All posts in: User Interfaces

Inspiring Auteurism in 360° and VR Film

Recently whipped up a new talk, based on my work at Facebook, designing tools for immersive media creators. Delivered the talk—titled Auteurism in 360°—at FITC‘s 2Spotlight AR/VR 2017 conference in Toronto. “Film cannot be art, for it does nothing but reproduce reality mechanically.” — Rudolf Arnheim in 1933, opening his book “Film as Art” by quoting criticism from his contemporaries. By the early-mid 20th century, the artistic merit of film had yet to be fully realized. This mirrors the present state of 360 media and VR filmmaking: we have yet to find artistic equivalents to classical cinematic techniques (framing, montage, transition, zoom, synchresis, etc.) in immersive filmmaking. “Auteurism in 360 Degrees” will unpack methodologies for translating the styles, standards, and practices of 2D filmmaking into 360 media and VR film, all from the perspective of a Facebook Product Designer actively working on 360 media editing and sharing tools.

Speaking about VR Interfaces at FITC

I’ll brought my FutureType talk (Using the History of Typography to Inform the Future of UI) to the FITC Conference 2017 in Toronto. With the rising popularity of immersive media, design thinkers need to rethink UI standards around a new modality. As communication becomes more gestural, conversational, and less typographic, we will need to ensure it does not become abstract. In a world threatened by fake news, ensuring a future of clear, nuanced, and truthful communication will be incredibly important. This talk unpacks a condensed history of typography and justifies why said history can be used as a jumping off point for designing the future of user interfaces. We will discuss how to reconsider typographic history—and the nuances of phonetic letterforms—when inventing new user interfaces for a future of modular, invisible, and alternate reality devices.