Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year's Core77 Design Awards 2013. We will be featuring these projects by category, so stay tuned for your favorite categories of design! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com.
Student Notable
Project Name: FANs Cam
Designers: Sheng-Hung Lee and Chan Wai Yeh
National Cheng Kung University
FANs Cam is a 'free-angle and naked camera' that can be clipped onto the collar of a sports player's uniform to provide spectators with a live video feed of the game and a perspective they've never had before. The video can be accessed after a simple scan of the QR code printed on the back of the spectator's ticket. Then the spectator chooses their preferred player using smart phone, and immediately they can see exactly what that player sees.
- How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?
We love the comments from juries. Especially the potential of this project gains a wide ranging of commercial interest. That's the mainly reason we take a football player as an example as a potential user of FANs Cam.
- What's the latest news or development with your project?
We try to make the structure of FANs Cam much more smaller and lighter to fit into athlete's uniform when they exercise. In order to reach the goal, we make delicate IC design and more advanced design production research. What's more, we want to explore about the viewer experience and how it might fit into the current sports media ecosystem just like juries comments.
- What is one quick anecdote about your project?
We believe the most interesting part as well as challenging mission is in the midst of product design filming. Please check it out our YouTube address as the following. After you watch the video, you definitely will understand the anecdote about our project.
- What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?
Originally, FANs Cam project mainly focus on the topic of algorithm of long-distanced communication surveillance technology. Through the continuous discussion and hard teamwork, we found that we can actually apply the technology of the project to the daily application wearable device. In the end, FANs Cam became our brainchild and the rest is history. However, we would say there is no specific "a-ha" moment during the process instead we view the whole design development as a highlight and a fantastic adventure.
Student Notable
Project Name: Plinko Poetry Machine
Designers: Inessah Selditz, Deqing Sun
New York University- Interactive Telecommunications Program
Plinko Poetry is an interactive gaming installation that lets users playfully create poetry from our current news headlines.
The machine's program pulls and displays source text from NY Times and Fox News tweets. The user can then create a poem from the tweets by dropping a chip down the interface, which looks like a plinko board. When the chip comes to a stop, a trail of blackout poetry is created. The poem is then automatically published by being live tweeted to @PlinkoPoetry.
- How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?
A friend from school emailed us about it because they submitted to the same category.
- What's the latest news or development with your project?
We are looking to reinstall Plinko Poetry this summer and are currently looking for a venue! We want everyone to be a poet. Maybe we'll change the input- NY Times vs LA Times? Vogue vs Wired? National Geographic vs National Enquirer?
- What is one quick anecdote about your project?
This was a final project for our Spatial Media class at ITP. We actually pitched a totally different idea before Plinko Poetry that involved turning Alamo (the giant metal cube at Astor Place) into a touch based Rubik's cube. The idea was almost heavily criticized by the class and coincidentally another group pitched a really similar idea. We went back to the drawing board and came up with Plinko Poetry. We still like the Rubik's cube, but lesson learned always be open to feedback and you never know, your second idea might be a winner.
- What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?
The initial idea was very simple- to make an interactive pinball machine that creates blackout poetry. However, we changed it to a plinko machine because we realized it would be difficult to convey the interaction length to the user. A pinball game can last one minute or ten. It was really important to us that it was a fast, accessible interaction for the user, hence changing its original ideation into its final form now. Because of that decision a person can play, generate and publish a poem in 5 seconds.
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