Innovating education in South Africa: Formula D interactive presents a virtual, yet tangible Chemistry Lab.
Formula D Interactive recently developed a Virtual Chemistry Lab, as a safe, low cost alternative to the standard chemistry laboratory in schools. The heart of the system is a so called object recognition table. The interactive platform consists of a 50″ High Definition rear projected screen prepped with lots of computing power. Sophisticated pattern recognition technology allows users to navigate content information by placing physical cards onto the table’s glass surface.
ibali – speaking public furniture design to inspire citizens
ibali is a public furniture design concept designed by Johan du Toit and Michael Wolf from Formula D interactive in their spare time. ibali offers an extra service to city dwellers: It inspires. A recent city branding initiative gave Cape Town the title: City of Inspiration. Cape Town and its citizens are rich with inspirational people and stories that are linked to specific places and streets in Cape Town. ibali – space of inspiration aims at creating islands of inspiration in the city allowing citizens to step out of the stream of everyday life to get a dose of hope and inspiration.
Product design in Cape Town: An interview with Johan du Toit
“Design is an open ended exercise at the best of times, but early involvement narrows the target area. The different design disciplines involved in a project should also work as a team, to align efforts. Branding, communication and product designers often work in isolation from each other leading to an incoherent result.”
Toppling Godsigner – Jenna Mervis talks to Cape Town’s Mugendi M’Rithaa about Transformative Design
“…Participatory design is almost a reaction against taking the end-user for granted. We’re saying that there is an embedded or tacit knowledge which the consumer has that will enrich the design process. Designers too can learn something in this relationship. We learn more about the context and the consumer becomes more visually literate, more design conscious. It is actually in our interest as designers to co-create with the consumer, because then they start to appreciate our role and our work even better…”
The Open Budgets Game: A serious game for civil society organisations
In this Pecha Kucha style talk, Michael Wolf presents the potential of serious games and edutainment to enhance learning. He uses the example of the Open Budgets Game, which has recently been designed by Formula D interactive, Michael’s design company.
Gamification: Gaming the real world
Earlier this year, an angel fell from the sky onto the tiled floor of Victoria Station, London, and began interacting with commuters. It was a beautiful piece of augmented reality by Axe as part of their Excite promotion. It was also a visible marker of where the virtual world is headed: terra firma. From virtual [...]
Cape Town designers: Join the Cape Town Design Network
The Cape Town Design Network (CTDN) invites you to subscribe to its mailing list. This will ensure that in future you receive all notices of meetings and any relevant information. Go to www.ctdn.co.za to subscribe or follow their Twitter feed. Here’s what CTDN has to say in their recent newsletter: “The Cape Town Design Network [...]
Technology Education versus Design Education?
It is a chicken-and-egg-question: What drives innovation? Technology or Design? What inspires what and what came first? One can follow an an interesting debate around the subject in a post (and comments) by Bruce Nussbaum in Businessweek. Don Norman has an interesting point when shaking the tree with his statement Technology first, invention second, needs last. But what is actually the essential difference between technology and design?