Livin is easy
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Lonely Duck, Mobile, Work, iPhone
Summer time! In a couple of hours I’ll officially be on summer leave. Feels really good to get some time over to go and visit my friends and family up north. Thought I would just mention a few work related thing before leaving my computer behind.
Last week I had some time over and had the chance to complete an internal project we have been longing to release for some time. It is a utility iPhone application and will hopefully be available on the Swedish App Store within a couple of days. Before it has been approved by Apple I feel I can’t spoil the surprise too much but I am certain that within a couple of months it will be a top seller. We have big plans for this app and even though the current version doesn’t have all the features yet, they will be added over time. The one thing I can share is the logo of the App, perhaps it can give you a clue. Guillaume, designer at Lonely Duck did a great work on this one and hopefully it will be enjoyed my many. Stay tuned for the real run down in a couple of weeks.
Oh, and just a reminder, be sure to download the Val 2010 iPhone App and check out the current voting stats of it, now with a map view displaying the votes in a non-privacy-intrusive grouped way.
That’s is about it for now. Signing off to gather some inspiration for a productive autumn.
Take care and live easy!
LOKA Fejsmix
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, iPhone
We at Lonely Duck recently produced a digital campaign for the new flavour of Loka, Krusbär Päron. The campaign focuses on the fact that two flavours are mixed. With this in mind we were given a brief of a digital solution where users can engage in mixing. And what is more engaging than mixing yourself with someone else. So that’s what we did. The Loka Fejsmix, which is a face mix, but since we’re targeting a young swedish audience the spelling is a bit swenglish.
The resulting web campaign was a face mixing application running both on Facebook and on Loka.nu. Here the user could choose to mix a face, either from the web cam or from the pc. Up to this date 5000 mixes has been made. In order to create a nice final result the lighting a color of the different photos should be similar. The final result could then be posted on Facebook, emailed and if the user wanted to, competing for a place in a dynamic banner and the chance to win a bunch of Loka:s. To make other users on Facebook aware of the origin of the mix the wall post is branded, Loka style.
Since we at Lonely Duck has some extensive knowledge in iPhone development we also created an iPhone App for the campaign. This app named LOKA Fejsmix can be downloaded for free here The idea is the same, mix two faces, but in the context of a mobile phone. For the user this makes everything from the face marking process to the spontaneity of creating the mix a bit different. With a face mixer in the pocket, there is no place where a nice face mix can’t be done. The similarities between the two entities is that the finished picture when shared on Facebook gets a unique url on the loka.nu website. Here others can see the mix and also continue to share the mix. The app has up to this date been downloaded more than 7000 times.
7-Eleven Store Locator – Explaining the ingenious possibilities
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Lonely Duck, Mobile, Work, iPhone
Hitting the ground running
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Lonely Duck, Mobile, Work
2010 just started and things at the Lonely Duck office are more productive then ever. We are working on a couple of great projects at the moment and we are making new connects almost every day. Not that everything leads to a new project or a client but it is nice to see that people are interested in our work and that the marketeers now feel that the iPhone is a marketing channel to count on and wants to be there.
How one should go about when choosing the way to appear in this new channel of course differs between different brands. The most common thing we see is that this doesn’t really matter from the client point of view. Just to be in the iPhone or any other mobile phone can be good enough.
I can’t say that I can totally disagree with that. Not that I believe that simply getting your logo on whatever app out there is the way to go, even if that has been done numerous times already, but there is a truth in that more and more people are looking through their mobile phones to see the outside world and help them with their everyday lives. To be able to support this behavior, lighten up the day and perhaps offer assistance in daily situations can be a great customer- and brand care. Doing this without charging a buck is perhaps not always looked upon with the greatest gratitude but most certainly boost the value of the brand if the service is helpful enough.
This can be elaborated on for ages of course. But let’s just say that I feel that 2010 will be an interesting year.
Enough talking, let’s make this happen!
Need some iphone work done?
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
If you are looking for someone to bring your iPhone ideas to life, look no further. At Lonely Duck we are currently working hard creating new exciting iPhone applications and will soon start to create the same for Android. Check out our work so for at http://www.lonelyduck.com/iphone. Within a couple of weeks there will be even more cases on display
Recent work
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Well, so much has happened since the last post I’ve made on this blog that I don’t know where to begin. Anyway, I have now moved to Stockholm and I really like it! An awesome city full of creative inspiration. It also feels great to work more closely with my coworkers at Lonely Duck.
Back to the interesting bit. We have been working with a couple of different projects since April and I thought a couple of them deserves to be mentioned. Back in August we released Darkroom Music a retro themed full flash video website for the digital music company Darkroom. The sits lets the user experience the digital music creations of darkroom while full screen videos makes you wanna move even more. The site lets you share or embed the music of Darkroom through Facebook and other social sites.
Apart from a couple of various flash projects we at Lonely Duck have continued working with the iPhone and have recently released two apps. The one that we invested most time in is Tower Attack, a game that takes the Tower Defense genre and gives it a little twist. The goal is to plot the ultimate way to make it past the towers, make sacrifices on the altar of altruism and synchronize the attack. The goal is to let the grey alien with the mysterious briefcase reach the castle. See a couple of screen shots and read more here!.
During my vacation I found the lack of an app that contains drinking songs quite frustrating so we decided to fill that gap. The app is simply called Snapsvisor and contains 99 schnapps songs sorted in various categories. The user can choose to create his/her own songbook that will come in handy during festive occasions. Read more here!
So this was a short summary of sorted highlights since last time. We´re currently working on a number of exciting projects both for the iPhone and the web and I will present the final projects when it is possible.
Take care!
Newly hatched
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Just prior to easter Lonely Duck released a project that we´ve been working on. The project is a digital facelift of 7-Eleven. To do this we have created an iPhone application and a brand new website. The application helps people locate the nearest 7-Eleven store and even throws in great offers exclusive for people using the app. It is of course free to download but sadly it only works in Sweden. The app has in only 1 week entered the top 10 free apps in Sweden. Happy easter!
Paper: MiniBands – A collaborative mobile music concept
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Mobile, Papers
About two months ago I presented my master thesis. A concept for mobile music collaboration. Here is the full paper for anyone interested. Please refer to this paper if referencing any of the content.
Abstract
We have come a long way since industrial society, where specialization and monotone labor was part of a bigger distributed cognitive system. Today society rewards creativity, ideas and versatility. Teaming up with others for additional competence is a natural way to get this process started. One and the same person could come up with ideas, create and test them, and eventually launch them. Demands on music today are high, it needs to be mobile, accessible and (almost) free. The concept of owning music has become a loose concept since the introduction of Napster, Limewire, Kazaa, DC and torrent programs that through different approaches has made music more or less free. Being able to listen to music wherever we are is something that has been taken for granted since the first walkman. But what about creating music? So far this has been a very stationary process that requires expensive equipment and a lot of time. This thesis aims to turn an advanced process like music composing into a mobile concept where beginners, as well as trained musicians, could find their way. We had to research ways to create an application that could reach as many users as possible and be easy enough for beginners, while at the same time challenging for experts. Music creation is often a collaboration between artists/musicians, each of them an expert (virtuoso) on their instrument. On MiniBands a band still consists of band members, and why should it not? In the concept we propose in this thesis we want to keep some of the individual virtuoso expert approach, but make it easy, mobile and accessible. A band will still consist of different members, each with their own, perhaps favorite, instrument. MiniBands, the system that we propose in this thesis, allows an easy, mobile interface where users have to develop music in cooperation with other users and eventually publish and distribute it over the web. MiniBands will work closely with artists but even closer with users. Allowing users to try their MiniBands skills with professional musicians will be an incentive that could bring a lot of amateurs to the application. MiniBands will be a completely new way to interact and create music that might be different to that which experts (artists) are used to. This thesis discusses what will make users want to be a part of the Minibands concept and how to create the application for web and mobile. Unlike other popular music games Minibands is not about hitting notes at the right time but about creating actual music. And unlike other musical sequencers Minibands is about creating music together. MiniBands does not intend to replace music-making as it is, but it might give composers an easy way to record their ideas or help to spawn new ones, through an intuitive and playful interface.
Download the full paper here
Follow-up on the hype
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Lonely Duck, Mobile, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
As i wrote in the last post we recently released our first iPhone application. It has been an exciting couple of days with reading reviews and following the stats and today it finally happened, our app passed the iBeer application and is current #2 among entertainment applications and #22 on top paid apps here in Sweden. We even got a review. The application formerly known as Full Metal Throttle Chopper now goes by the name Motorcycle Engine, to make things a little easier. With this update the engine sound and some minor glitches were adjusted.
Following the iPhone hype
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Design, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Papers, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Lonely Duck has entered the realm of iPhone development. It is an exiting new world full of opportunities and challenges. A couple of weeks ago we landed our first client project for the iPhone and it will be out later this month. During this time we also created a game with the appealing name Full Metal Throttle Chopper. Basically the application works as the throttle of a motorcycle, with a realistic engine behavior and both speed and RPM gauge. Just twist your cell phone to rev the virtual throttle. Tilt it to shift and off you go. As if these features isn’t enough, solely the tag line will make you buy it:
Ever wanted to leave the office in the middle of the day, gear up and go riding on the open highway? The sun in your eyes, all troubles left behind, a free spirit roaming the badlands with nothing but freedom and opportunities ahead.
Or maybe you just want peoples’ attention at parties? Whichever dream you hope to fulfill Throttle Chopper is the app for you.
Reflections
When you are a person interested in different types of interaction methods and interfaces the iPhone is truly a toy. People will be interacting through location, proximity, acceleration, sound and touch. So much can be done, but what applications has been at the top of the paid apps list? iFart, iGirl and iBeer! Is this saying something about the current state of the world, about financial crisis or depression. I´m not at all qualified to say, but it´s clear that iPhone apps are going through a maturing process. The market is flooded with simple applications that are claiming to do ONE thing, this thing of course differs between applications, but they do this one thing and at the moment that is all it takes! These applications will be downloaded and used a couple of times for kicks. They bring an instant payback for the buyer by doing exactly what the say they do. So what would the lead word of the first generation iPhone apps be, I guess, Simplicity.
Lonely Duck HQ
Westin/Johansson Casa
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