Mason Brown

These snapshots capture moments leading up to various destinations in my recent journeys. Perhaps the “doing” can seem more significant than the destination simply because the present-tense is constantly shifting. I appreciate the time we have to stop and smell the roses, but still we have no digital means to clone a taste nor aroma. [...]

Email can be messy. I see a fair amount of poor email etiquette on a daily basis from professionals that rely on email as their primary communication channel. I’m not referring to typos and grammatical glitches. Typos and abbreviations have become an expected fallacy in today’s fast-paced, mobile workplace, so you can drop the “please [...]

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson The best advice usually comes from good listeners that know when to probe and when to preach. Good advice feels like someone handing you a puzzle piece that you’ve been seeking. A wise puzzle master will first acknowledge the big picture, [...]

AT&T sponsored a Mobile App Hackathon here in Atlanta lasting for only 8 hours during Saturday, September 10th, 2011. I’m fortunate to be able to participate and collaborate with a talented team on a fun app idea. We explored several different concepts before deciding which one to build. We brainstormed 10 or more different app [...]

There are several new tools to make the experience sketching and note-taking on digital devices more rewarding. Almost every pen gadget boasts an army of features but I haven’t yet found one that compares to the simplicity and comfort of a traditional pencil and paper approach. I think we’re moving in the right direction with [...]

I’ve learned a few things since I recently started freelancing. Here are some takeaways from my experience so far. Networking The moment I changed my status on LinkedIn from ‘full-time’ to ‘freelance’ my inbox became flooded with opportunities I didn’t know existed. I enjoy getting random phone calls in the middle of the day from [...]

It really grinds my gears when I jump back in forth to different Adobe design apps and all the tools seem to operate differently. There are numerous inconsistencies across the Adobe suite regarding usability and interface design and it’s about time that Adobe cleans house. While they have made some progress integrating interface elements across [...]

Have a killer idea, but not quite ready for primetime? Better plant your flag in the ground and discourage others from stealing your dream. Plenty of startups are cloning the “launching soon” model in order to attract an early user base. This model is loosely based on offering interested parties early beta access in exchange [...]

The human element proves to be a source of endless intrigue. Here are a few portrait projects that offer a refreshing perspective on the human experience. The project Created Equal juxtaposes citizens from different classes and cultural backgrounds. The message is that no matter how different we may be, we are all individuals that deserve [...]

I just wanted to chime in on the open dialog about how technology affects the way we communicate, which seems to be a common topic of conversation in many circles lately. I’ve read a few recent articles that resonate a similar tone. “There’s too much noise and not enough signal.” Hearing the battles-cries of smart [...]

Great video footage, sound production, and brilliant thinking is enough to stimulate most of your senses. Here’s several of my recent fave’s that will surely make you smile, scratch your head or poop your pants. Maybe not in that order, but hopefully you won’t be disappointed. Be sure to check out my Vimeo likes if [...]

Preface Before you read this rant you should know that it’s motivated by a cumulative pattern that I’ve noticed in my day-to-day work, and is in no way directed towards anyone or any specific event. Perhaps you can relate, or maybe not. 1st Of The Month Why do so many clients set deadlines for the [...]

I have a fond appreciation for well-designed studio spaces, as evident in my collection of inspirational office spaces and music studios. Since working almost exclusively from home, my focus has shifted away from collaborative office environments to more isolated home offices. The home office contrasts the agency office in many ways, but most notably is [...]

The information renaissance is an exciting time to be alive. The rapid evolution of technology combined with a heightened capacity for creative expression is shaping nearly every aspect of human culture. One aspect that is increasingly pervasive in my line of work is the elevated demand for skilled hybrids. More agencies, boutique shops and startups [...]

A good music video is bound to brighten your mood. The delivery channels for music videos have evolved over the years, but the recipe for success has mostly stayed the same. Tell an interesting story using a great song juxtaposed by stunning visuals. Artists and musicians are able to create ever expanding generes of these [...]

I’m reaching a threshold of epic proportions. In recent weeks I’ve gotten a lot accomplished, multiplied my opportunities and maintained an optimistic worldview. Much of this can be attributed to following the trifecta of change. When I was much younger,   my father   introduced me to a harmonious relationship between attitude, actions and results. [...]

Data visualizations are all the rage these days and they won’t be going away anytime soon. Well designed data visualizations are not only delicious eye candy, but also provide meaningful ways to navigate, calculate and rationalize a body of data. There are many channels to find inspirational data vis projects, but what separates the good [...]

1. Home Is Where the Heart Is My goal as a freelance-agent-of-awesome is to primarily work from home and travel only when necessary. Honestly, I wish the rest of the free world would do the same. Still, I strongly believe that the most effective collaboration occurs when talented people are in the same room together. [...]

It’s rare that a multitouch app truly excites me beyond mere novelty. GREG WERK has concepted and designed the next generation DJ interface using a multitouch light table. The light table DJ setup is controlled by sophisticated hand gestures to produce a simplified DJ experience. Aside from the well designed interface, I also admire the [...]

It’s true, I’m a sucker for good quotes. I recently read the inspirational book Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, which was pleasantly enriched with many of the quotes listed below. For more inspirational antidotes you can also graze my previous post Words of Wisdom or check out a few of my favorite programming [...]

Understanding what users want to do, what they actually do and how they feel about using a system defines the effectiveness of any digital experience. Function and interface are the core ingredients for most digital projects, but there are many more intangible elements that help dictate a user’s actions and perceptions. An awesome user experience [...]

If you’re like me then WordPress is your publishing engine of choice. There are many reasons to love WordPress and many resources to help pimp your WordPress site (WordPress.org first and foremost). However, every time I install a new WordPress site I find myself searching the same old resources like Smashing Magazine, InstantShift and Tutorial [...]

I started collecting words of wisdom in my journey to become a wise man. Perhaps I would be further along in my journey if I would have written down all of my father’s advice throughout my life. I hear and forget, I see and remember, I do and understand. It’s often that you hear a [...]

Creating Pleasurable Experiences View more presentations from zpousman. Mobile UX Design View more presentations from Juan Sanchez.

Video: Evoluce One – Multitouch mit Gestensteuerung aus einem Meter Entfernung (3:51) The Evoluce One is probably the best multitouch display surface I’ve seen. It’s hi-def LCD screen supports unlimited touch points and gesture controls that can be detected from up to half a meter away. That’s one step close to minority report! (And Steve Jobs [...]

If you’re like me then you enjoy the freedom of creating web apps rather than device-specific native apps. There are tons of devices and platforms to juggle, but you should certainly ramp up on Apple’s Safari mobile platform if you haven’t already. If you want your website to look sexy on the iPadz then you [...]

This Flash animation by Renaud Hallée showcases the rhythmic beauty of music.

When you’re done searching Pitchfork, Alarm, iTunes or Last.fm for legitimate music, where do you go for good music? I try to keep my eyes and ears to the ground, but quality downloads can be hard to find. Luckily there are a few sites that share quality tunes for free. Gotta love free music. Especially [...]

I begin teaching at The Creative Circus part time here in Atlanta, starting April 5th. I will be joining the Interactive Development program to teach an intro class discussing web standards, html, css, js & more. This is an exciting time to explore front-end web development because there’s a mass convergence of adopted “best practices” [...]

There has certainly been a recent surge in twitter-related data visualization. People love to aggregate all the online chatter into visualizations that are easy to digest. This a good way to identify trending topics and popular thought. Tweetlection, built by Sense Internet, is a interesting new online tool that harvests and analyzes thousands of tweets [...]

Recent Downloads » Kid Cudi, DJ Green Lantern & Broke Mogul – How To Make It In America: The Mixed Tape Meshuggah – Alive, ObZen, Destroy Erase Improve, Nothing Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Xenophanes The Souljazz Orchestra – Rising Sun Ellie Goulding – Lights Cubesato – Sounds Upcoming shows to catch in ATL » Bear [...]

I’ve been called a lot of names in my life and I’ve also had many different titles in my short career of making websites. My general attitude has been that titles are bullshit. What matters more to me is how meaningful the work can be, how much personal time I’m allowed, and how much I [...]

Graffiti Analysis is an extensive ongoing study in the motion of graffiti. Custom software designed for graffiti writers creates visualizations of the often unseen motion involved in the creation of a tag. Motion data is recorded, analyzed and archived in a free and open database, 000000book.com, where writers can share analytical representations of their hand [...]

I’ve been with IQ Interactive since August, 2007 and it has come time to say goodbye and say hello to my new home at Iconologic. I’ve enjoyed working with such an amazing cast of characters at IQ and will dearly miss this great team. Iconologic is a brand-design agency in Atlanta that does some excellent [...]

Dear City of Atlanta, Please pave Bellemeade Avenue. This high-traffic, two-lane bus route connects Howell Mill to Northside Drive and is in dire need of paving. This road is riddled with broken asphalt, puddles and potholes. Let’s be honest, there are better roads in Afghanistan. There have been many futile efforts by the city to [...]

As the digital landscape continues to evolve so does the modern home page. While there are vast differences in website interfaces for the desktop, mobile and beyond, a trend that reins king is the One-Pager. The one-page hero product concept has been around for quite some time, but only recently has it been established as [...]

These days my home studio is a minimal setup including only a laptop, an acoustic guitar and a stool. However, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting several different home and professional recording studios over the years and I’ve always been amazed at how each space is unique and inspiring in their own light. If you [...]

I work at a digital advertising agency in Atlanta GA that is currently renovating a new office space which should be finished by March 1st. I’ve been privileged enough to provide feedback regarding floorplan arrangements, furniture, display visualizations and overall atmosphere. In doing a little research it’s easy to find a lot of really inspirational [...]

I finally got a chance to comb through all the session topics posted on the Mix10 Session Calendar and here are the ones that interest me the most.  These topics include design / user experience / animation / multitouch / workflow & collaboration. Total Experience Design Media Processing Workflow Great user Experiences: Seamlessly Blending Technology [...]

This flamenco inspired tune is short and sweet. I recorded four different guitar tracks on my laptop’s built-in microphone using GarageBand. I managed to have fun with this session despite my choppy rhythm.

Like winning prizes? If yes, then you should know about several Silverlight contests you can enter to win big. You could win a few MIX10 passes, t-shirts and even $50,000 cash. It seems like new Silverlight contests keep popping up every day. I like seeing more crowd-sourced pitch competitions. If you have the skills and [...]

My session topic has been entered into a ballot for the 2010 MIX Conference. Please vote for me! Session Abstract: Discuss how to create innovative interface designs using Blend for Silverlight. See how to convert artwork to components with ease. Explore custom skinning, state transitions and fluid animation. Apply behaviors to change states and properties [...]

As the healthcare industry begins to adopt electronic tools, the tracking of health and wellness information is still largely fragmented and often paper-based. Microsoft wanted to change this paradigm by empowering consumers to store, track and manage their own health information in a single, easily accessible, online location. The talented team at iQ Interactive answered [...]

I had the pleasure of having lunch today with a few of the fine people at W. Scott Chester Photography. Among other things, we discussed cool photography portfolio websites and thought I’d share some of my favorites here. Natasja Fourie http://www.natasjamariafourie.com/ Seo Hiroshi http://www.seohiroshi.com/ Jeremy Cowart http://jeremycowart.com/ Ciril Jazbec http://www.ciriljazbec.com/ Andrew G Hobbs http://www.andrewghobbs.com/ Joshua [...]

In this brief tutorial I will show how you can create your own custom accordion menu from scratch.  We will be using Behaviors so that you won’t need to program a single line of code.  Please be aware that there are many ways to create custom controls depending your desired end result, and this particular [...]

This a good question with many different answers. First, always remember the basic rule of “garbage in, garbage out“. With that said, the first place to start is with a clean and organized PSD. That means naming layers appropriately, deleting unnecessary and hidden layers, flattening complex layers, and most importantly, good design. For beginners, the [...]

Thanks to Information Aesthetics, I stumbled upon the recent FIFA Earth visualization, showcasing more than 2 million daily soccer video games. This visualization easily demonstrates how big soccer is. I am impressed with how smooth the interface moves with such a large dataset.  Here’s what Andrew Vande Moere has to day: Fifa Earth [easports.com] visualizes [...]

Pico is an interesting animation by visual artist Takafumi Tsuchiya featururing the Samurai Jazz Quintet (SJQ), an experimental Japanese glitch jazz group.

Adobe just released beta 2 of Flash Catalyst with lots of new stuff and improvement. It will be interesting to compare the release candidate of Flash Catalyst with Expression Blend. I think both have their strengths and weakness, but I’m pretty anxious for Adobe to release Catalyst so that I can make a fair analysis. [...]

Diego Stocco came up with a quadruple-neck experimental instrument called “Experibass”.  To play it he uses cello and double bass bows, a device built with fishing line and hose clamps, a paintbrush, a fork, spoons, a kick drum pedal and a drum stick. Very cool!

While reading the October issue of Wired magazine I noticed that more and more advertisements are using 2D barcode tags to enrich different ad campaigns. My eye is immediately drawn to the digital tags at the bottom right corner of the page, skipping over the enticing headlines and sexy photography, hoping to interact with the [...]

Check out this animation from Google Japan demonstrating How Google Earth Works.  I like how well they are able to translate something so technical into such an easy-to-follow process. see more here

The contemporary art museum, Fondation Cartier is currently exhibiting Grafitti Taxonomy: Paris 2009. The project contains a repository of about 2,400 graffiti tags found in Paris France. Each tag can be explored to discover calligraphic-like similarities between individual text characters. The 10 most commonly used letters were identified for further study (i.e. A,E,I,K,N,O,R,S,T and U). [...]

I just saw this behind-the-scenes footage today, but it has been up for about 3 months.  What you’re seeing is two typographers, Pierre & Damien, and a pro race pilot, Stef van Campenhoudt, collaborating to design a font with a car.  The car movements were tracked using a custom software, designed by interactive artist Zachary [...]

Here is a demo of a little song I wrote called “Paco Rouge”. This song is a latin-inspired acoustic jam. It’s helpful for me to record a few trial demos to really get a song down before setting up a formal studio session. This demo only includes a few layered acoustic guitar tracks. It needs [...]

I’ve been using Expression Blend for a couple months now and have been collecting a wish list of feature requests and UI updates that would help make Blend become a more competitive design tool. Blend has a lot of potential, but it’s still a long way off from becoming the tool of choice for most [...]

The Atlanta Silverlight community came together to share tools, tips, and tricks of the trade for the 1st Annual Firestarter.  In addition to several notable local Atlanta presenters, we were also lucky to have the support of Tim Heuer from Arizona and Rob Zelt from North Carolina.  This was my first debut on the Microsoft [...]

Virtual gravity is an interface between digital and analog world. Virtual data can be transported from a loading screen to an analog scale. Search terms can be weighed physically and compared. Digital data get an actual physical existence and become a sensually tangible experience.

Here is a short little film that I helped create recently for the Atlanta 24 Hour Film Race. This was truly an honor to get to work with such a great group of people. Team: Zach Cowan: Director, Camera Op, Video Editor Edgardo Santiago: Executive Producer, Audio Design Holly Simpson: Writer Art Director: Marisa Riojas [...]

There has been a decent bit of chatter on the interwebs lately about the advantages and disadvantages to the rival platforms of Adobe’s Flash & Flex versus Microsoft’s Silverlight. There are many strong feelings, mostly from coders, on both sides of the debate with valid points supporting their standpoint. I view this level of competition [...]

The visual pattern 555 KUBIK is an expression of geometry and aesthetics through graphics and movement. This particular street projection is a perfect example of how motion graphics projected onto cityscapes can be powerful and engaging. I only wished that I could have seen this one in person. Production: Urbanscreen Art Direction: Daniel Rossa

I’ve been working in Expression Blend for a couple months, and I can definitely say that I’ve “seen the light“. Sure, there are a few bugs for Microsoft to iron out, but I can certainly say the same thing for Adobe’s Flash. I’m not necessarily trading teams over to Microsoft, but I do enjoy the [...]

This animated infographic movie highlights the increasing tendency of food importation, and how this phenomenon influences the economy, the environment and our neighborhoods. The message is mainly meant for Canadians, but certainly applies universally. read more project details

Aaron Koblin is a data visualization artist most widely known for such projects as Radiohead’s House of Cards, New York Talk Exchange, The Sheep Market, and Flight Patterns. The video interview above gives insight to Aaron’s experience as a data visualization designer and his perspective of the creative landscape as disciplines continue to merge. watch [...]

Synethesia is defined as: A neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. This sensation is beautifully conceived in the short film Synethesia created by the directing duo Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey, known collectively as Teri Timely. This [...]

This article takes the position that although technical skills are important, emotional intelligence is essential for effective leadership. What is emotional intelligence? According to Daniel Goleman, it’s made up of five components–self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Click here to read the article summary by Matt Snow

The graphics above display the adoption of Flash player versions 6 through 10, as well as it’s feature adoption over time. Flash 10, along with rich-media competitor Silverlight V.2, were released in October of 2008. Flash 10 already has an adoption at roughly 75% of all internet users, while Microsoft’s Silverlight is still under 20% [...]

This $14k system ($3k for each DVJ-1000 “turntable” and $8k for the SVM-1000 Mixer) allows you to mix DVD content, live camera feeds, set cue-points, and integrate beat-sensitive visuals effects in real-time. The mixer supports up to 4 av channels and the touchscreen gives you the instant power to manipulate video and audio with ease. [...]

Reuben Margolin creates totally singular techno-kinetic wave sculptures using everything from wood to cardboard to found and salvaged objects. Focusing on natural elements like a discrete water movements, his work is elegant and hypnotic. You can see more wave sculptures at his site.

When I’m not rocking out to the instrumental scores of Mastodon‘s recent album Crack the Skye, I keep the groove fueled with the help of the fine fellows over at Disco Dust.  Other gems that have been inspirational of these past several weeks is Dan Deacon, Sin Fang Bous, The Dodos, and The Season Standard. [...]

This pretty incredible light-art is created mostly with LED and Lasers. produced by: Hack n Mod

Check out this hawt showreel for the SprintCam HD made by i-MOVIX. These shots capture video at 1000FPS, and are mostly recorded in  Stade de France, Paris.

Read this article Jesse Warden, seasoned developer and Atlanta native, shares his interesting perspective on the current climate for Flash and Flex work in the 2009 marketplace. Among many factors, shifting budgets have led to false starts on projects and result in devs having to look for new work to fill the void. His metrics [...]

The short film World Builder is about a man who builds a world for the woman he loves with a sophisticated set of holographic tools. This movie, by Bruce Branit, was shot in a single day followed by 2 years of post production.

Hello Monday is a boutique design show located in Denmark that does some hot print and web work. I love the approach to displaying their work as stacked strips of images. I also like that they display a radial color pallet for each project.

New York based shop, The Egg Republic, promotes their work with this slick new site. The parallaxed interface, 3D transitions, and hot motion reel are a few of the site’s impressive features.

Flickr Clock [flickr.com] created by Stamen is a visual browser for the videos that people have recently started uploading to the site. The videos are arranged chronologically, and drawn from videos that people have posted to the flickrclock group on flickr. The bottom of the interface allows users to scroll back and forth in time, [...]

Microsoft Surface Financial Services application is a joint development between Microsoft and Razorfish. It is an innovative and engaging solution to present banking products to customers within a rich multi-touch experience. It is the first application to receive the official Surface certification and is now available on the Surface partner community site. view more Razorfish [...]

Lee Brimelow, from Adobe, has been promoting Adobe’s Creative Suite-4 by arranging scavenger hunts all over the world called “dead drops”. The idea behind the dead-drop is that Lee plants a series of clues to lead people to where he has planted a copy of the CS4 Master Collection (valued at $2,499). The latest dead-drop [...]

General Electric’s “Ecomagination” campaign just released a new site – Plug Into the Smart Grid. This interactive experience is a seamless mix of 3D graphics, animations, data visualizations and educational content. To add to the already rich and interesting content, the site also uses some augmented reality techniques to allow users another way to interact [...]

Universe in ’09 celebrates curiosity and creativity with a dynamic look at the very best ideas that give us reason for optimism in 2009. You may also get a kick out of the ascii art if you view-source

The LightScraper is a custom built aluminum structure, fabricated with a layer or semi translucent mesh. The structure can be easily erected in various compositions in an outdoor or indoor setting. A single computer and two projectors are used to bring the sculptures visuals to life. The LightScraper also acts as a giant musical instrument, [...]

Synoptic is a 3D interactive infographic based on a meteorological data set from Augsburg, Germany. Users can select environmental attributes to explore, alter time-spans, and detect patterns over time on a three-dimensional line graph landscape. site by: We Ain’t Plastic

This demo was built with the FLARToolkit by Japanese developer Saqoosha. The shape recognition library is used in conjunction with the video camera to create a very unique interactive experience.

2008 has finally come to an end I feel very lucky to have seen so many good concerts this year. The music gods have certainly been generous in providing such good tours, line-ups, venues and new releases to bring joy to my ears and eyes all year long. Some of the most memorable concerts were [...]

The 2008 IQ Interactive holiday site is live! We had a lot of fun making this site and are proud of the results. The Merry Match game got 560 unique visits during the first day it went live, and it hasn’t yet been emailed out to our clients and mailing lists. In fact, we noticed [...]

Japanese TV station WOWOW has a feature on their site that lets you mix a video of a live Radiohead performance from the Saitama Super Stadium leg of their 2008 Japanese tour. This online music video mix tool is accompanied by an interesting set of data visualizations. The video interface allows you to choose from [...]

This fun infographic video takes a look at powering batteries with sugar. Nice work by Apollo Pony

FEED is a Digital Consumer Behavior Study, which documents the results of a 2008 survey that Razorfish conducted of more than 1,000 “connected” consumers. The study includes essays that examine the ways consumers interact with digital media while also explaining why games and data visualizations are effective tools for marketers and consumers alike. download PDF [...]

Photographer Lyndon Wade not only has some hawt post-production skills, but also has some big name clients. His portfolio has some interesting subject matter along with complete narratives within each image . The site navigation is simple and intuitive. I like that each photograph is deep-linkable so that I can send a single shot to [...]

Sprint’s widget mosaic attempts to document the “now” . The interface resembles the iGoogle portal concept with a flash face-lift. The data is visualized with tiny bar charts, live camera feeds, data counters and various iconography presenting topics ranging from “Top words being used online”, “World energy consumption” to “Money being spent online” and “People [...]

The UNIQLO TRY experiment gathers video responses from a couple hundred Japanese women about bra size, makeup, and shopping and put it into a 3D world of short video clips. Questions appear at the top, you get a few random video responses, and then the animation zooms out to show you the rundown. The result [...]

Nice agency site… Located in Montreal and Amsterdam, Sid Lee is a multidisciplinary creative advertising agency specializing in branding. Their online presence offers an approachable experience that effectively reflects the company’s ideals and process. The site also does a nice job of condensing all of their areas of expertise into a cohesive central product offering. [...]

This recent ad from BMW combines video, typography, motion graphics, and some pretty slick data visualizations to execute a sophisticated little piece of eye candy. Oh, did I mention it features Michael Phelps! watch the ad read about the team & process