Looking back at 2012
As usual in the fast paced world of digital, 2012 has shown us interesting trends, taught us things that don’t work and a few things that do. What is certain is that the gap between the digital and physical world is shrinking. We are seeing a layer of computing added to almost all aspects of our life from how we do the shopping, how we read the news and, in general, how we experience life.
We are now seeing an increased emphasis on how digital can complement the physical world, no longer are we confined to unnatural methods of interaction such as the keyboard, mouse and buttons but, rather, we’re seeing smarter and more natural forms of interactions becoming mainstream. This is arriving in the form of touch, voice, gestures (Kinect, LeapMotion etc), and more intelligent agents (agents being the likes of apps) that can derive your needs themselves.
No doubt this trend will continue in 2013 as computing embeds itself into more of the physical world and personal area networks finally become mainstream. We will see a demand for new forms of human computer interaction, ones that are independent from traditional inputs and outputs and span across multiple devices. We’re seeing this now with the obvious candidates Nike+ Fuelband, Nest, Smartwatches, and Owl to name a few.
Along with the ‘internet of things’ we’ll no doubt see further changes in consumer behaviours; our most popular form of entertainment (the TV) will now have competition with the rise of apps and tablets. Our thirst for interaction and control will continue to grow; like publishing and the music industry, this will require broadcasters and advertisers to re-think their strategies and devise new forms of engagement with their audience.
Also on the topic of advertising, there has been many a debate on why and how advertising agencies should be more product focused – whether you agree or disagree, what is certain is that passive advertising is now less effective and can be measured as such. This year we have seen the smarter brands starting to anticipate this and beginning to offer added value services using the digital medium rather than simply using it as a channel to push messages (campaigns).
Consumer entertainment is not the only industry that has been disrupted; business, health and education are also being affected by technology and it’s forcing people to finally evaluate their processes. Business computing is moving to the cloud along with more attention being paid to the actual user experiences of their products (thanks to consumer products educating the users how to work with digital products), education is becoming more open and, people are (finally) taking ownership of their health thanks to the trend of quantified self and, associated apps.
2012 also seemed to the the year of the coder – somehow coding has become cool this year. This is surprising as I remember sitting in my first computer science lecture hall many years ago, full of funny looking characters (including myself), and the first words of the lecturer were something along the lines of “only around 40% of you will actually continue with this course” which was nice on the first day. The new spin on coding is great as it means I’m finally cool, even though anyone who knows me knows I have always considered coding to be cool. To me, it’s another form of creative outlet – code is just our tools like paint is to an artist.
As for We Make Play, it has been an interesting and very exciting year for us with a prominent focus on computer vision (including Augmented Reality) and 3D for all major (and not so major) mobile platforms (iOS, Android and WP7). One of our more interesting projects this year was creating a Kinect game for a major toy exhibition as the whole experience exposed us to a new world of interactions.
2013 heralds a fresh start for us – whilst this year has been heavily technology focused, 2013 will be about us exploring how to make digital more human (smarter, simpler, and more helpful), something we feel is now possible with the advances in technology and is often overlooked.
Along with our existing design and production services, we will also be introducing workshops to help agencies and brands understand how technology can be leveraged to improve the overall digital experience. Having worked with many agencies over the last few years, we have identified a real need for this so that all parties understand and follow the same processes and goals, ensuring an engaging, elegant and effective solution for the user. For more info, please contact danielle@wemakeplay.com.
So that has been a round up of 2012 as we see it. Happy new year’s everyone and we look forward to sharing some great new work with you in 2013!
We Make Play 