Overview

Build a wall to Kinect people (pun intended) they said. Well, we did just that. The United Food & Commercial Workers Union convention in 2013 wanted something different than previous conventions. They wanted a very large interactive yet informational experience. Together with their media department, we ideated a campaign that would culminate with a set of 10′ x 20′ interactive walls.

Overview

Build a wall to Kinect people (pun intended) they said. Well, we did just that. The United Food & Commercial Workers Union convention in 2013 wanted something different than previous conventions. They wanted a very large interactive yet informational experience. Together with their media department, we ideated a campaign that would culminate with a set of 10′ x 20′ interactive walls.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing over a million workers in the United States and Canada. Most of the members are in industries including retail; meatpacking , food processing and manufacturing; hospitality; agriculture ; cannabis; chemical trades; security; textile, and health care.

The initial stage of the campaign would be a Facebook contest that let workers show their UFCW Pride, members would take a photo of themselves at work  and then vote on which pictures they thought showed the most union pride. The winner would be announced at the convention. The wall itself was massive and allowed users to watch videos, browse photos, check the days' schedule, get info on speakers, and explore places in Chicago. The entire interface was controlled by a Kinect and through a series of simple, intuitive gestures.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing over a million workers in the United States and Canada. Most of the members are in industries including retail; meatpacking , food processing and manufacturing; hospitality; agriculture ; cannabis; chemical trades; security; textile, and health care.

The initial stage of the campaign would be a Facebook contest that let workers show their UFCW Pride, members would take a photo of themselves at work  and then vote on which pictures they thought showed the most union pride. The winner would be announced at the convention. The wall itself was massive and allowed users to watch videos, browse photos, check the days' schedule, get info on speakers, and explore places in Chicago. The entire interface was controlled by a Kinect and through a series of simple, intuitive gestures.

One thing I learned was that controlling interfaces with gestures for extended periods of time is a bit exhausting for normal people.

One thing I learned was that controlling interfaces with gestures for extended periods of time is a bit exhausting for normal people.

Back in the interactive dark ages, motion was hard. It wasn't just hard for us designers but for engineers. There just wasn't enough support resource-wise and the exploration of motion through CSS or JS was kinda in its nascent stages. For this project though we did step out of our comfort zone a bit to add some rudimentary motion for the interactive wall. At the time however, we just didn't have the great bounce, spring and smooth effects that every designer has access to now. 

Back in the interactive dark ages, motion was hard. It wasn't just hard for us designers but for engineers. There just wasn't enough support resource-wise and the exploration of motion through CSS or JS was kinda in its nascent stages. For this project though we did step out of our comfort zone a bit to add some rudimentary motion for the interactive wall. At the time however, we just didn't have the great bounce, spring and smooth effects that every designer has access to now.