Microsoft Kinect is quickly becoming ubiquitous in the gaming ecosystem and is a topic I find myself bringing up more with retail clients. With the adoption of Kinect on the Xbox platform and with all the Kinect games out now, people are beginning to better understand gesture-based interactions. Plus, with many new Kinect applications moving beyond games and toward pure experiences, the next logical question to address is what comes next and how might we use this device in the consumer space? Now clients are coming and asking what differentiator options Kinect offers and how to incorporate it in their retail space. We have all seen the research and hacking projects that people have already started developing for Kinect, such as controlling helicopters and making shadow puppets. Though the reality is, how can these ideas translate into an in-store experience? Before I get into that, let’s outline some of the considerations that need to be given to a general Kinect interaction.

Give Me Some Space, Please

The first thing to understand about Kinect is that it needs more space than a standard touch Kiosk. Ideally, it should have a dedicated area for the interaction that allows for someone, or maybe a few people, watching or interacting, being able to stand around and use wide motion gestures. Depending on the overall experience you are trying to achieve, you may want to think how it can work in your retail environment, especially if space is an issue.

There are delicate considerations retailers need to make before choosing Kinect as an option. First, there needs to be a dedicated area (about 8-12 feet) for the user – this is to make sure that no passive shoppers interfere with the Kinect detection camera. Second, retailers need to make a clear designated area so consumers know if they are in the designated Kinect area or not.

Best Buy and the Microsoft Store do an excellent job of defining a space for the interaction; to make it clear to passive shoppers not to enter the “Kinect experience” with the use of colored carpet and a small wall at the back of the zone. The Microsoft Store places the experience at the back and at the front of the store in dedicated areas, out of the way. The individual using the Kinect can also see where they are meant to stand, enabling them to move and not worry about bumping into shoppers. This keeps everyone aware of the Kinect interaction whether they are in it or not.

Consideration also needs to be given to the height and position of the camera; it is optimal to have the camera directly in front and at about waist height to allow for tall and short users (think children) to use the Kinect properly. It can also be placed in other locations, though it can affect Kinect’s ability to detect a user’s full bodies for tracking.

Stay tuned for the second part of this three part series. Be sure to visit our Associate Creative Director’s Blog as it is full of thoughts on brand, design, technology, etc.

Why Digital Signage Is Important

DOOH media is a relatively new and growing concept that is making waves in the marketing and advertising world. The key feature to DOOH advertising that regular out of home advertising does not have, is a plausible way to collect impression and conversion metrics in real-time (an impression is a single consumer viewing the digital signage). This information can then be used to make on-the-fly adjustments to the advertising campaign to convert impressions to sales.

In a retail environment, DOOH advertising often uses interactive displays to engage customers, and many of these digital displays have software that tracks impressions. Conversion and engagement can be tracked as well; and if the digital signage has touch capability, the customer can then engage with it to purchase a product with integrated point-of-sale software.

IdentityMine recently came out with proprietary software built for the Microsoft Surface 2.0, which combines digital signage, a tablet device, and a mobile component. This Omni-channel retail solution drives consumer commitment to a product by seamlessly connecting with a buying experience through the digital advertising.  This is an easy way to convert the consumer into a paying (and returning) customer.

Another benefit and ROI metric is cost avoidance for expenses such as flyers, brochures, and sales collateral that all businesses could really take advantage of. While cost avoidance is not the primary target of DOOH advertising, it is definitely one of the metrics that needs to be factored into any campaign.

As with other ROI-based marketing or advertising campaigns, the return should be carefully considered in any DOOH campaign.

Phonedog (a website that compares and ranks smartphones) helped everyone out by starting the Dog Fight series that pits two phones against each other. Both smartphones are ready to take on the tasks of any smartphone power user and the phones offer strong CPU power and healthy sized touch displays.

How Do They Stack Up?

How do these phones stack up against what you have now? Let us know what you think below.

There is a pretty slick new app on the Windows Phone Marketplace that allows you to replace the standard calendar tile with a tile that maximizes the limited space on your start screen. AppoinTile displays up to 4 upcoming appointments, calendar, and the days date which brings everything you need into one optimized tile.

Let’s Take a Look at What You Get

• Live tiles showing up to 4 upcoming appointments
• 42-day dynamic calendar with markers on days having activity
• Summary count of the appointments you have today
• Automatic syncing with your phone calendar
• Customizable layout both for front and back of tiles
• Appointments filtering/hiding

                        

The most recent update supports any calendar, including Exchange and Office 365, and allows offline syncing. In all, this app really gets down to business and is sure to offer a one stop shop for the person on the go.

1.       Marvel AR

Mobile comic book readers will be able to “look beyond the page” when pointed at a properly equipped comic. “Writers and artists now have a whole host of new tools at their disposal to redefine the comic book medium,” Marvel Comics Editor in Chief Axel Alonso said at SXSW this week.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Platform: iOS

2.       Spot Crime

This is the first crime application we have seen that uses augmented reality technology to give a visual sense of where crime is happening. A user identifies high crime areas in the areas where they might be traveling and gets specific details of the crime events by selecting individual incidents.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Platform: iOS

3.       See Colors

Color blindness affects many people around the globe and See Colors intends to make a difference in their lives. This app will help people suffering from vision deficiency by applying filters that help with color recognition.                                Platform: Windows Phone

4.       AR Invaders

This app brings the classic alien invasion theme to real life and all you have to do is walk outside. Turn Times Square into an alien battle zone and recruit your friends to build an army in multiplayer mode. There aren’t many mobile AR games that stack up to this beast.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Platform: iOS

5.       Wikitude

Voted “Best Augmented Reality browser” three years in a row, this nifty app displays Wikipedia information about users’ surroundings in a mobile camera view. A key feature of this app is that is also displays mobile coupons and discounts for local retailers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Platforms: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, Symbian

However, if you are starting a new product or service that no one has seen before or had the opportunity to use, what methods can you use in this situation?

There is not always something to test and people may not have accurate opinions about a product they have never seen or used. Jane Fulton Suri, Chief Creative Officer at IDEO, suggests in her article about design research, that innovation requires a new approach to tackle the unknowns. Design research techniques can help with future products and service insights. She explains that innovation is mostly open-ended in its requirements and can be very subjective in nature. She suggests that what is required is Design Research, as opposed to more traditional research techniques that still use the analysis of objective evidence. Design research is enhanced with extensive exploration due to the lack of applicable data. These include:

• Synthesizing of evidence
• Exploration of analogies and extreme cases
• Recognition of emergent patterns
• Empathetic connection to people’s motivations and behavior
• Intuitive interpretation of information with impressions from multiple sources

These considerations are used to expose patterns with people’s behavior and experiences as well as exploring reactions and responses. This research is to extend our knowledge and understanding of the user base and allows the researcher direct information to probe and prototype against, likely giving give key insight on unknowns through hypothesis and experimentation.

The value of Design Research comes from inspiring our imaginations and informing our intuitions. Successful design research, as Jane suggests, requires both a “Cultural transformation in organizations” and “Perpetuation of those transformations” to allow innovation to survive and grow. Design research requires the individual to get out of the office, be where the customer is and see what they see. It is important to get first-hand experience of the consumer base. Design research can be rich and delivers not only facts, but insights into those facts and reasons behind them. She goes on to emphasize that people have needs, motivations, habits and perceptions that all must be taken into account during new product and service design thinking. Good research should uncover these nuances and allow the experimenter to gauge their ideas against this knowledge.

There are three different approaches to design research (that our designers use at IdentityMine) that can address open questions with regards to innovation and how they can be performed and implemented.

Generative Design Research

This is an empathetic exercise; it is descriptive and factual but also speculative and interpretive. We are looking for emergent patterns, challenges and opportunities that can be addressed with innovation and design thinking. It can be performed by shadowing specific people and observing their behaviors, even having people keep diaries of moods and significant events. It is interactive and contextual and not based on self-report or opinions. There is also room for more traditional market research and trend information searching and the aim is to create a framework for thinking about the domain for innovation.

Evaluative/Formative

Learning feedback loops are useful here; user input and consumer insight gained from using sketches tell stories. Producing videos and prototypes can be very valuable to help demonstrate the issues and try potential solutions. The aim is to tangibly represent an idea by probing and asking questions and this gives a chance to address questions and uncertainty as it occurs. It allows you to check people’s reactions and refine assumptions. Collaborative discovery and creation work well in this research method, using prototyping techniques such as theater (bodystorming) and paper prototyping.

Predictive

How confidently can we predict success? By looking ahead to estimate the potential of an idea and the future opportunities that may be available. This requires more of a business mindset, and is a good skill to acquire, especially for designers. In this approach, we look for potential markets and determining viability of ideas. Running live experiments and having labs that run experiments online is good practice.

After implementing these design research techniques, one should have a solid base of knowledge to work from. Remember, these are not the only ways to gain insight for design research, but are meant to get the ball rolling.

For a deeper look inside the mind of our IdentityMine’s Associate Creative Director, visit Stuart Mayhew’s blog.

1. Integration of touch
2. Keyboard and mouse control
3. The all new Windows 8 application store
4. Cloud services that link PCs and Windows Phone
5. New hardware compatibilities

Our own Laurent Bugnion, Microsoft MVP, says the following in his blog post The Gestures of Windows 8 where he outlines key features of the preview.  “You can use your fingers to work the gestures, but you can also use keyboard/mouse and never have to touch your screen”.

Windows 8 may be the most important launch in Microsoft history as it marks the beginning of Windows Phone, PC, and tablet synergy. Microsoft is now moving towards a more unified vision of the future, as displayed by Craig Mundie at TechForum and Julie Larson-Green at the Mobile World Congress. Having one centric Metro design is the last piece to the Microsoft puzzle that aligns every facet of the Redmond-based enterprise.

One of the most compelling parts of Windows 8 is the Windows Store. This retail store follows the Metro style that allows for easy browsing and viewing on your Xbox 360. While there is not an official timeline for the release of Windows 8, it is expected to be released sometime in the fall.

It has been a busy quarter for everyone at IdentityMine (hats off to our developers, designers, and integrators), as we prepared one of the very first Kinect for Windows commercial applications.

This work was showcased earlier this month when our team made the trip to the Chicago Auto Show to display the Nissan Pathfinder Kinect Experience we developed for Nissan North America in partnership with Critical Mass. The virtual showroom experience was a big hit with media and spectators and we are looking forward to seeing how the technology evolves.

Mark Brown, CEO, IdentityMine, explains, “The addition of Kinect for Windows literally transforms the way people engage and interact with computers using natural input including voice and physical body movements. This virtual showroom experience promises to elevate and enable a new breed of vehicle simulation experiences that will allow design concepts to be explored virtually—even before the car is in production.”

Automotive enthusiasts can enjoy discovering the ins-and-outs of a car before it goes into production. This Kinect for Windows interactive experience is bridging the gap between next-generation technology and the automotive consumer. You can read the entire Press Release on the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch.

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Sr. Director, MEA Region: Daron Yondem

Today, IdentityMine announced the appointment of Daron Yondem as Sr. Director, MEA Region. As a distinguished author of two books and multiple magazine articles, Daron brings with him well over a decade of experience in Microsoft technologies. With this experience comes reward, and for the past five years, Daron has been awarded Microsoft MVP status in Silverlight technology. He will be the second discipline lead at IdentityMine with Microsoft MVP status, along with Sr. Director, Europe, Laurent Bugnion. Combined, Laurent and Daron bring over 30 years’ experience in Microsoft technologies. Laurent has been an MVP for over six years, and was awarded Silverlight MVP of the year in 2010. Like Daron; Laurent is also an author, who has published two books on Silverlight technology, filled with code samples and illustration in full color.

The Microsoft MVP Award recognizes exceptional technical community leaders, who share their deep, real-world knowledge about Microsoft technologies and others. To receive the Microsoft MVP Award, nominees undergo a rigorous review process. A panel that includes members of the MVP team and Microsoft product groups evaluates each nominee’s technical expertise and voluntary community contributions for the past 12 months. Our MVPs’ bring confidence to our customers that every application was built and designed by the best using the latest Microsoft technologies.

If you want to know more about killer UX guys, click on their names to jump to their blogs. You might learn a thing or two (or three)