Tag: INDUSTRIAL

In the many years I have worked in the digital arena I have worn several hats. I have overseen technical projects, designed games, acted as a creative director, and handled financial modeling. But no matter what hat I have had to wear, essentially my role has always been to help people and businesses launch and promote products and services.

One of the most frequent challenges I face is working with people who don’t know how to use media to best tell a story or should I say, sell a story. Writers love words and sometimes they forget the old axiom that a picture is worth a thousand words. This was driven home to me again recently when I found a piece of research:

“James McQuivey of Forrest Research says one minute of video has the value of 1.8 million words, in context that is approximately 3,600 pages”

Isn’t that the truth! Most of the time, you can use a few well-chosen words combined with the right imagery and convey a strong message in less than two minutes. Apple has shown us that minimalism works, that we need to focus on an intuitive approach to creating user interfaces, and a straight to the point message. Once interest has been established, the user is willing to explore an offering in depth. This confirms what I have long felt—that if you want an effective advertisement campaign with a high conversion rate, focus on video.

But how do you focus on video if you’re using print ads? To me, this is the beauty and promise of Augmented Reality and this is why I am so excited about its prospects. With AR you can incorporate video into just about any print ad and deliver a full commercial, a call to action, generate a lead, demo a game—all just from a magazine, billboard, or sales sheet. You name it!

I wish I could tell you that I am a genius, but I am not (although I think I am pretty smart). I just happen to be a great fan of video production, know a thing or two about streaming video, and more importantly have been lucky enough to work with AR in the early stages of its development. AR is currently in full expansion, I think that at the moment, the sky is the limit. There are various platforms to work with, techniques to get started, and plenty of room to innovate.

If you are interested in developing products with Augmented Reality, or want to know how your print or video content can leverage this innovative technology, please come see me at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, I will be taking some meetings on 3/14 and 3/15 and will be available on 3/16, 3/17, and 3/18 at booth number 436 on the exhibits hall, courtesy of Prom Peru. If you want to make an appointment drop me a line at bnewell@northsouthstudios.com Want to visit Peru? Have a business that can use some production help? Come visit me at the booth and ask me how.

Many years ago I was blessed with participating in the launch of Philips CD-I. CD-I was the precursor of DVD and many set top boxes. Philips pioneered the use of full screen video playing from a disc. At the time, it was a quantum leap from VHS and Betamax technologies. Little did I know that the platform was the first step in what would become a once unimaginable technology revolution.

Recently I visited Magic Leap and this time, having worked on launching a platform in the past I quickly recognized that we are on the eve of another exciting revolution. For those of you who are not familiar with Magic Leap, most people would define it by its focus on augmented reality, but after visiting with their team I think they are much more than a technology-driven group. Yes, the area of technology they are working on is augmented reality, but the real focus of the company is on ideas, creativity, and connecting people.

Magic Leap has the two key ingredients for catapulting a new platform—a clear vision and the team to execute that vision. They are a strong team that has invested heavily in prototyping, paying close attention to the user experience, and the potential user interface. For those of us who are researching and working on how to implement new experiences in virtual reality (via Oculus rift) or in augmented reality, it is clear that UI is going to be very different from the common conventions we employ today in mobile and desktop development. The use of gestures and voice-activated commands are just the beginning of another chapter in the technology revolution. Without a clear understanding of how the UI will enable and be enabled by the technology, a new platform cannot reach its full potential.

Augmented reality opens us so many possibilities. You can enhance print media, bring a map to life to learn about places around you in a way that no 2D map can equal, explore a landmark in detail, learn music, make your videos come to life by breaking the fourth wall. The potential implications for innovation are multiple, from educational methodologies, to industrial applications, to games, and traveling. And in my view, augmented reality is far more exciting than virtual reality because it incorporates the real world we live in–the actual physical space we occupy, as opposed to a completely unrelated setting. You name it; augmented reality is going to change the way we do many things in our lives.

Magic Leap is not alone in the AR revolution. There are several technologies that are being created with the goal of enabling augmented reality for consumers. Microsoft and Daqri are two other companies that are investing their resources in doing it right. I will make sure to blog about these other companies and other advances in this field in the weeks ahead.

I have focused my post today on Magic Leap because I was very impressed with their vision and with the quality of the team they have put together to execute that vision. I expect to hear and see great things from them, and I look forward to the next opportunity to collaborate with them.

If you like to learn more about Magic Leap please visit their website at http://www.magicleap.com

If you are interested in developing products with augmented reality, or want to know how your print or video content can take advantage of these innovative technologies please come see me at Digital Hollywood at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey this coming Thursday, October 22 at 11:05 AM where I will be moderating a panel on Video Innovations, or drop me a line, or comment on this post.