LUX Symposium_ part 1

So the LUX symposium was pretty awesome. Very interesting talk by Squidsoup, who've had some great projects like the Glowing Pathfinder Bugs, which I love.


Glowing Pathfinder Bugs from squidsoup on Vimeo.

The way they combine digital light with physical space is really inspiring, and I love their interactive elements almost as much as the kids seem to. It says something rather depressing about human though when half-way through there's a loud shout of "KILL IT!" Anyway.

The whole event was beautifully designed, as you can see from the website, and also these pages in the booklet:

Even the ID tags tied in nicely; glowsticks were the best idea (glowsticks are always the best idea).

Some really nice presentation elements: glowing blue boxes used as display and signage - here are the ones on stage at the event, complete with live Twitter feed that can be updated from the audience (if you have a mobile device connected to the internet). The light, architcture, interaction theme was very well integrated not only into the speaker's presentations but the whole symposium too.

Some slightly worrying conversations took place for everyone to see; I sat in front of a group of women giggling about when their tweets would turn up, most of which were completely irrelevant... One also showed up from someone highly amused by the man sat in front of her, who was looking up (I quote) 'nekkid arses' on Google. There was a rippled snigger every time that one popped up.

This is one of the artworks by one of my tutors (from last semester), named LED Zeppelin. There are LEDs in the bottom of the balloons that light up whenever an electronic transmission, such as SMS or phonecall, is detected. They look rather plain in the daylight (I stupidly forgot my camera the only time I was there at night), but in the darkness they look rather like looming clouds filled with lightning. Quite a beautiful sight, and fun to interact with.


Next up: Some of the speakers and highlights of the event.