the pure enjoyment of interacting with content

This is what the web should be about, the enjoyment of interacting with content. In this case a simple pleasure of interacting with photos becomes even more powerful and emotive dependent on the interface that you do it such as the framing and lighting...

Piclens simply uderstand how photos are linked via albums, or search terms, or users and pulls this content stream into an interactive viewing platform. At any time you can link back to the webpage for that particular photo... Here is a nice little demo:

Where this sort of functionality will really take off is with interactive screens. Now imagine being at home with an interactive screen like this to show off your holiday snaps, or even more importantly showing people you holiday photos on their interactive screens remotely using this technology...

Why a brand like Canon isn't producing this kind of functionality to be associated with every photo a person sees online is beyond me...

Not just for the grandchildren of telescope obsessed grandfathers

Technology excites me for its capacity to open up subject matter so easily that anyone can quickly get to the heart of what passionate enthusiasts see.

This is so far beyond what traditional advertising can do and, in terms of selling something into people, seeing what the passionate enthusiasts see is the ultimate goal. I believe that the art of getting people to believe in something is to not clutter this picture but illuminate it in their language so they can understand and see what passionate enthusiasts take for granted. The reason people are passionate about things is because they have had the opportunity to see the real heart of them and now technology is breaking down the barriers of opportunity and circumstance to enable everyone to see this heart. Microsoft's worldwide telescope is the perfect case study of such technology. It will bring the amazing universe of astronomy to life for anyone and everyone so it will now be their easily accessible enjoyment as well and not just of those who had telescope obsessed grandfathers.

A promise is a dangerous thing

How can a great ad actually damage a brand? When it highlights that it is just that, an ad, and the brand doesn't care...


The other day I saw an advert that really made me stop and think we're progressing... it had a sense of authenticity and was product relevant...
...but what really got me was not that it heavily pushed the URL, but that it did so in the same authentic context of the advert, written in Biro on the back of a ticket... Now I was excited.

I logged on expecting a website of the same ilk, some tales of travel, priceless photos from off the beaten track, the most conversation orientated people on the planet talking to each other; influencing each others travel plans and more... (I've been there you know, traveling, indulging each other in our unique experiences, U-turning to go somewhere 'completely insane')...
So I typed away with the ad's flavours still whetting my appetite...
m a s t e r c a r d . c o . u k / t r a v e l [enter]

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And there we are, delivered straight to the corporate mastercard website that I was so evidently driven to turn on my computer for... congratulations I am the fool who dared to believe... believe that mastercard does care about the experiences they can help facilitate... silly me.
As a result I am now pretty confident that the advert was just that, an advert, even if it was beautifully made... and yes, I know that they get that the web is the first point of call from offline awareness, well done, but as for continuing the emotional experience??? not fully grasped I think...
But what is really sad is that by failing to continue the experience online when it is promised the brand is actually damaging itself... exuding a 'we can't be assed ethos', in fact why not just direct every believer to a single webpage: 'sucker you dared to believe'...