Start of the Board Designer activity - choose your board to get started!

Overview

Zeke and Luther Board Designer features on the Show Site supporting the On-Air broadcast on Disney XD. Zeke and Luther is a tv show about two ambitious, young, aspiring skateboarders.

This activity, designed for the American market, targets a young male audince and carries through the street, slightly grungy skateboarder aesthetic punched up with bold colours and strong lines.

To create a complete custom board, users start from scratch and then paint and apply decals – all of which can be layered, rotated and resized for maximum creativity!

The completed design can be ‘held’ by actors from the show, placed on backdrop images or a flat colour for artistic impact. Send to a Friend and Submit to Gallery functionality is available to share your super awesome designs with your friends and the XD community.

Process

A straightforward user experience was critical. The flow through the activity is direct and sequential guiding users through the activity to create the end result.

Fleeting attention spans demanded small file sizes, dynamic animations (rollovers, transitions, etc) and audio feedback to help sustain users engagement.

In-app screenshot of your own virtual cinema foyer!

Overview

In co-operation with my247, the My Movies iPhone app caters for three distinct psychographic groups. These are: spontaneous cinema goer; pre-meditated patrons and those who are organised to already know what they want to see and where.

We focus user experiences that were simple, intuitive and quick to display concise information whilst maintaining an aspect of “suggestion” for possibilities they may have not considered.

Flick through the latest hot moves, read the synopsis, watch the trailer on youTube and then find where and when it’s on.

Process

Following user-testing we concluded our three psychographic groups and with this started to tailor specific methods of obtaining information.

My 247 had at their disposal an extensive and exhaustive database of all the cinemas and screenings throughout Australia. Leveraging this through custom-built web services, the iPhone app downloads specific information to reduce loading times, serving up useful content as quickly as possible.

The graphical treatment of the app was inspired by a cinema foyer. Posters featured on the ‘wall’ on the landing page can be swiped through – or ‘walked through’ – to peruse offerings.

The rest of the app reflects this treatment by placing all the content in poster holders to maintain this look and feel throughout.

Combined with the sheer volume of content and it’s an appealing aesthetic, really sets this app apart.

In the App Store

My Movies enjoyed a Number One ranking in the lifestyle category for at least 12 consecutive weeks – making it the most popular movies app nationally!

To say that I’m ‘a little bit keen’ on Naughty Dog’s awesome work on the Uncharted franchise, would be a mammoth understatement. I think that I’m mildly obsessed with Uncharted - I have played Uncharted Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on each difficulty, poring over the details and taking vigorous notes.

A friend of mine, who knows full well my obsession with Uncharted, linked me an article on CGSociety regarding a certain Art Book.

This wasn’t an ordinary art book, it was the Folio Edition - bound in leather, packed with images and delivered with a certificate of authenticity by way of Registered post.

Complete with gold seal, the certificate is signed by Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells (Co-President), Amy Hennig (Creative Director), Robh Ruppel (Art Director) and Erick Pangilinan (also Art Director). The certificate is signed using real ink – which is always a nice touch.

The production values of this book are glorious – a faithful testament to the stunningly lush environments of the game (which inspired my ‘palette’ exercises looking at colour schemes used in games).

This book is an absolute treat for a true fan like me. So I thought I would share the love around through photographs. Behold!

Was delivered to work. Agonising wait until home time.

Sealed in plastic to protect it from the elements in transit.

Closeup of the intricate gold phurba icon and lettering.

Plastic removed to the reveal suede leather presentation box.

Open the suede leather box to reveal the suede leather bound book!

Certificate of Authenticity confirmed by the undersigned (real ink!).

Close-up of the signatories and accompanying gold seal.

Inside the front cover (the certificate was originally placed here).

Inside the back cover.

I'm back on the motorway, again.

The opening of Metronomy album: “Nights Out” starts like an underwater Western.  Brass, drums and strings bubble and reverberate through water with a Cowboy making leaden steps along a dirt road.

Track 2 breaks into what you can expect for the remainder of the album – a pleasant cacophony of semi-electronic beats with disembodied vocals strengthened by the Cowboy instruments from the dramatic introduction.

Singing about “going out and having a crap time” the lyrics bring a strangely bitter edge to the album.

Stand outs:

1. The End of You Too
2. My Heart Rate Rapid
3. On the Motorway

In-app screenshot of the interactive defibrillation demo

Overview

Second in St John Ambulance’s three part series of apps, “Resuscitate” promotes publically accessible defibrillators that are available nationally. A ‘Proximity Sensor’ uses GPS and maps functionality specific to the iPhone to raise awareness of defibrillator locations.

This app features a highly interactive demonstration of a defibrillator complete with true-to-life audio cues which are used by the actual device, walking users through.

Process

The interactive demonstration of defibrillators was my favourite part of this app.

Initially, this feature was more game-like; it got me thinking about ways to convey serious information. Using graphic and audio assets used on the device itself naturally informed design elements.

My thoughts were: If users were to encounter the device in public, these elements would already be familiar to them helping to instil confidence.

Coverage

Following launch, this app was featured in a number of places.

• New and noteworthy section in iTunes
• Top of Medical category in iTunes for 4 weeks
• Featured on the Macworld Website
• Featured in the Bundaberg newspaper

Profile detail screen

Overview

St John Ambulance came to Liquid Interactive with a concept for a series of three iPhone apps to complement their First Aid training course conducted nationally.

First in this three part series of apps was “Mediprofiles”. This free app allows users to save vital information about their friends and family members for quick and easy access in case of emergency.

Process

Profiles could be created using specific fields which St John identified as vital – such as pre-existing medical conditions, allergies, etc. These fields also acted as a guide for users to create comprehensive and organised profiles which could be quickly references.

Users could share profiles with trusted others by email – for example between mothers, sharing mediprofiles of their children before going to a playdate. Fields from the profile could be added / removed before the profile was sent.

A number of additional features were considered for this app but eventually rejected. It was important to consider external factors which could impact the app, especially when dealing with critical medical information.