FontUp!
daily training through play


supervisors: Gillian Crampton Smith, Philip Tabor
when: march 2010
where: Iuav University of Venice
what: iPhone application, thesis project
why: to improve your typographic skills


elevator pitch
FontUp is an application for the iPhone that helps you to improve your typographic skills through playing videogames.
concept
Today available fonts are growing continously: memorizing, recognizing and identifying them in order to use them properly is difficult, especially for students. Typography manuals, based on the history or design of type, provide only a linear method of learning. Inspired by the Brain Training video games developed by Nintendo, FontUp is a new way to learn, an alternative method to be used in parallel with books. It consists in using play as a tool for memorizing complex forms using an intuitive visual approach based on comparison.
FontUp: training
FontUp has two parts. The first consists of games designed to reinforce the memory of a font’s characteristics. They are based on visual association, remembering different fonts and rebuilding them from scratch. You can master typographic nuances through a daily training based on minigames, typographic challenges with friends and diagrams to show your improvement.
FontUp: recognize&collection
The real world is full of inspiration for designers. The second part of the application uses the iPhone’s camera to shoot pictures of letterforms you find in order to develop your own personal font collection. FontUp allows you to work out which font you have photographed using a combination of automatic and human recognition.
report
The report accompanying this thesis project describes the historical development of typeforms and discusses the use of video games for training. The three iterations of the project are described as well as the user tests using paper, animated and interactive prototypes.

link:
IUAV interaction thesis projects run by Gillian Crampton Smith and Philip Tabor
interaction-venice run by Gillian Crampton Smith and Philip Tabor
Video scenario FontUp Italian version

Ring tin tin
sniffing out familiar strangers


coordinators: Gillian Crampton Smith, Philip Tabor
when: dicember 2007
with: Lorenzo Cercelletta, Gabriele Rivoli
where: Iuav University of Venice, IxDLab1
what: mobile application
why: meet new people


elevator pitch
Ring tin tin is a mobile application that allows two or more mobiles act and greet as if they were dogs. From the very beginning, the team aimed to design a service to make it easier to get to know familiar strangers, i.e. those people who accidentally meet in their everyday routine without even realising it. The core idea of the project is to use the mobile like a dog in order to detect other “mates”, and enhance the possibility of meeting new people. The mobile phone’s owners are given the chance to decide whether they want to engae with that particular person or not, and are encouraged to play even if shy.


more information www.interaction-venice.com

Usable Witchery

coordinator: Yaniv Steiner
when: january 2008, 2 week
with: Giuseppe Cosmai, Alice Lucchin, Maria Chiara Toncich
where: Iuav University of Venice, IxDLab2
what: interaction design workshop
why: to humanize machines


the value of documentations
At the beginning of the workshop we were asked to sketch different layouts and ideas, that would provide a simple to build, zero cost photography mini-set. The documentation is really important during the development of a projects.
The second step was to learn how to communicate and document an object’s behavior using modern internet based communication platforms; preparing and publishing the documentation materials in real time.
witchery and magic
animatronics
Human muscles govern our movement and perform actions. Building a mechanical human organ using animatronics techniques and controlling it, all with simple low-tech materials.
servo motor and wiring board


more information: nastypixel, interaction-venice, we make money not art

Kalma
A courtyard senses your presence and responds to your actions


when: august 2009
with: Gabriele Rivoli, Enrico Ausiello
where: Iuav University of Venice, IxDLab2
what: interactive installation in Corte Tagiapiera, Venice
why: to establishe a relationship between place and its visitors


elevator pitch
Kalma is an installation that establishes a relationship between the place and its visitors. The court is alive and its breath is nervous for the intrusion of a visitor. The breath is visualized through the light projection onto the pavement and the sound of it is syncronized with the projection. The visitor, intrigued by the place, discovers it slowly and trought his or her movement around the court, can illuminate it. The visitor’s mood merges with the mood of the place. The user can calm the place and make contact with it.
mission and mood
The purpose of the installation is to discover a little ancient courtyard. Find a little space far from the city’s confusion to dip yourself in a unique experience. The emotional tone changes during the interaction and it can vary from person to person. The visitors of the sottoportego will be caught from strong curiosity that turns in disorientation and stupor. As soon as the user understands how to interact with the place, he gets more calm so does the place. So the final sensation is of a full satisfaction.
technology
• Two photocells detect the speed of the visitor entry
• Photocells send an input to Arduino board
• The board is connected to servo motor where is attacked a tube for the breath sound (the speed of the servo motor variates according to the speed of the visitor).
• The pc, connected to the projector, projects the light of the breath onto the pavement
• Camera sends information about the movements within the courtyard to the computer
• The computer detects the position of people within the shot

more information: www.interaction-venice.com