ActiWait: gamifying a pedestrian crossing with interactive pong game

ActiWait "makes waiting at the crosswalk for the signal to change more fun. The game is played while the light is red for the waiting pedestrians: a touch screen is mounted on two signal posts opposite one another. It is operated with your finger. Modeled after 'Pong', the computer game that has long since become a classic, there are two bars on the display, with which–moved with your finger –a ball can be batted back and forth. You get a point for every time your opponent misses the ball. In other words, this is a classic game with a new look and, perhaps most surprising, in a very different environment. Another charming part of the game: the opponents meet completely spontaneously and randomly, without knowing each other.

The idea for the project was first visualized in 2012 in a short video clip, in which the situation was simulated to look very life–like. In actual fact, the video presentation was a perfectly crafted synthesis of animation and real images. The simulation was developed on the computer and projected onto the traffic–signal buttons filmed with a green screen."

(HAWK Press Office)

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Interactive dancing traffic lights make waiting more entertaining

"An interactive installation in Lisbon aims to encourage pedestrians to wait until it's safe to cross the road by making the traffic lights 'dance' using motion capture technology (+ movie).

Car brand Smart teamed up with advertising agency BBDO Germany to create a special pedestrian crossing light in the Portugese capital, featuring a red stick figure that dances to attract the attention of pedestrians who might otherwise walk out into the road.

The project was part of a wider marketing campaign by Smart to launch two new versions of its compact city car–the Smart ForTwo and the Smart ForFour–which also included a roadshow around Europe."

(Dezeen, 17 September 2014)

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Guitar Pee: cheeky marketing stunt uses interactive urinal guitar

"Guitar Pee is a urinal equipped with sensors that plays music when someone pees on it. The different strings play different electric sounds depending on the aim of the stream, and at the end of your session you can even send an 'MPee3' straight to your phone to share your moment. Clearly, this isn't a concept for the ladies but you can try to woo them with your song even if you don't have a clue how to play a real guitar (they don't have to know the source of your craft). After all, the Guitar Pee tagline is 'Music. We know it comes from everywhere.' We guess it's better to hear rock music when you pee than the generic trickling water sound."

(Natt Garun, 30 May 2012, Digital Trends)

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Responsible Subversives: connect and discuss how to change the world by changing the way we raise our children

The Imagination of Playgrounds

"The following images begin with make–do playgrounds (as in the photographs by Helen Levitt, Henri Cartier–Bresson and others), but are followed by some unique and creative playground structures, some of which are mid–century modernist designs. As these images attest, playground equipment can be as simple as a tractor tire or mimic the amorphic abstraction of Jean Arp. So whether you are a landscape architect, a designer or just an inventive kid, all that really matters boils down to one simple question: do children like to play on it?"

(John Foster, 14 April 2013)

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