Jun 09

Imagine you have a micro-chip embedded in your skin. It contains all your data – physical and psychological. It has all your preferences, what you’ve bought in the last month, or even your entire life. Walking into a shopping mall, a scanner processes your chip, and you ask for a pair of jeans. You’re directed into the fitting room, and the mirror, which is also a holographic screen, projects a 3D hologram of yourself in different pairs of jeans culled from different brands that you have previously showed a preference for. You select your most wanted pair and scan the label for more visual and audio information. Animated graphics and audio seemingly appear out of the label tag, educating you with different ways of wearing the jeans to accentuate your style, together with wash and care information…

It’s not difficult to imagine the above scenario. We have seen aspects of it countless times in science-fiction movies. Creativity is the great driver behind all innovations. If more and more people dream about it, whatever we imagine will become a reality, sooner or later. What look like an A4 pad is now a wirelessly connected data screen that can display all kinds of data and documents. It is also possible to have a 3D life-size hologram moving within a live stage. In the 48th annual Grammy awards, Gorillaz (a cartoon band) performed live on stage to spectacular effect with Madonna. New technology such as augmented reality continues to integrate what’s computer-generated into our real-world environment. Coined by one researcher as "the Walkman of the 21st century", augmented reality superimposes graphics over a real environment in real-time within our field of view. Imagine going into the shopping mall and be presented by real-time graphics and audio each time a product catches our attention.

Technology will continue to surge forward. What we deem as science fiction today is likely to be a reality in tomorrow’s future. As designers at Interakt, we’re fascinated by the advent of new creative technologies; we use them as leverage to create efficient and effective brand communication for our clients. Each platform opens up a new pathway to get inside the target audience and build creative that resonates and drives action. At the end of it all, it’s the thrill of knowing that a great idea, shaped and streamlined through varying vehicles, could go forth and touch another person in a novel way, making a real connection.