Weeknotes 1507-08

Bubbl prototype test is live!
Together with the Bubbl guys we have been building and iterating their prototype (under the project name Kupla) over the past weeks to a beta release. On tuesday in week 1508 we pressed the button, send out the app and celebrated with cake and bubbles :-) Over the coming weeks the first groups of testers will use it in their daily life. Together with Bubbl we will collect usage data and talk to the users to gain insights into how they experience it. For the time being we will keep it a secret what it does exactly, but here is a sneak preview:

Bubbl app

A sneak preview of the Bubbl app.

Riantis project room
Our project room was put to good use these weeks. The best technical brains from our neighbours Coolblue used it as a refuge to work on their development strategy. It’s not that they don’t have project rooms themselves, but they opted for an inspiring place to think longterm away from day to day development. After the Coolblue brains left Hoog+Diep HQ we set the room up as Riantis room.

Hoog+Diep Riantis project room

The Riantis project room at Hoog+Diep, where client, designers and developers evaluate design and development progress.

Important design and development information that needs to be discussed en group now covers the walls. It is the place where we will present and evaluate progress in design and development with Riantis and each other. For the coming time this will be the center of bringing to market of Riantis luxury residential services.

One more thing
The number one Dutch Apple webshow ‘One More Thing‘ invited us to talk smart watches and more. We talked about what it means to be a modern inventor of smart products and how this allows us to design from small products on your wrist to bike parking systems. But since the apple watch event was only a few weeks away the conversation also focussed on our smart watch experiences.

Hoog+Diep talk smartwatches and more at One more thing

Jan David and Jesse were keen to know what makes a good smart watch experience and how can it be designed and developed. We discussed limitations of current hardware (it’s all about battery life), what does everyday usage of a smart watch look like, what is the influence of fashion and how do the PebbleAndroid wear and the Apple watch compare. We ended on the question which smart watch will the people at Hoog+Diep be wearing this summer? Spoiler allert: we were not sure. You can watch the complete show (in Dutch) above.

update: And now Pebble Time is announced we are sure we can’t answer the question before we tried them over a period of time, talked to other users and have run our own apps on them. We will keep you posted.

Hoog+Diep website redesign
As you might have noticed we finished the redesign of our Hoog+Diep website. If you are reading this through some form of RSS reader, go ahead have a look. The old site designed by our friends Perceptor served us well for a long time, but it was time for an update. We wanted to create a special first impression and give our work and blog more room to breath on all the different pieces of glass people use to look at it.

Hoog+Diep website redesign test

Testing the new Hoog+Diep site across different devices

Party!
We recently moved to a new studio and had our first lustrum. To celebrate our new studio and had our first lustrum we are throwing a small party. There will be drinks, food and the opportunity to play with some of our latest work. More info here.

Come play with Hoog+Diep!

Furthermore
Furthermore Wouter continued work on Roko, we had nice talks with Transavia about collaborating based on the award winning Suitkees concept and Mattijs + Jaap Drupsteen ran a Showsync workshop at Het Nieuwe Instituut. This was the first time a group of talented VJ’s was invited to use the new performance tool they are building. Judging by the reactions they are on the right track.

Mattijs and Jaap ran a Showsync workshop at Het Nieuwe Instituut