Whereas conventional cameras capture a 2D “slice” of light hitting the sensor, Lytro captures a 4D light field and then computes the 2D image. This enables photographers to adjust images after a picture has been taken, such as focus, tilt, perspective shift and depth of field.
Illum represents radically different technology, but it is intended for an audience that has very fixed (and very conservative) expectations for what a high-end camera should be.
We took a very pragmatic approach that focused on getting everything in the right place, stripping away all that was superfluous, and paying close attention to details. This led to the signature angled display which is optimized for viewing the large viewfinder. A simple push on the lower edge of the screen flips the display to a purely vertical orientation, which is what you need for portrait mode.
design: Tim Hulford, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
eSight delivers advanced assistive eyewear technology that enables people with central vision loss (due to for instance macular degeneration) to see more clearly, and help them live an active and independent life. Using a cutting edge camera, smart algorithms and high resolution screens, eSight increases magnification and contrast, optimized for the individual and their condition, to create a crystal clear, real-time view of items up close or detail in the distance. The visor flips up easily for eye contact in face-to-face interaction.
design: Clement Gallois, Antoine Beynel, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
With the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft embarked on an initiative to bring the PC hardware and software design closer together than ever before.
We were asked to create a flagship concept PC to inspire Microsoft’s Partners. Our charter was to articulate “the purest embodiment of the Vista design language”.
Our solution emphasizes the dual nature of the PC as both a productivity tool and an entertainment device: our keyboard stows behind the monitor and the mouse becomes a remote.
Blending old and new, the keyboard became an iconic element of the system.
design: Oliver Grabes and Fernd van Engelen while at Carbon
photography: Douglas Evans
NanoPoint’s Fluidics Controller manages the flow of nutrients and pharmaceuticals to, and waste product from, the cellTray. It also manages temperature control.
Managing the 28 fluidics lines that connect to the 1”x3” cellTray was key to success. Orienting the syringe pumps on a 45 degree angle yielded the most compact and efficient footprint, as well as an iconic appearance.
design: Peter Bristol and Fernd van Engelen while at Carbon
photography: Douglas Evans
Americans buy nearly 51 billion bottles of water each year. Of those, less than a quarter are recycled, while the rest end up in landfills or worse. Bottled water can be up to 2,000 percent more expensive than tap water, and often less healthy.
999bottles is a concept and provocation for a re-usable water bottle that helps visualizing the impact of our choices. Three numbered dials allow you to count the number of plastic bottles you don’t consume by virtue of carrying your reusable bottle. The companion app will translate your non-consumption into easy-to-understand graphics and messages of positive reinforcement: “You’ve saved 1,063 bottles! That’s equivalent to the height of the Eiffel Tower.”
Using the app to tap into your social network could provide additional encouragement, as you compete against your friends or join forces to measure your group’s collective impact.
design: Johanna Schoemaker and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
Vicis has reimagined the football helmet to prevent head injuries. While conventional helmets have a hard outer shell and a soft inner liner, Vicis instead uses a deformable outer shell with an impact absorbing and distributing layer to better absorb impact.
To help Vicis establish itself as a leader in protective equipment and ensure Zero 1 would succeed, we helped Vicis understand the wants and needs, as well as the emotions of players, trainers, equipment managers and medical staff, and delivered a solution that is helping Vicis make its mark.
design: Benoit Colette, Clement Gallois and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans, Vicis
Camera manufacturers have been focused on incremental innovation and boosting specs, meanwhile, mobile phones have all but wiped out the point-and-shoot.
WVIL (Wireless Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens) is a concept and provocation that tears apart the conventional camera architecture and combines high quality optics with mobile technology. WVIL was also intended to illustrate our perspective on what close collaboration between ID and UX designers would yield.
design: Olen Ronning, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
A bio incubator on a microscope slide. By combining etched silicon and glass, NanoPoint creates an array of wells – to which living cells are introduced – and microfluidics channels that provide nutrients and eliminate waste product.
This enables researchers to introduce pharmaceuticals to the nutrient stream and, for the first time, observe the effect of those compounds on living cells in real time.
A standard 1”x3” form-factor was clearly the most practical solution. Our job was to clearly differentiate cellTray from such products.
design: Robert Hubler, Peter Bristol and Fernd van Engelen while at Carbon
photography: Douglas Evans
See What You Print is a radically simple printer concept. While many attempt to innovate (in printing) by “adding more features”, our assertion was that printers would benefit from “better core features”. SWYP radically simplifies printing by making all aspects of the core interactions more natural, predictable, and understandable.
The concept’s unique architecture enables this by providing a large touchscreen on the top surface. The advantages of going full size are obvious, yet powerful and can make printing a positive and straightforward experience.
design: Jonas Buck and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
While essential and a physical manifestation of the provider’s brand, a set top box is often an unwanted guest in a customer’s home.
We wanted think outside of the box while also acknowledging we were designing a box. It should be as simple as possible, as well as practical and unique.
Our “floating planes” solution provides for effective venting, eliminates the need for a fan and reduces noise and energy consumption. The reveals also create a natural location for status indicators.
By embracing a manufacturing approach that uses off-the-shelf components we helped minimize cost, by paying close attention to the touch points we ensured this didn’t come at the expense of the user’s experience.
design: Jonas Buck and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
Taking photos is as much about sharing and self-expression as it is about preserving memories. MEME is a concept for a wearable camera and display that enables teens and young adults to express their creativity by quickly capturing images in the moment. Images may be shown on the display, stored on the device, or wirelessly transmitted to a phone.
MEME is a contemporary, digital version of a Polaroid picture, presented as a fashion accessory. High-quality materials create a versatile piece of contemporary jewelry that allows young people to wear it how they choose or embellish it with existing jewelry. Users activate the camera by pushing a single button to capture an image. A double click activates an automatic photo capture mode. The e-ink display helps minimize power consumption.
design: Johanna Schoemaker and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
How to keep your digital valuables safe? Windows Home Server was both a concept and reference design for a personal home server, your personal digital vault and “the one device you’d want to rescue if your house was on fire”. With no active interface and no regular interaction, its primary job was to protect the valuables and to communicate to its owner confidence and security. Conceived as a chrome cylinder floating in a semi-transparent outer container it produced a gem-like sense of quality. A green glow emerging from its base let the user know that all is OK.
design: Fernd van Engelen while at Carbon
photography: Douglas Evans
Building on the design of Lytro’s award-winning Illum camera, in 2015 Lytro announced their exciting expansion into virtual reality. At the core of this strategy is Lytro Immerge, the world’s first professional Light Field solution, designed to help professional storytellers embrace immersive storytelling with live-action virtual reality. For the first time, viewers will experience “six degrees of freedom,” or the ability to move freely within a scene – something that up until now has only been possible inside computer-generated experiences.
To bring that vision to reality, we helped shape the design of Lytro Immerge and created this vision concept that exudes power, precision, and quality.
design: Antoine Beynel, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
images: Artefact
For a cinematographer and director, capturing the right take – lighting, focus, depth of field – is key to artistic expression. Cutting edge visual effects and the need to shoot content in multiple formats add to the complexity and cost of creating amazing visual content.
In 2016 Lytro, the pioneer in light field technology, announced Lytro Cinema, the world’s first Light Field solution for film and television. Lytro’s breakthrough capture system enables the complete virtualization of the live action camera — transforming creative camera controls from fixed on set decisions to computational post-production processes — and allows for historically impossible shots.
Featuring the highest resolution video sensor ever designed, and a unique cooling system, Lytro Cinema is a high quality piece of equipment and an embodiment of immense technical accomplishment. Its design had to communicate excellence while providing the crew with the tools they need to take advantage of its versatility. We used a pragmatic approach, driven by technical considerations and the need to support standard equipment. The end result is a solution that is striking and unique, and that conveys an overall sense of quality and precision.
design: Shaun Choi, Antoine Beynel, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
images: Artefact
Design strategy and visual design language, plus detailed design of a router and set-top box for Liberty Global, a leading multinational telecommunications company serving customer in over 25 countries in Europe and the Americas.
Liberty Global came to us for a strategy and solution that would be flexible enough to meet the needs of customers across all their markets.
Our solution had two key components. First, provide a simple to use and versatile solution that doesn’t impose on the customer and can blend harmoniously into their home. Second, since we understood that cost of goods would be a key driver we created solutions that would be cost-effectively produced at volume and by multiple vendors.
design: Jonas Buck, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Artefact
photography: Douglas Evans
Intel’s PC Client Solution group needed a reference design for its 2010 Arrandale mobile processor platform. Intel’s goal was to communicate the scalability of the computing platform, and asked us to create a product family for the European market that included a 13″, a 15″, and a 17″ notebook computer. In order to lend the products a distinct visual appearance in an already very crowded space, our solution included a dynamic wedge stance, a duotone color scheme and a signature graphic treatment that highlighted connectors, trackpad and webcam.
design: Tim Hulford, Rob Hubler, Markus Wierzoch and Fernd van Engelen while at Carbon.
photography: Douglas Evans
