Amazing projections and immersive environments

My attention was recently drawn to an amazing US based multi media design lab, through an article in Fast Company. Obscura Digital, who create their experiential marketing magic out of a 30,000 warehouse in San Francisco, have developed their own proprietary software, which literally turns any surface into a stunning high resolution video display. This means that they can create large-scale immersive environments, holographic projects, laser graffiti and motion triggered billboards - just for starters. Think Star Trek holodeck and you’re getting there. For the launch of iGoogle, Obscura turned the whole of New York’s meatpacking district into a massive outdoor art gallery for 3 nights. Over 70 artists participated in this cutting edge marketing campaign and the results were show stopping. Obscura also created amazing viewer activated and interactive displays for the launch of CS3, one of Adobe’s biggest ever product launches. I definitely recommend taking a look at the work on their site, and watch out for these guys, I think we’ll see more Obscura work - in the most unlikeliest of places! Obscura

Headshift Summer Party

Having been chained to the office for the past few weeks and weekends, last night we had some well needed social time at the Headshift Summer Party. I have been working with Headshift for a couple of months, and in that time they have moved into funky new offices in Shad Thames. Headshift is Europe's leading enterprise social computing consultancy. They are expert in designing, implementing and growing next generation social software solutions. We spent a very pleasant evening on the roof terrace chatting to various 'Headshifters' and Stuart and Tim from Made by Many. And the top bonus was - it didn't rain!

Free tool for DIY font design

There may be thousands of fonts available online, but for truly dedicated members of Generation C — who live to create their own, fresh content, that's sometimes not enough. Luckily, help is now at hand in the form of a do-it-yourself font-building tool from digital type retailer FontShop. FontStruc is a free, online tool that lets users quickly and easily create fonts by arranging geometrical shapes in a grid pattern, much like tiles or bricks. Working one letter at a time, users add and remove shapes including blocks and dots to achieve a look they like. Once they're done building, FontStruct generates high-quality TrueType fonts, ready to use in any Mac or Windows application. Users can keep their "FontStructions" private, or they can share them with the FontStruct community for discussion, rating and downloading. They can also display them on other websites or blogs through the FontStruct widget. Several Creative Commons license options are available to allow varying degrees of sharing. Fontstruct Source: Springwise.com

Inhale the web

I am enjoying using Addict-o-Matic. As the blurb on the site says: Addict-o-Matic searches the best live sites on the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It's the perfect tool to keep up with the hottest topics, perform ego searches and feed your addiction for what's up, what's now or what other people are feeding on. Try it. It's cool Addict-o-Matic

New recruits to Team Lavish

We are so happy to announce that we've added some new top-talent to the Lavish team in the past week or so. We are really looking forward to working again with Tim, who is a senior digital creative. A skilled digital designer, motion graphics design/artist and audio/visual specialist - there's not much digital work that Tim hasn't done. Clementine joins us permanently on 1 September, having freelanced with us for the past year. Clem graduated from Central St Martins with a degree in graphic design. Since studying she has worked freelance on design and illustration commissions for a varied client base and her work has featured in branding, on advertising campaigns, wallpaper and product lines, book jackets and set designs. And Allan, our 3D and Photoshop guru is now based in-house with us at Smokehouse Yard. I think we might be looking for new offices in the very near future.....

Photoshop disasters

Nothing amuses us more in the Lavish Lounge than seeing really bad retouching, artwork or image work out there in the commercial world. Seems we are not the only ones who snigger at this type of thing. Check out Photoshop Disasters. There are some top cock-ups in April - especially the Prince Caspian on the side of the bus. What was that about reading the artwork spec....?

Project Management tools take the strain

I subscribe to Computer Arts Magazine, which I generally enjoy reading. Although a lot of the articles tell us stuff we already know, it is still a good read, and often has some quite inspiring design articles. However, this month, they ran an article called ‘Project Management tools take the strain’. As a project manager in the creative industry for over 15 years I turned with great interest to this article. Boy, was I disappointed. Apparently creative project management has 4 ingredients: - A Gantt chart to keep an overview of demands and deadlines - File naming protocol - Systems for client communication - A system to keep track of outstanding bills and invoicing – to make sure that ‘money turns up when you need it’ This is a massively simplified view of the skills required by a top-flight creative project manager. Yes, project managers utilise programmes to help them run projects – from MS Project, MS Excel, Base Camp and many other tools – but the article missed the most important ‘ingredients’ for a creative project manager. That is, it is not about the software you use, but about what you bring to a project. A good project manager has experience, initiative and insight. No computer programme in the world will make up for a bad project manager; who cannot plot a critical path on the ‘back of a fag packet’, who cannot identify and mitigate against project risks, who cannot talk intelligently and knowledgeably about project planning and who cannot work out a project budget or P+L without the aid of a calculator or sophisticated programme to ‘make sure money turns up when you need it’.

Business Guys on Business Trips

Fantastically funny site. No need to say anymore than that, but if you work in the creative industry you'll recognise plenty of these characters! Business Guys on Business Trips