MAKING MAGIC:

BEST PRACTICES

JOSH ECKERT

©2015 Joshua Eckert

WALT DISNEY

R. MILLER &S. SPIELBERG

Walt’s favorite magic-making tactics were:1. FAMILIAR FUTURE - Conjure an idyllic, utopian city

with extravagant landscaping next to curvy buildings.2. WRONG SCALE - Reduce the scale of a your

environment to make you feel like a giant.

Rand Miller stumbled onto a runaway success, Myst, when he gave his imagined world a

JULES VERNE STYLE. Spielberg too fell onto unexpected success in E.T. for many reasons, one of which was thevisual power of a Jules Vernian style (which he mined

for inspiration again for War of the Worlds).

©2015 Joshua Eckert

WRONG SCALEWalt’s preferred balance of familiar and disorienting.

Walt played with miniature villiages, but also with scale reduced only slightly. Something feels odd,

but you don’t know why.

©2015 Joshua Eckert

JULES VERNEAN STYLESpielburg calls the style timeless and accessible for all ages.

A variation is Disney’s “Tomorrowland” style. Both styles favor radial symmetry, warmly glowing spheres,

and softly curved forms.

©2015 Joshua Eckert

Disorienting

Wrong Gravity

Zero-G

Indoor/Outdoor Confusion

Psychodelic Dreamscape

Familiar

Disorienting

Familiar

Disorienting

Familiar

Disorienting

Familiar

ALTERED STATES:the sweet spot

©2015 Joshua Eckert

INDOOR/OUTDOOR CONFUSIONBlurring the line between Indoor and Outdoor messes

with your mind. It feels familiar, disorienting, and thrilling all at once. It’s the childlike joy of discovery, and the

peculiarity of this juxtaposition overwhelms you, whether you’re alone or in a crowd.

©2015 Joshua Eckert

WRONG GRAVITYAnother marriage of familiar and disorienting. While

everyone has been desensitized to the illusion of Zero-G, an altered gravitational pull--one that pulls all objects due east or to the ceiling--will rattle you, but in a good way. See a familiar

space from an uncomfortable viewpoint.

MAKING MAGIC:

USES FOR AR

©2015 Joshua Eckert

Altered StatesCONNECT TO

UNIVERSAL DESIRESVirtually every culture has a

method of inducing them. Whether by drugs, alcohol or by watching

arthouse films.

Do as the peopleyou admire do

Leverage advantage over immediate peers

Grow your circle

Feel attractive, clever

©2015 Joshua Eckert

Advantage Over PeersIn the real world...By age 8, kids define themselves by

whichever advantage they believe they have over peers.

I always havethe coolest gearbefore anyoneelse gets it

I get to hang outwith older kids

I’m abovetry-hardpostering likethe popular kids

I entertain anygroup I’m in;people thinkI’m funny

People trust me;I know thathonest menfinish first

I’m popular becauseI get good gradesbut I seem notto try hard

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON’s hero becomes the first dragon whisperer. Everyone loves him for it.

Hero in MEET THE ROBINSONS is beloved by all for his inventions.

PETER PARKER, science geek, goes from zero to hero and gets the girl.

Hero’s Journey Plotline:A disadvantaged kid finds and asserts an advantage over peers, thus winning social cred.

INSPIRATION: Tomorrowland (movie)What Hogwarts is to magic, Tomorrowland is to science: They are both easy to find if you are a wizard and very difficult to find if you’re a Muggle.

[The hero] has seen NASA withering from her own backyard as the shuttle program is mothballed, exploration ceases, and the launchpads are taken

apart. It’s closed for business. There are no launches anymore. But she still holds a candle, she still believes in this amazing future, that things can be better...

She finds Tomorrowland: She is a Muggle who accidentally wanders across Platform 9 ¾ and sees something she shouldn’t have.

©2015 Joshua Eckert

Follow the Leader

In the real world...Kids (age 5-6 and up) want to do what the older, cooler kids they admire are doing.

“Is this the kind of content big kidswould probablythink is cool?”

Sarcasm, puns,clever wordplaysignal contentfor older kids

Nickelodeon/MTV’sbizarre style repelsyoung kids and thusattracts big kids

Marvel’s darkercontent signalsto boys that it’sa big kids’ brand

To feel older, kids 5+ distance themselves aggressively from what they perceive to be childish. We face a minefield of stimuli we must avoid, lest older kids brand us as too young.

Power Rangers fails the big-kid test, but a Spiderman movie passes.

based on insights by Seth Godin; research by Danieil Acuff

USER PROBLEMS:

1.Users struggle with wayfinding on wilderness trails.

They currently solve this problem with GPS readers (rare) or with topo-maps (common),

2.Aunt Meg brings her nephews and neices to Prospect Park and wants to keep track of everyone.

She currently solves this problem by calling the phone of whomever is out of sight.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

Wayfinding with AR means you plant a virtual beacon to indicate where everyone should meet at 4pm. Also, you follow a virtual trail (as pictured at right).

Compatible with iWatch for a less intrusive experience.

>>A wayfinding CMS lets you chart or manipulate a path.

©2015 Joshua Eckert

CORPORATE PROBLEM:

Jimmy Johns is scrambling to find ways to draw new customers into the store.

They currently solve this problem with discounts and traditional advertising.

USER PROBLEM:

Customers, esp kids, want to broadcast to their friends that they’re out and about and enjoying rich social lives.

They currently solve this problem with Foursquare, Twitter, and tagged FB photos.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

A game where you plant a ghost inside any participating store, like JJ. You issue a FB challenge to your friends: catch your ghost to win points. They’ll use points to upgrade their ghost-hunting gear.

You enjoy taking charge and facilitating a game among your friends, and JJ likes that you’re sending friends into their store.

Catching a ghost isn’t easy. If he sees you, you’ve lost. Have a friend distract him while you attempt your capture from behind.

>>Plant a ghost in any participating store.

CORPORATE PROBLEM:

15 thousand people will attend the July 4th firework show at Butler County Fairgrounds. REI wants to advertise or sell to these attendees, but opportunities to do so are limited.

USER PROBLEM:

The 15 thousand attendees don’t have much to do as they wait for dusk. They’re packed together tightly and must occupy themselves for hours.

They currently fill this down time by chatting with strangers, playing euchre, or fiddling with their smartphones.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

REI designs an interactive racing game (pictured at right). On another channel, Sony has a massive multiplayer tower defense “pickup” game, and attendees can join or leave the game at their leisure.

>>By downloading one app, users can surf limitless AR game channels like this one sponsored by REI.

©2015 Joshua Eckert