So today I had the privilege of sitting in a HOW conference session titled “Designing for more than three screens” by former CBS Interactive Vice President and Entertainment Creative Director John Couch, whom now runs his own technology consulting firm Titanium Sky. His presentation was focused on his work primarily with CBS and the hit show CSI. He discussed his role in the development of creating brand experiences across multiple platforms such as TV, mobile and Web. One key point he reinforced was once you have established your audience both on-screen and on the Web was to not let them get away. Even if the show is cancelled you may still have thousands maybe millions of viewers that can carry your brand and perpetuate it into new forms of revenue. Couch was one of the first to market the concept of short commercials with tie-ins to see continued media on the brands websites.

He spoke also on the subject of new media and where it is going, which seems to be the mission of his own website with the tagline “the future is sooner than you think” which can be found at http://titaniumsky.com. He highlighted some of the upcoming technologies that brands should and will embrace that will change the way we think of brand experiences and us as Experience Designers (IxD) should keep up with. Below I will highlight some of the technologies that are up coming and feature links to their websites that show demos and screenshots.

Cocoon – Tino Schaedler – 360degree screen that will immerse you. Video demo

Emotive Systems – Brain computer interface – You think it and the screen interprets it. view demo

Bionic Contact Lens – University of Washington in Seattle is working on this technology. view demo

True Holographic TV – Used for walk thru advertising. view demo

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) – Screens you can bend (Sony is working on this technology) video link

Augmented Reality – Pioneered by Marco Tempest – so many possibilities here. Link

Gesture Controlled TV – Hitachi is developing this. Video link

X-Box 360’s Natal – Demoed at this years E3. Demo link

World Builder – Brandit VFX – Pioneered by Bruce Brandit – Holographic world shot over several weeks, took 2 years post-production work. Video link