This is a great project on two levels.
I think I am probably one of the last group of people to have had a traditional graphic design education. My initial introduction to design was using type gauge rulers, learning about pica m’s, drawing serifs and sans serifs with Rotring pens etc. lots of work training the eye to understand positive and negative spaces, lots of type paste-up work and using small letterpress machines. So I love rolling up the sleeves for a bit of hands on design work.
Also, before seeing this project I hadn’t heard of Kickstarter but what a fantastic idea!
If you don’t have funding for your dream project then Kickstarter enables you to reach out to the wider creative community to get them involved to help fund your project. Great projects from across the globe that before would never have seen the light of day are being funded and developed by very generous backers. Actually the generosity in these hard times is pretty staggering.
In the case of LetterMpress the project has received more than double it’s required funding within half the allotted time.
A great concept, great platform coupled with great support and backing.
Recently I’ve blogged a lot more about mobile devices, software, apps and in particular gesture driven technology and interfaces.
I am a fully signed up fan, champion and user of these devices and spend more time than is healthy researching and future thinking how all of these converging technologies and platforms will change what we currently perceive as digital.
All major hardware and software companies are now developing for mobile devices and the market is expanding at an incredible rate. You obviously have Apple with the iPad and Samsung with the Galaxy but both Blackberry and Microsoft are now taking serious considered steps into the tablet arena, and we know how much market share these brands currently enjoy.
MIcrosoft partnering with Samsung have developed the Surface technology into a very powerful platform. Microsoft also recently signed a deal with ARM and demonstrated it’s Windows OS running on ARM mobile chips.
Apple are taking the best elements of their iPhone and iPad OS and interface and integrating them into their latest Mac OS X Lion operating system. We also know how copied Apple are so expect other brands to follow (cue Microsoft).
There are lots of developments behind the scenes too, the likes of Google with the development and merger of AdWords and Analytics, Apple also introduced the iAd platform and with these developments brands will find more clever and innovative ways of connecting to audiences and consumers.
So what does this mean for the end user?
Well if you couple the above (which is only scratching at the surface of what’s happening) with the advances in browser standards, HTML 5, WOFF, JS, etc then websites will go through a huge change in the next 2-5 years. This will be prompted both by technology advancement and user experience and behaviour patterns.
Make no mistake this is already happening! The debate on Web ‘v’ Internet currently rages.
Get ready, the future of digital is changing right before your eyes.
A brilliant quote to start the proceedings by The Wall Street Journal “Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it.”
It was obviously one of the best leaked or worst kept secrets ever. The best description I have heard of the iPad is that it’s basically an iPhone on steroids.
I think that Apple have found themselves in a difficult situation with the iPad, if it did too much (multitasking as everyone presumed) then they would have potentially wiped out demand for their MacBook range and possibly the MacBook Air.
The biggest revolution with a screen of this size and resolution must be how we’re going to be able to consume more effective rich media. Newspapers and magazines will become far better engaging experiences and with Apple’s desirability factor making their products mainstream could this be the biggest opportunity for brands to push personalised content and advertising based on profiling?
This collaboration between The Wonderfactory and Time, Inc. is an example of how people have been pushing the engagement levels of the digital versions of magazines.
The worst thing about the iPad – still no support for Flash?
For lovers of all things shiny that come out of Apple, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino this has the promise of being one of the biggest events ever. The rumour mills have been in overdrive lately with talk of a revolutionary tablet, with blogs and forums posting supposed leaked photo’s, url registration forms, patent applications etc.
The event kicks off at 6pm GMT so lets see if there’s enough bandwidth to watch!
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The digital ramblings of John Randle, who
is Head of Design at a digital marketing agency based in London, UK.
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