Ulrika Andersson interaction design, content strategy
Design
Touch The Sun Mobile App
The mobile version of the Galileo Drawings App is called simply Touch The Sun after the exhibition that sparked the idea for it. Touchscreen drawing possibilities are what first sparked my interest in creating a drawing-driven interaction for the Solar Dynamics Observatory images.
Touch the Sun Desktop App
This desktop application was designed for Chabot Space and Science center. Users are presented with recent images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and prompted to make guided observations, using their fingers on the touchscreen to draw the features they see.
SDO Screen: User Interface
This is the main user interface for an exhibition at Chabot Space and Science Center. It is driven largely by imagery from the Solar Dynamics Observatory: a NASA mission in orbit broadcasting stunning imagery of the Sun back to Earth.
Touch The Sun Gallery
Touch the Sun is a NASA funded project with a gallery diplaying images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The interior is an organic space with natural fibers and wood, custom furniture and hand-painted murals. The earthy look is to contrast with a set of screens where users interact with the images.
A great “fan video” for Bright Black
Teachers Eric Lewis and Joan Le explains why “Bright Black” is the winner of their hearts at the Exploratorium.
Anaphylactic: graphic seasons
Building on the idea that musicians are artists and should be presented in a fashion similar to gallery artists, I created a graphic identity for Anaphylactic that would support this vision visually.
An homage to a grandmother in Menlo Park
The text was “Gai Schlog Dein Kup an Vant!” (Go beat your head against the wall). This yiddish expression was an homage to the client’s late grandmother: and hung vibrant on a textured wall facing a fireplace, as two sites of contemplation.
Maa Sawmill of Sweden
It was important that their (Maa Sawmill) website presented them as a modern, highly efficient and lean operation that would provide a good product, but also presented them as the close-knit family operated company that they are, while also showcasing the strong environmental profile that defines their brand.
San Francisco Chronicle on “Colored Rooms”
I designed this house where half the rooms are white with colored light, and half are colored with white light. People can reach in with their hands, and compare what their skin looks like in the adjacent rooms.
Tear Machine (Tearful Reflection)
Soapy water is pumped onto a small acrylic platform in small tear-like amounts. By lighting the liquid drops from behind and providing a mirror at the right distance, users can reflect on their own reflection, now with tears streaming down their faces. For many, this induces a powerful empathy response, and their mood can quickly swing to a state of sadness and alarm.
Sky Mirror Prototype
Charles had long been looking for a way to create a device that would compare the variations in color at different areas of the sky. He created the prototype seen above, using lego motors, and we took these images while testing it at Fort mason’s Great Meadow.
A pinecone as a food education tool
I was amazed at the entertainment value of this item, and all the additional questions prompted as the nut opened up, spread its scent and my fingers were covered in pollen trying to rob it of the delicious nuts inside. Perhaps food as entertainment and education can go far beyond the usual artifice and pomp that we are all used to as marketing devices.
Die Dunkelheit
“Like a small record store: the space offers a neighborhood location to ponder on the most universal things. This can be music, or the sky.”
Motorik
Motorik: a sound- and climate based installation at the San Fernando Light Rail station in San Jose, California. This piece was designed with a background of economic turmoil, coupled with two major anniversaries of historical stand-offs.
Night Train Arrives In Emerald City
“Trains have served as metaphors for the secret lives of cities, and as signs for the public imagination regarding their spiritual lives and that of their transportation system.”
KQED on “Speed of Sound”
“Along with cable cars and seagulls, the Golden Gate Bridge foghorn is one of San Franciscos most iconic sounds. But did you know that if you hear that foghorn off in the distance, you can calculate how many miles you are from the bridge? Using the Speed of Sound exhibit at the Outdoor Exploratorium at Fort Mason, Shawn Lani shows us how sound perception is affected by distance.”
Portable Observatories
Portable Observatories was an attempt to provide small guides to the immediate surroundings in a way that would not impede too much on the landscape. We wanted the publications to be portable, so that the user takes it with her and shares with friends and family.
San Francisco Chronicle on “Speed of Sound”
The San Francisco Chronicle mentioned this exhibit in Reyhan Armici’s piece “Outdoor Exploratorium takes science in stride” (March 15th 2009). “The lesson is Physics 101 – the speed of light is much faster than sound – but it’s so much more compelling to see it happening in real time.”
Speed of Sound
Richard Brown and I came up with the idea for Speed of Sound during a walk to the grounds of Fort Mason military base in San Francisco. Through binoculars I watched Richard clap his hands a few hundred feet away from me, while it took and an additional half second for the sound of the clapping to reach my ears.
House of Days
House of Days in many ways mimics a classic outdoors camera obscura -except this time a visitor has the power to turn back time.
Audio Post
Audio Post was designed to activate the otherwise quiet parking lot at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Drivers who park are presented with a sign, announcing the radio frequency. As most cars have FM radios, we found drivers willing to park and listen.
An Irish proverb with a secret : Alta Plaza
The client was eager to choose a text and a font that gave tribute to his Irish heritage, and so we agreed that an Irish proverb would fit the bill.
Things Are Looking Up
The paradox inherent in using astronomical imagery is obvious: human ambition has no impact on the heavens, yet in poetry the movements of people and planets are constantly linked.
A Christmas Gift in Pacific Heights
Martha Angus called me once again and commissioned me to create a very special Christmas gift: from a wife to a husband to be placed at the very top of the stairs of a home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights.
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