Mill Touch

Creative Director, Experience Design

Mill Touch is a bespoke, large format, multi-touch installation showcasing over 1000 projects that span The Mill’s 20 year portfolio. The goal was to create an interactive piece that could be experienced physically, complementing the vast archive of Mill work, and to do so in a way that was visually arresting and intuitive all at once.

The touch screen is made of transparency-switchable Smartglass and housed in a custom frame, allowing for borderless, full bleed projections. A fluid particle field serves as a celestial backdrop for all content. Users can explore the constellation of projects or use conventional methods of selection. Other unique interface elements include a before-and-after lens, a free-floating dockable search keyboard, and a lenticular video scrubber.

Built in Cinder, I had the pleasure of working with the framework’s creators, which made the experience extra special. Having frequently worked with web technologies that pose limitations on interactivity and visuals, it was incredible to see the full range of visual possibilities offered by the Cinder library. The result is a beautiful, ‘living’ object of design that has transformed the Mill’s work space. Mill Touch set a new benchmark for interactive installations within the industry, winning a place in the Communication Arts Interactive Annual of 2011, among other awards.

I also co-directed the ‘Behind the Scenes’ film of the Making of Mill-Touch, which has since spread virally online, generating both a sizable buzz and a steady flow of business for The Mill’s emerging experiential design department.


Credits:
Client: The Mill NY
Executive Producer: Bridget Sheils
Lead Creative Technologist: Andrew Bell
Creative Director: Sheena Matheiken
Creative Technologist: Hai Nguyen
UX Lead/Developer: Chris McKenzie
Digital Producers: Bridget Sheils, Kei Gowda
Design Director: Jeff Stevens
Art Director: Bowe King
Designer/Animator: John Koltai
Designer: Audrey Davis
Assistant Colorist: Josh Bohoskey, DJ Miranda

Film credits:
Directors: Sheena Matheiken & Alex Maxwell
Editor: Jonathan Rippon
Music: Ben Benjamin

Honors:
Gold: Best Touch Interaction, User Experience Awards, 2012
CommArts Interactive Annual, 2011
FWA Site of the day

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Matheiken Inc
Creative Director / Design Director / Designer
Design-centric creative practice for web, mobile and experiential realms. Specializing in product development, gestural and haptic interfaces, data visualisation, service design and social innovation.
Brooklyn, NY