March 13, 2012
What’s better than celebrating St. Paddy’s Day with a Smithwick’s and a few friends? How about drinking at the command of a little green machine.
The team at Real Art spent the past week crafting an electronic drinking game in honor of the upcoming Irish holiday. You know––the one that’s supposed to commemorate the anniversary of a saint’s death but is really a big excuse to over-consume large quantities of beer and randomly pinch and kiss strangers.
Not satisfied with the speed and manner at which we normally consume beer-verages, the Real Art team built ShamRocked. If good ole St. Patrick and Simon (assuming she’s a female) got together, this would be their red-headed, four-leafed spawn. Place 4 pints of your favorite brew on the ShamRocked machine’s sensors and let the fun begin. The machine uses pressure sensors, electroluminescent wires, an Arduino and a little code to create a series of random sequences that direct each party goer when to drink. For each sequence the group gets correct another tone and light are added. Get it wrong and an angry tone and light let you know you’re the one who screwed up and it’s time to chug.
Necessary? Probably not. But with the luck of the Irish on your side and a pre-arranged ride home you should be able to escape with only minor head trauma. Who else can see this replacing flip-cup on every college campus across the country? Guess it’s time to call our lawyers.
March 8, 2012
A couple members of the Real Art team are headed to Austin from March 9-13 for the South by SouthWest Interactive conference, picking up a few new tricks and presenting on one of the panels.
Last year, I attended and immersed myself in a buzz of information – all the latest interactive technology and trends. At SXSW, you never stop learning. I reveled in this culture where my fellow attendees, some of the brightest in the industry, were just as passionate about design and interactivity as I am.
This year, Chris Wire and I will both be attending, and I’m excited to join the roster of SXSW speakers, representing the team at Real Art. On Friday, I will speak on a panel called It’s Alive: Interactive Machines that Captivate. Each panelist will present projects that mash together digital media with physical machines, creating completely new types of experiences for people. For example, at Real Art, we built the world’s largest arcade claw game and invited the world to play over the internet. Then we will discuss why these projects have been so successful for brands, the steps involved in a project like these, and what’s coming in the future for this interactive niche.
It’s Alive: Interactive Machines that Captivate. Friday, March 9, 5pm
at the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin, Capital Ballroom B
If you’re headed to Austin, give us a shout. We’d love to meet up with you there.
I plan to share what I learn at SXSW as it happens on Twitter and through posts on Real Art’s blog. Follow @patricehall or @realart for the play-by-play.
February 28, 2012
The Hermes Awards were this past weekend and, as always, AAF Dayton and Dayton Creative Syndicate put on a fantastic show. There was some great design and interactive, and we were honored to be included in all the wonderful work that’s happening here in Dayton.
From the traditional print ads and brochures to the not-so-traditional custom-painted mixers, Real Art was recognized with 6 gold awards, 11 silver awards, 13 bronze awards, 2 judges awards and the “best of show” award.
Winning projects:
• Hobart Celebrity Mixers—Gold Addy and Best of Show
• Sears Holding Company Fab 15 Videos —Gold Addy and Judge’s Award
• Miami Valley Hunt & Polo Club—Gold Addy and Judge’s Award
• Cincinnati Children’s 2011 Annual Report—Gold Addy
• Premier Health Partner Ad Series—Gold Addy
• Myrian Capital Wall—Gold Addy
We pumped up the jams and ended the night with a marathon dance party. While we were celebrating, we let the Ro-Bros out of their underground lair for one last go-round.
February 22, 2012
It all comes down to today: the final day in the most unbelievable battle ever. It’s the final day to earn yourself an official championship belt, using only your mouse. And at the end of today, one bot will be the ultimate victor.
Ro-Bros closes down for good at 10pm tonight, so get your punches in while you can. Thank you, battle testers!
February 2, 2012
After months of brewing, a battle has broken out inside the Real Art walls. Now you can choose a side and jump in.
Through rounds of covert testing, both prototypes have proven themselves. At Ro-bros.com, you control one of these incredible fighting bots. With your keyboard. And you can watch the whole bout go down in a live feed on the site.
We were shooting for an experience every bit as out there as The Santa Claw, but different … and maybe even more crazy. So we wired up these two Ro-Bros to pick up online commands and attached sensors that measure the force of each blow dealt. In our battle arena, you’re fighting against another online opponent, so start mapping out your strategy now.
Experience the battle for yourself at www.ro-bros.com.
January 30, 2012
We’re honored to be in today’s Dayton Daily News’ List of Top Workplaces for 2012. Real Art is featured as one of the Top 30 Small Companies, with an especially high score in the “New Ideas” category.
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January 27, 2012
It’s always great to work on projects that are packed full of purpose, and the Cincinnati Children’s Annual Report is just that. It’s one of our favorite annual projects at Real Art, not only because the end product is a unique, tangible piece, but because we get to work with so many great people along the way—to name a few: Writer and Project Director, Bea Katz; Photographer, Ryan Kurtz; and the people at Wendling Printing.
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January 26, 2012
Hi there! My name is Ethan Muller. I’ll be an extern at Real Art for the next three weeks (14 days if you want to get technical). As you can see in my picture, I’m pretty excited about it. I’m a student at the School of Advertising Art in Dayton, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll graduate at the end of next May. That’s exciting, too.
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January 17, 2012
We’re looking for a “Printern” to join our Dayton team. What’s a Printern, you ask? Well, it’s a print design intern who gets the awesome opportunity to work with our amazing print team. The Printernship is a paid opportunity and requires a 3-month commitment—25-40 hour per week—beginning in mid-February. Read More »
January 11, 2012
Remember last year, when we built the world’s largest claw game and invited everyone to play online? The response was amazing—over 100,000 people played from all over the world. The Santa Claw even spent a week in the Gizmodo Gallery in NYC. Since we packed it all up, people have been asking what’s next. Read More »
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