Click through to read Coding the future: HTML5 takes the internet by storm

On Sunday Google and LEGO sponsored a day-long Android robot challenge. I teamed up with Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules, co-founders of iFixit.com for our take on the Google Streetview car. Kyle programmed/hacked the Android tablet, Luke mastered the controls and was our wheelman and I designed and built the robot. We created a fully-functioning Google Streetview car—hey, we’re not above a bit of pandering—that live streamed its progress via a top mounted iPhone (pandering fail, since none of us uses an Android phone). The bot was decked in an Ocupop-designed race livery of HTML5 and IPv6 logo stickers.

SXSW 2012 – Team iFixit+Ocupop LEGO/Android Challenge from Tony Cooke on Vimeo.

Team iFixit + Ocupop came in third overall in the race tournament, pretty good considering we were shooting for innovation over speed with the camera. Second place went to Anton Olsen (writer for Wired‘s Geek Dad) and Ruth Suehle (writer for Geek Mom), who were super nice and we ran into a few times over the course of SXSW. First place went to some charming chaps from England.

A lifetime of LEGO building finally paid off, definitely a highlight of the trip. I shot the clip above during our first race, Anton Olsen has his take and the full Google broadcast of the event (all 97 minutes!) on Geek Dad.

We were so busy taking in the sights and sounds all day every day that I didn’t end up taking a lot of photos, but did grab some video when opportunity arose. This clip is from Sunday night as the crowds finally hit the streets after two days of downpour. Rain didn’t stop the party for long. Couldn’t resist shooting straight back into the streetlights so J.J. Abrams lens flares abound.

Y’never know who you’ll catch when you stand in the middle of a street and film: Cameos by Ernest Delgado of Google/HTML5 fame and Ocupop’s very own Michael Nieling.

SXSW 2012 – Sixth Street, Austin, TX from Tony Cooke on Vimeo.

I didn’t want my niece lulled to sleep by the hooves and underbellies of animals – that’s just nonsense. We wanted the mobile to play music, rotate and visually stimulate the baby. So my mom and I went to Babies R’ Us and picked up a mobile on sale, cut the inferior stuffed animals from the armature, and I got to work designing and sewing my own critters.

I decided smiley animal faces would be most interesting to a baby because they respond to facial features and geometric shapes. I matched the felt to the blue and purple colors in my niece’s room. The final project was a big success and I got a lot of auntie points.

Animal faces…facing the baby!

Some highlights -

Exterior building wraps (nice work Grace on the Galaga-inspired podium artwork!)

Set up …hoping we can get our hands on that HTML5 gobo – all the projection elements turned out awesome.

Rich Heileman Keynote (left), delicious cupcakes (center), the smartest man in the smartest shirt(s) – Seth Ladd rules supreme

We like your style…Nice slide!

Definitely disappointed we didn’t get a better shot of these – six foot high pole wraps all the way to the sky. You can see these illustrations at www.newgameconf.com, but Grace’s original artwork is phenomenal and then Lynn’s vector magic to allow us to go this big …man, someone has some sweet wallpaper in their room right now…

You can check out the whole gallery here.

Also check our portfolio entry for New Game, lots of fun work there.

HTML5: A Look Behind the Technology Changing the Web

Firstly, there’s an infographic with a basic overhead view of the tech ecosystem surrounding HTML5 – and at the center of that ecosystem, and the graphic, is the Ocupop-designed HTML5 logo.

Now, for whatever reason, WSJ decided to shift the color of the HTML5 logo from its trademark orange to a unmentionable shade of mauve-ish. Not sure I can say I understand the reasoning, but it this is actually great – on two levels: one, this usage is exactly one of the scenarios Ocupop and W3C talked about in creating the logo. Conversations didn’t start with ‘we need an HTML5 logo,’ instead, they started with ‘we need to figure out a more effective way for people – technologists, journalists, event planners, bloggers, executives – to communicate the potential of HTML5 and the technology AND movement that surrounds it. I actually remember an early internal conversation about how the HTML5 logo would provide a powerful tool for public education and promotion of HTML5 – in fact, someone actually said, ‘…like when the Wall Street Journal runs a quote from Steve Jobs about HTML5, they’ll have an image (the logo) to put in there that will instantly position the piece appropriately.’ Clairvoyant? Maybe, or at least every once in a while we’re reminded – we might actually have an idea what we’re doing around here

The other level on which this specific use of the HTML5 logo is reassuring? In the face of limitless adoption and unfettered adaptation, we designed the HTML5 logo to be forever resilient to the inevitable and endless tweaks it finds itself subjected to…and I would say even in velvet rope hue here, the logo looks as powerful, exciting and lasting as ever. Tough, WSJ, give us a ring if you’d like any help with future infographics – I can’t say the landscape surrounding the logo conveys much of the same.

Second bit of Ocupop love – mention of EA creative director Rich Heilman and the New Game Conference in San Francisco this past fall. Ocupop worked with Google’s Chrome team and Bocoup to name the conference and provided all design support – from the next-level web site to stickers, badges, projection art and building graphics, we did it all – and it turned out AWESOME! Richard was the keynote speaker at the conference and did an incredible job as well, we will share more of the work soon, but let us know if you want a Galaga-inspired HTML5 sticker.