How do you take a song that is almost 50 years old and breath new life into it? You create a compelling interactive experience that creates an entirely new way to experience it. Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is just that. The interactive video can be found here, and if you install the dedicated app, you can get the full experience.
Produced by New York based VFX studio The Artery in conjunction with Israeli director Vania Heymann, the interactive video comprises the look of 16 interactive TV channels. It’s absolutely brilliant, and about a million times better than Dylan’s latest album release. This is actually quite addictive once you get into it.
This is my Monday morning Kickstarter find, and something I am probably going to back. Hiku has been getting press lately from some heavy hitters like “AllThingsD” and “Fast Company’s Co.Design” with good reason. Good design is about solving problems with an intelligent, attractive solution that seamlessly blends with your life. Hiku does that.
The simple device is a wireless enable reminder service that is tied to your smartphone. It was created to help your shopping by sending reminders of items you’re out of to your phone. It uses both voice activation, or a scanner and connects directly to your Wi-Fi network at home.That way your phone doesn’t need to be with you to use it.
The device is small, simple, unobtrusive, and elegant, and it solves a problem. All the things good design should be.
The Adventures of TinTin, which opened earlier this month is a prime example of the blending of technology, and integrated product development. The movie which is based on a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. Those comics have been reissued in book form by HarperCollins who licensed the film rights to Steven Spielberg. Both parties being smart and savvy business types saw an opportunity to extend the experience even further, and on movie launch day HarperCollins released an interactive book, as an iPad app.
The app, costs $5.99 in iTunes, and contains features that will ‘immerse you in the world created by the filmmakers’, creating a direct tie to the film which in turn keeps the buzz alive and potentially stimulates more product sales.
The application features viewing characters and environments in 360 degrees, and one of the best features I think; the option to “scrub” through the original illustrations by Herge and compare them with the animation from the movie.
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The app was published by HarperCollins in partnership with Holopad.
In addition to the interactive book, Gameloft has produced a companion Tintin game that was released on the same day the movie hit theaters. Yet another example of holistic thinking when it comes to product development in conjunction with content. The days of developing support products after the movie hits are long gone. I expect to see even more of this in the near future, and not just for children’s movies either. Expect this kind of product development to happen across the board.
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