January 28, 2014

Virtual Reality - Innovation in Technology

People in the urban cities lead a busy life. With limited time in hand, the day to day tasks don't fall under their priority list. This has become a major concern for retailers. Retailers dread the on going inflation in the industry and decrease in foot falls.In order to keep up with the market, the retailers are increasingly finding innovation ways to engage customers. This has also led to a significant rise in the online stores. Technological advancement since 2005, the growth in use of internet on PCs, laptops, tablets and apps has created new opportunities for the businesses to expand.

U.K. based Tesco PLC operates four different formats to ensure that its customers have quick and easy access to its offerings regardless of whether they live in dense metro areas or the outskirts of town. For Koreans, shopping is a much-dreaded task. Tesco designed and launched a virtual supermarket in South Korean subway stations in 2011. Tesco decided to offer them the convenience of browsing through on screen displays of the same merchandise offered in its stores.

Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store in South Korea

To make purchases, consumers simply had to scan QR (quick response) codes of the items they wish to purchase and then click the send button on a smartphone app. Tesco then delivered the merchandise to the consumers shortly after they get home. The results speak for themselves: online sales increased by 130 percent and site registrations grew by 76 percent in just a few months.

Tesco HomePlus Virtual Supermarket

Eighteen months later, Peapod (U.S.), Cold-Storage (Singapore), Woolworths (Australia) and Yihoudian (China) had created virtual platforms of their own.

Another great example of an online store Amazon, which helps people walk through the process of choosing goods, quantities and a delivery schedule on a “save, set and forget” basis.

The site has recently introduced a quick medium of delivery using the drone copters. The goal of this new delivery system is to get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles.

Amazon's Drone Delivery

Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years depending upon the advancement in technology.

August 30, 2013

Visual Merchandising: a step ahead!

............................. Tiffany and Co ............................

~ 175th Anniversary ~

............................. McDonald's Olympic Restaurant .............................

~ 32,000 sq. ft. Sustainable Restaurant ~

............................. The Cadbury House .............................

~ London 2012 ~

............................. IKEA .............................

~ Paris ~

............................. Aesop at Merci .............................

~ Paris ~

............................. Adidas .............................

............................. Benetton .............................

~ The Art of Knit ~

............................. Puma .............................

............................. Naver App Square .............................

............................. Uniqlo .............................

The Screen Magic

Did you know all those dangerous stunts performed in movies like Star wars, Spiderman and more were not real but scenes shot on two different backgrounds? Even wondered how those not-existing-on earth backgrounds enhance a movie? Thought about composite photographs - exposing the layers to blend in the elements? Or ever wondered things like these were possible??

Chroma key compositing is a special effects post production technique. The technology is the basis of effects seen in everything from Hollywood movies to weather forecasts to video games. The concept is simple and extremely useful.

The images or videos are composed and layered together on the basis of a chroma range (green or blue is often used). Using softwares like Adobe After Effects, the top layer is made to disappear revealing the background behind.

-.- Superman -.-

-.- Avengers -.-

-.- Narnia -.-

The biggest challenge when setting up a bluescreen or greenscreen is even lighting and the avoidance of shadow, because it is best to have as narrow a color range as possible being replaced. A shiny surface will have areas that reflect the lights making them appear pale, while other areas may be darkened. A matte surface will diffuse the reflected light and have a more even color range.

(Source: http://thechive.com/2013/01/28/a-staple-post-production-visual-film-effect-14-photos/)

The video below takes you through the history of movie making using green and blue screens.

August 24, 2013

Creative Marketing Campaigns

Advertisements are a part and parcel of each of our lives. Behind every advertisement is the hard working designer who strives his level best encouraging, persuading, or manipulating the viewer's, reader's or a listener's perspective towards a brand or a message.

Here are some of the most influential and clever ads I have ever encountered on social causes.

To begin with, here’s an ad on Child Abuse by Anar foundation which tries to deliver the following message: “Sometimes child abuse is visible only to the child suffering it.”

They have also calculated the average height of a ten-year-old and, using lenticular printing, added a layer of imagery and text that's only visible from a child's-eye-view. To children, the poster shows the child wounded, the ANAR hotline and reads: "If someone's hurting you, phone us and we'll help you".

This particular ad was issued by road traffic control to create awareness about results of increased speed limit and consequences of drinking and driving.

As clear as the message, “Thousands of people owe their lives to organ donors”.

This witty advertisement creates curiosity about the unusual photograph hanging on the wall. The message gets clear when you read the tagline: “Chewing tobacco causes mouth cancer.”