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Blow your mind in Z-space
The Billy Harvey website is one of the most engaging sites I've ever experienced. Be sure you explore, and click the "HEAD CONTROL" link to see what the Billy Harvey world looks like.
I've played around with z-space interfaces in the past, but I haven't seen many websites that use it like this. An even deeper into z-space interface is the one by the web design firm that built billyharvey.com, sofake. Just... keep clicking.
And if you want to think a little more about narrative and space and, well, comics I recommend Scott McCloud's I can't stop thinking.
A huge thank you to Dan from the porterdavis band, for sending me the billyharvey.com link.
Have fun!
Posted by Kathy on September 14, 2005 | Permalink
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» What is a z-space interface? from ben.hamilton.id.au
I got no idea. But apparently Billy Harveys web site is one. Spotted on Creating Passionate Users, this site is somewhat different to most. Reminds me of the Dont click site Ive mentioned before, not because its similar in ... [Read More]
Tracked on Sep 15, 2005 12:23:53 AM
» I've Just Had My Mind Blown from Paul Explains Nothing
I've never heard the term z-space used before, but apparently it refers to a zooming user interface. Creating Passionate Users made the reference and stated that you could Blow your mind in Z-space. I checked out the Bill Harvey site [Read More]
Tracked on Sep 15, 2005 8:07:42 AM
» De la troisième from Foire aux idees
Kathy, sur Creating Passionate Users, nous propose une incursion dans l'espace Z question de nous faire découvrir les possibilités spatiales qu'offre Flash. sofake et Billy Harvey sont deux exemples d'une très bonne utilisation de l'espace, et d... [Read More]
Tracked on Sep 16, 2005 9:36:53 AM
» Passionate Users from amiri.info
If these is a single new blog you will read today, this week, this month then check Creating Pasionate Users. The site is truly creative with the content you wil read, think over, laugh and overall get a very satified feeling from. Especially chec... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 3, 2005 3:18:46 AM
Comments
This is more commonly known as a zooming user interface or ZUI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZUI . There is another example at http://rchi.raskincenter.org/aboutarchy/img/zoomdemo.swf that is also pretty nice.
Posted by: Chris | Sep 15, 2005 2:43:10 AM
Neat! The next thing to do is to suck you in(teleport) the site.
Hey hang on, maybe someday we'll find our other earth thru such a wormhole website (like that sofake one).
Posted by: Tarry Singh | Sep 15, 2005 3:28:07 AM
Thank you so much for pointing me toward sofake.com. That site is awesome!
Posted by: Michael Sica | Sep 15, 2005 8:33:21 PM
I love the way they handled the audio on this site... how it gets louder or softer depending on which *room* you're in (very loud when you're in the room with the amplifier!), and the way he lip syncs to his music when you choose one of the songs. And when he says he has to go because he has a paper cut...
This is just one artist, but imagine what you could do if you kept evolving a world like that. Anyone remember the Peter Gabriel interactive CD-ROM? It wasn't a z-order interface, but it did a lot of really interesting things with the subtleties of navigating in the world. For example, as you got "lower" (which meant deeper along a branch in this case), the sound subtly became deeper, more bass, etc. And the colors became warmer and more saturated. This helped you have a "sense" of where you were in the world in relation to other parts. And as you moved "up" in the interface, the colors of the interface became cooler and less saturated (as they would in the real world when you go from ground to sky), and the audio/music had more high frequencies.
To use the buzzword dujour, it was also about *remixing*. Way back then (mid 90's), he felt that it was important for music to be a collaboration between audience and artist -- so he has pieces of his music that you can play with to at least partly co-create the music. Here's a link to an old Wired article about it:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.03/desktop.mtv.html
It's a wonderful use of interactive exploration.
Posted by: Kathy Sierra | Sep 15, 2005 8:49:40 PM
Kathy: Your comments about Peter Gabriel remind me of the more recent efforts of Nine inch Nails/Trent Reznor where he has made multi-track recording of his singles available for fan remixing. He's done this in Garage Band format as well as in formats for more professional tools.
This is as close to open source as a rock star can get. Lots of fun to play with.
http://www.nin.com/downloads/index.html
-Matt
Posted by: Matt Galloway | Sep 15, 2005 9:25:54 PM
Check out Bob Schneider's site. It's fantastic. http://www.bobschneidermusic.com/
Posted by: Leann | Sep 18, 2005 9:11:00 PM
Anyone know what program they used to create the Bill Harvey page? Is it flash? or pad++?
Posted by: monster | Apr 16, 2006 8:34:28 PM
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