the forth, fifth, sixth, and seventh screen

Chris Heathcote

I'm an interaction and experience designer - I've spent 15 years working on this screen (computer), and the last 7 years working on this screen (phone). Only a dalliance with interactive TV, currently the main screen in people's lives.

Screens are everywhere.

it's not minority report, it's mundane

screens all look the same but do different thingsinteractive, informative, advertising

ambience and lighting

At the moment, digital ads are just print spreads displayed sloppily.

As an industry, digital screens have somehow been managed by one of the oldest and most conservative parts of the ad industry - print and posters.

But current screens are a hard, blocky light - nowhere near the richness of paper and vinyl. Mangles most logos, and certainly any small print.

Need to design for the medium.

Ad hoardings are not TVs.

Children of Men is my chosen dystopia (rather than Minority Report)

Buildings are not TVs.

projections - amazing/shocking - but then what? Not another bouncing ball.

Waterloo - a war memorial, British ornamented - not good for projections.

We need animation & motion that isn't TV.

No beginning, middle, end. Nothing fast enough to trigger our fight or flight.Not blown up banner ads, with motion applied at the last minute, hardly thought about.

Some examples of beautiful, considered motion.

(sorry for the bad video)

also, transitions - JCDecaux (fade), ClearChannel (no transitions)

Old people think all screens are TVs, young people think they can all be touched.

Disappointment if things look like they should be interactive but aren't.

And that they're networked computers.

With all the accoutrements of a modern computer - speakers, camera, Facebook.

We have sufficiently advanced technology to make experiences that feel like magic.

That can scare you witless.

it just needed a sprinkle of interaction design - great idea.

Digital outdoor is currently defined by what's technically possible, rather than what's right.

We have no language for talking about things that radiate.

Can see it from my front door 5 miles (3 boroughs) away.

3000 Nit... 830,000 Lumens.

poorly designed, too

This is not a public consultation.Who understands what a Nit is?

And every misstep causes a re-evaluation of what ads are and should be.

it's a banner ad for spam! in real life!lots of people said "it shouldn't be allowed" - but why?

So

we have to create:

understanding of new contexts & interactions

Experiment, in public, and listen.

Not just for novelty and publicity.

ways for new skills to work together

Interaction design, advertising, print & outdoor, motion designers, even retail, game designers, theatre lighting designers.

new civic, public and societal discussions about advertising

Don't shy away from the discussions that need to happen, with planners, towns, governments, and citizens - (LA example)

Need societal permission for: animation, identification and tracking, sonic (and elsewhere mobile ads, ads in UIs)

Thanks.

Making. Thinking.metaloca.com