Rapid Prototyping, factories are becoming the size of desktops. This implies that we no longer need to standardize production, and people can make what they need, rather than buy what they want. Consumers, are becoming maker/fixers. Breeding a whole new set of problem solvers, which is good for the world.

Read the full article here.

At Method, there’s always room in the day for playtime. So, when Method’s Director of Interaction Design, Raphael Grignani, invited us to check out the game-themed graduation show for the course he’s been co-teaching with Method alum, Robert Murdock, at the California College of the Arts, we were thrilled to check out the innovative ideas emerging around the concept of play.

Aptly titled “The Game Show,” the industrial design students showcased a variety of thought-provoking creations, including a tearable dog toy that can be reassembled, wearable travel games, rubber band shooters, interactive dance wear, a portable swing, and a game that makes rehabbing an ankle injury fun.

Held at Astro Studios, located a few blocks from the Method SF studio, the show’s vibe was more carnival than art show–there were even live chickens in the room at one point. Fresh kettle corn, hot dogs, and free beers were on hand as the DJ spun vintage soul for the crowd. After bouncing happily from booth to booth, constantly encouraged by the students to interact with their projects, we left feeling inspired and hopeful that we might see our favorite games for sale in the near future.

Kicking off its 12th year, the WebVisions conference is two days (May 16-18) jam-packed full of workshops, sessions, panels, keynotes, parties, and studio tours, all themed around exploring the future of the web.

Method’s Director of Interaction Design Ben Fullerton, along with Andrew Crow, will be speaking at the Designing for Context session. Tackling the topic of how products are often accessed through multiple devices and channels, this session will be an enlightening discussion around how designers accommodate the context of use. We hope to see you there!

For more information on the conference, visit the WebVisions site.

To read Ben’s 10×10 piece, Brand as Context in Interaction Design, visit our 10×10 microsite.

The stork has been working overtime at Method San Francisco! We’ve got four little bundles of joy on the way, so this week we celebrated our expecting coworkers with a baby shower. The event was very traditional with ice cream, cupcakes, and baby bottles for a beer-chugging contest, naturally! There was also a onesie-decorating station for people to get creative and a “Guess the Baby Food” game that tested our taste buds. We can’t wait for these little ones to arrive!

Catch us in the latest issue of Communication Arts Magazine, with a full feature on our design process and culture.

The article takes an in depth look inside Method’s studios and the thinking that led to some of our recent work including the newly launched NBC Politics App and our work with Nokia’s digital retail experience. Featuring interviews with some of our thought leaders, we lend some insight into the strategy that drives Method’s work and culture

“At the end of the day, customers don’t care about a brand’s consistency,” Principal, Marc Shillum says, “they care about what’s interesting and relevant.” Finding new ways to reamin interesting, relevant and responsive is a goal that Method is eager to embrace as it looks to the next ten years of its future.

Download the full article here.

The digital experiences we build these days depend highly on the transitions of the interface and the visual elements to represent the brand. These transitions or animations not only serve the function of making elements interactive but also add character to those interactive elements, hence speaking the brand language.

With this thought in mind, we decided to explore animations in our most recent Method PLAY at our London studio. Of course the fact that we have the gorgeous new space which is very inviting to the PLAY sessions only made it better. Stop motion animation is one of the techniques of animation which allows exploration without the necessity of great drawing skills.

To cut down the post production time, I researched a few mobile applications and decided to work with iTimelapse Pro for iPhone. It offers flexibility for production (manual, timer, sound initiated picture capture settings) and post production (rendering at desired frame rate or to output desired number of seconds of video from the images captured). It also renders video to a chosen soundtrack.

Check out our mini animations and photos below!

MediaPost hosted their Digital-Out-of-Home Forum earlier this month, a one day event focused on explaining how the latest technologies – everything from near field communications to Google Goggles to Microsoft Kinetic – are transforming how consumers experience brands in out-of-home locations. Hosting a number of panels featuring a catalogue of experts in the sector, the event looked to define how those in the marketing and advertising fields can help their clients leverage these digital-out-of-home tools for the best gain and best experience.

Method was invited to host a panel to contribute an experience-design perspective to the conversation. Led by Method Principal Reuben Steiger, the panel featured Josh Koppel (CEO, Scrollmotion), Jeremy O’Brien (Global Futurist, Kinetic Worldwide), Ryan Laul (Director, Theory), and Jonathan Brill (CEO, Implied Sciences).

The discussion centered on the importance of understanding the end-product experience and how devices will ultimately affect an end-user’s lifestyle. By highlighting the importance of understanding and creating meaning, the question of how to utilize digital platforms becomes clear.

An interesting point that was brought up was an idea of the “wild moment” where a product not only manifests itself within a new technological platform, but rather takes advantage of the new form factor to create new value and new assets to the end user.

MediaPost captured the panel on their LiveStream. Check out the video below! If you don’t have time to catch the entire 45 min segment, check out the highlights at the following points:

3:40 – The Future as Minority Report Interfaces, like scroll interface, gestural computing, augmented reality etc. How are these visions coming to life and how will they change our lives over the next 10 years?

7:45 - Jeremy O’Brien answers the question “Where do we draw the line between gimmickry and real value?”

12:00 – Ryan Laul describes the aspirations of the future versus the realities of the here and now for clients.

14:30 – What is the state of the art of out of home personalization of media?

16:40 - How does mobile affect context in the media equation?

17:10 – Reuben Steiger draws the broad themes informing the out-of-home space: gestural interfaces, augmented reality, quantified self and wearable computing.

31:00 – Joe Mandese of Mediapost asks “Will people burn out on the accelerating pace and saturation of media experiences?”

NBC Politics launches their new app for the iPad and iPhone, bringing users inside the 2012 Presidential election through a collection of interactive tools, games, videos, reports and graphics.

Aiming to develop a news tracking app fit for individuals with different wants and interests, Method collaborated with NBC Politics to design a suite of tools and features to make news tracking a dynamic, interactive and personalized experience.

The app was designed to connect users with the political reporting team at NBC, allowing users to follow along the campaign trail to get real-time updates and highlights.

Housing many features and customization capabilities, the app gives individuals the power to track wherever, whenever and in the depth that they want it. Principal Ted Booth adds:

“We wanted to create a personalized and useful experience that allows people to actively participate in political dialogue in real-time while providing access to news and custom analytics tools all on mobile. We’re excited to deliver a political resource that allows people to engage at varying levels while crafting their own, unique elections 2012 experience.”

The resulting NBC Politics app, now available in iTunes, is informative and engaging, allowing various types of users, from political enthusiasts to casual followers, to understand, analyze, and participate in the political news cycle, starting with the 2012 election.

Learn more about our work with MSNBC here!

Director of Interaction Design, Ben Fullerton sits down with World of Business Ideas for a quick chat around the power of design and the need for understanding consumer behavior to create better and more meaningful experiences.

Check out the video below! If you’d like to learn more about Ben, catch him on Twitter @BenFu.

Principal, Robert Murdock and Director of Interaction Design, Raphael Grignani have been working together the past few months, co-teaching the industrial design senior course at the California College of the Arts.

As the semester nears its end, the students are busily prepping for their graduation show, where they’ll be showcasing a variety of ‘games,’ everything from “dog toys to tops to zombies”. The final show is scheduled for May 10th, 6:30-9pm at Astro Studios in San Francisco.

Here’s a look at the trailer for the show!