My idea came from the need to extend HERE Maps to bicycle navigation. I convinced a group of employees who volunteered their time to build a hardware device that connects to the HERE app on Android. I designed the hardware, icons/animations and the team built an open-source toolkit to allow anybody to build a custom bike navigation device. The device gives you turn-by-turn directions with tiny animated LEDs and is Arduino compatible.
The design of maps gestures. It appears like something simple, but the details make it feel effortless to navigate the map.
Hello new Map Marker for the new HERE brand.
Designed to fit the 45 deg angle of the brand, be visually distinctive and is completely flexible for use across different platforms / devices / experiences.
We began by researching existing digital map markers from across the web. We found the archetypical versions of a pin with a round head very common and not very flexible. After creating a lot of sketches we decided on the theme of origami & paper folding. The animation action became a bit complicated to implement and tiring to look at for users. But the folded pin stuck around.
The challenge of this project was to integrate a map within a map. Each of the 5000+ venues are accessible from within the HERE Maps App. Clicking on a venue actually takes you into a mini-map world with all the individual shops visible, a different set of venue specific icons and the ability to change floor levels. I really enjoyed working on this project and am very happy to see it spreading across all the other platforms.
HERE Map Gestures for Android
After working on HERE Map Gestures for both Windows Tablet & Phone next came Android.
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- Styling frontend for HERE Maps
HERE Map Creator
The HERE Map Creator website enables people around the world to make and edit HERE Maps. Large communities of people are adding their local knowledge which in turn benefits the larger community.
The first task when re-designing the site was to build new connections within the HERE organization. The developers of the HERE site sat in a different city many kilometers away. They had been working on the previous site without a designer. Getting to know them, their needs and introducing them to the design process was a pleasurable experience on all sides.
Once the design process began it included: competitor benchmarking, developing personas, logic flows, wireframing, site visual mockups, and the metrics for measuring the success of the site redesign.
HERE Map Gestures for Windows Phone
Just what you would expect, but better. Pan, zoom, rotate & tilt. After battling with MS about which direction the tilt should work we finally agreed. Then Google followed us.
HERE Map Gestures for Windows Tablet
You know how it is supposed to work… touch the map and make it pan, zoom, rotate & tilt intuitively. Check.
HERE.com
HERE Maps - map controls.
Zoom, Pan, My Location, Map Switcher Bar, Mini-Map, Ruler & Scale. Ever wonder why most digital maps do not have a legend? Me too.
HERE Maps 3D
Before there was Apple Maps 3D there was HERE Maps 3D. After launching this site Apple quickly bought the company we partnered with.
Integration of 3D maps into the HERE.com website.
Concepts, wireframes, interactions & map controls.
Awesome fan made video by Paul Wex!
And before there was HERE 3D there was Nokia 3D…
And before that there was Ovi 3D.
This was a city selector. Clicking on an image would take you to a great view of the city along with a slow rotation.
Ah yes, San Francisco.
One Lamp
6 meter LED ring lamp for a design studio lobby. Using over 120 side firing 1 watt LEDs. The enclosure is less than 3cm thick and appears to float in space.
Atlas Machines - Renderings
The Atlas renderings were an interesting challenge. These machines are each the size of a single family house. The original files from the engineers included every little nut, bolt & screw. File sizes were very large. The challenge was to accurately portray the scale of the material for the size of the machine. These machines were printed in large format for display at trade shows and used for a variety of marketing materials.
All of the renderings were created for ThreeView in Munich, Germany.
Mazda Kabura - Concept
The car that almost killed us. Nearly 11 all-nighters to get this finished on time. Not from our side, but due to delays from the customer. Super complicated headlights, dashboard, tail and mirror lighting. Video screen embedded in dash with custom fiber-optic glass. Yes, glass made from melted fiber optic strands.
Tags: automotive lighting
Toyota F3R - Concept
The Toyota concept designers said ‘make it look like a cool bar in a loft like in down town LA’. Little did they know that we actually lived in exactly the kind of space they were describing in down town LA.
This project used a lot of different techniques to get the effects right. In the dash were custom backlight panels for the instruments. The upper dash used a mix of Pixcells and backlit high power LEDs. Inside the seat panels were custom created side lit fiber optic strands behind back painted acrylic panels. The ceiling had a ring of Pixcells. And finally the seats had hand bent neon tubes built into the sides.
Tags: automotive lighting
Critter Lamp
Designed to look like a giant computer chip. The lamp was displayed in the trade show booth of Ingo Maurer in the 2007 Milan Furniture Fair.
Extendable Antennas up to 3 feet long.
26 (1W) full color LEDs
Unique Hue-Saturation-Brightness Rotary control knobs.
Toyota Scion t2B - Concept
Wow. Custom built 200 Pixcell network to provide full color & animated lighting. Super bling.
Tags: automotive lighting
Acura RDX - Concept
First use of red silk-screening circuit board on tail light electronics with clear plastic cover. I still like the exposed HDD in the center console.
Tags: automotive lighting
Volvo 3CC - Concept
Most likely the very first car with 200 Watt full color headlights. All the lights in the car were fully networked and programmable. We had a lot of fun programming different lighting effects. My favorite was the ‘paparazzi’ mode where random LEDs around the car would flash white quickly as if the whole car were being photographed by the paparazzi!
When the car went back to the Volvo design studio we spent a lot of time fine tuning the lights. For example, spening around 3 hours with the car designers to pick the right ‘orange-yellow’ for the turn signals. That’s one of the advantages of having all of the lights in the car color tunable.
Head, tail & interior lighting.
Tags: automotive lighting
PixelBlocks - Trade Shows
In partnership with Orange22 we created the NY Toy Fair booth concept & design. The booth was a huge success and allowed Toy Fair visitors a chance to sit and play with the blocks. We had many people spend time building creations that further added to the booth. By the end PixelBlocks were on the shelves of 2500 shops across the USA. The Lego booth across from us looked pretty jealous.
PixelBlocks - Block Design
20 Colors
Endless Possibilities
As president of PixelBlocks I was responsible for all design aspects of the product. This included the design of the block, packaging, branding and marketing materials. Including the trade show booth.
During my time at PixelBlocks I made around 20 trips to China to work on manufacturing, several trips to the NY Toy Fair and dealt with end to end business issues. By the end PixelBlocks were available in 2500 shops across the USA. To this day I still get fan email asking where to purchase them.
Eos 3 Lamp
This was a special edition of the EOS created for our designer friends apartment. It hung horizontally from steel ceiling support structures. A remote control allowed it to change colors or animate like a sideways lava lamp. The thin wires made it appear to float in the night.
Vegas Bar
Wall lighting concept using cast acrylic panels with wood trim. Back lighting of the panels created interesting effects.
Sparks - Trade Show Booth
Bottom lighting of models to highlight different parts of a story.
Mitsubishi STC - Concept
Animated interior headliner gave the driver & passenger the feeling of motion. This was the first vehicle that started our automotive show car lighting run. Eventually we worked on 13 unique show cars for a variety of automotive companies.
Tags: automotive lighting
Airport Bar
A bar named because it sat close under the flight path of the San Diego Airport. Visitors could watch jets overhead from the rear patio. All of the interior lighting could be changed on a whim from the DJ booth overlooking the main area. A main feature was a set of round Aurora tables that were linked together. This allowed people to play with the table colors and send colors to other tables.
Digital Atmosphere
An interactive artwork displayed at the Santa Monical Museum of Art during the Art In Motion (AIM) Festival.
This was a custom built 6 speaker surround sound system with a Korg Kaos pad hanging in the middle of the dance floor. A DJ played music while dancers could interact with the sound of the music in real time. The project won a grant from ArtCenter in Pasadena and was also displayed at USC in Los Angeles.
EOS 1 Lamp
‘EOS’ the goddess of the dawn. A subtle curve on the bottom of the base allows the EOS to sway side to side. Unique animation options included random and chaos patterns. The lamp appeared like an endless electric lava lamp. The full color animated lamp was available in 3 sizes: 2, 4, 6 feet tall.
Bubble Lamp
The Bubble Lamp concept was created in 2000 and licensed to Mathmos in the UK. The idea came after taking a lighting class at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. At the time RGB LEDs had not taken off yet. Seeing an opportunity for exploring blue LEDs the concepts main feature was incorporating the sense of touch. Squeezing the light turned it on/off. The idea of squeezing was later patented #6626554 .
The lamp won an award at the College and I was sent to the Milan furniture fair to present the lamp. At the show I met the famous lighting designer Ingo Maurer who borrowed the lamp, later inviting me to lunch.
Patented squishy re-chargeable silicone ball lamp.
Motion Bubble - Masters Thesis
An interactive motion Bubble.
Built in 2001 before 6 axis accelerometers were inexpensive. This one used piezo film with weights attached to a converter that would take the electric pulses from the film and convert them to midi. Then using MSP & Max I created a series of 8 different interfaces. The software turns the Bubble into a game, lamp, or personal communication device.
This became my graduate thesis project. One of the most important discoveries of the project was the formula:
xyz = rgb
Supply Pro - Kiosk Interface
This was one of the first interfaces I worked on. The company built a variety of kiosks that were used in offices or factories to distribute supplies to workers. One interesting use was to hold power tools and the miscellaneous supplies that went with them like a power drill & bits. The interface allowed a user to check out the tool, then later return it and make a note if the tool was worn or damaged. Pretty high tech for 1999.
Children's Hospital of Los Angeles - Kiosk Interface
“A new interactive kiosk for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles celebrates the city’s diverse communities and highlights the spirit of giving that makes the hospital possible. To appeal to an audience of all ages and backgrounds. Harvest Moon Studio created a highly visual, animated interface. We provided turn-key services to the exhibit designer and builder, Lexington Scenery, in time for the hospital’s Centennial Celebration in May 2001.” - Harvest Moon Studio
“Fantastic! It’s received rave reviews and has proven to be quite durable. Thanks for all the hard work.” - J.S. Manager, Children’s Hospital LA
A big thanks to Heather and Mark @ Harvest Moon for getting me into the business.
Behr Paint - Kiosk Interface
A comprehensive kiosk for creating color palettes, matching colors with textiles, visualizing the colors in 3D interiors and outputting the color formula to create the color in paint.
Installed in big box hardware stores like Home Depot across the USA.