Credits gotta be given where credit’s due. The trusty old Post It Note was light years ahead. Admittedly not limited to an exact character limit, but the principle was there: keep it short and sweet. You could (why am I writing in past tense?) then stick it anywhere, and (to a degree) anyone would see it. Move it between context’s, apply to any platform. Brilliant.

I was really impressed with the Nike – Write The Future campaign, particularly the outstanding film created by W+K in London. Topical, beautifully shot, ok there was a bit of inaccuracies with the players featured and whom was actually attending the World Cup but hey, that’s sport. Bravo I thought.

Adidas have also launched a World Cup campaign, and although I’m basing my two-pence worth of opinion on just the short film, I don’t think it’s all that great. Why base it on Star Wars? Come on guys, that was like 10 years ago (if that). At least put a few Ewoks in if you do. Why have Snoop Dogg doing his rap-dizel-shisel thing? Then they throw in Daft Punk, in what I guess is a Tron related guise. Blah.

After catching all the great screenprinting work at Pick Me Up last month. It made me think about re-living the days of my good ole art lessons, and taking up a bit of after-hours screen printing. Not sure where I’d put all the kit mind. Maybe I just don’t need a bed.

As part of a comprehensive user experience process, along with wireframing, rapid prototyping plays a huge part. It allows you to examine more than just the static strategy and interactions, but processes and experiences that are inherently more complicated. Such as interactive applications, websites.

Rapid prototyping has been used throughout the history of software development but is yet to play a major part in web development. Fortunately it’s now being spoken about alot more (http://madebymany.co.uk/the-future-of-wireframes-001992) and pushed to clients under the sell of tangible benefits, and received under gradually more understanding accounts.

Still developing an understanding and process myself, I’ve began to collate and review a selection of services that offer such prototyping. I’ve not used any thoroughly yet, but I hope to dip my toes in soon!

Thoughts on any of the below, or even other approaches would be interesting to hear.

Protoshare
http://www.protoshare.com/

An advanced web-based wirframine & prototyping solution. Works in the browser, and offers facility to prototype fairly complicated user flows. Has a collaborative system built-in, with comment system etc.

Flairbuilder
http://www.flairbuilder.com/

Very similar to Protoshare, but the authoring application works via a desktop app. Pushing final wireframes and prototypes to the cloud, where reviewers can view via another desktop or the website.

Looks pretty good, but hard to tell if it offers anything more than protoshare without getting our hands dirty.

Mockflow
http://www.mockflow.com/

Quite a slick Flash based interface, with facility to develop all user flows that you can replicate in the Flash IDE. Similar to both Flairbuilder and Prototype, in that reviewers can view exports online, and add comments etc.

Mockingbird
http://www.gomockingbird.com/

Really simple rapid wireframing application that offers simple sitemapping and link-up functionality. No advanced user flow prototyping, but looks a good option to flesh out an idea.

Balsamiq
http://www.balsamiq.com/

This little application has picked up alot of hype, but as far as I’m aware it’s only a wireframing application. Thought I’d throw it in there anyway.

When we were in Sao Paulo a few weeks ago we visited the brilliant Itau Cultural. In the main lobby they had a piece of sculpture made from thousands of pieces of thick plastic strands. It was one of the most intriguing sculptures I’ve ever seen, but there was no information on who’d designed it (as it was a purchased piece for the office area.) Interestingly Creative Review have just reviewed a new piece by architect Carmody Groarke from the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition.

12,000 Stitches by Carmody Groarke (from creativereview.co.uk)

It seems spikey (that’s the technical term) architecture is currently somewhat en-vogue. The always inspiring Thomas Heatherwick has revealed UK Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. If only I had enough pennies to fly over and see it.