Modern gaming is now about building momentum - through the use of Battle Passes and Seasonal Content - which can create some brilliant gaming experiences. But are there negative aspects to this ‘living’ content that we need to consider as well?
How N64’s GoldenEye changed the way we play
What's all the fuss about AI Art?
Beating Boredom: Three Rules for Creating Better Surveys
Brand Snap
Brand Snap is SketchBook’s proprietary approach to brand perception studies. Finalist for the 2019 MRS/ASC awards - we replace the typical unengaging grid questions with a multiplayer game - where participants compete to identify the best match of brands and statements.
By gamifying this process, and providing immediate feedback from other participants on responses we improve engagement and data quality - and turn survey completion into an activity that participants want to do, as opposed to something that feels like homework.
This approach is perfect for any brand looking to determine their position in the competitor landscape - and / or searching for white space to pivot into.
Click here for more information.
Doing mobile research well
When I started working at CrowdLab, I had a tough job convincing researchers that smartphones weren’t a passing fad. Now almost every piece of research touches the mobile consumer in some way.
Despite this I think the research industry is still playing a bit of catch up in the way we design mobile research studies. I recently put together a few thoughts on how to do mobile research well, in conjunction with Insight Platforms, to share my experience of what works in for mobile.
The hive mind
With all the talk about Artificial Intelligence you’d be forgiven for thinking that the world was on the brink of a Terminator style takeover. Thankfully true AI is still a long way off, and there are a great many tasks that humans can simply do better. These tasks tend to be anything that requires any sort of imagination or feeling. AI can be trained to recognise brands in photos, but it can’t tell you if the picture is of a rowdy night out, or a cuddle in front of the sofa.
Amazon encountered this problem when trying to provide recommendations for customers after they bought a product. To solve it, they built their “Mechanical Turk” service.
"Mechanical Turk" takes its name from a fake clockwork machine, that appeared to be able to play chess. In reality, the machine was being operated by someone hidden inside the machine.
Amazon's service repeats this trick with an API. The service allows users to send instructions about a simple task to thousands of people globally, who will complete it, return their response, and get paid piecemeal. The innovation is that Amazon lets you treat these people as though they were an AI – meaning text or photos can be coded, or audio transcribed, at very large scale. In fact many of the “automated” services providing translation, coding or recommendations aren’t using AI at all – just lots and lots of people.
Until real AI is able to make true imaginative leaps (and we're probably talking at least 50 years yet), harnessing the processing power of people is the next best thing.
The future is cardboard
It’s kind of ironic that the most innovative idea in technology this year so far consists of a few sheets of cardboard: Nintendo Labo for the Switch console. Labo is a video game and some pre-cut cardboard sheets. Slot these pieces together, though, then add the Switch controllers, and the magic begins.
The player can create a real life remote controlled car, a telescopic fishing rod, a working piano, and a full-sized robot suit. These cardboard toys then connect with the video game in surprising ways. The robot suit, for example, allows you to destroy an on-screen city using your body. But the real joy is the way the cardboard construction almost demands the user personalise it with their own drawings, stickers and Sellotape.
Labo is part of an increasing trend towards mixed life experiences, where the real and digital worlds are brought together; the real adding some physicality to the virtual, while the virtual adds a bit of magic. And if as a grown-up you feel you’re missing out, we have the upcoming immersive experience “Somnai” to look forward to; where attendees wear headsets to superimpose some virtual magic as they explore a real world location and interact with actors.
For those of us in Research, it points towards a future where packaging tests might be conducted using blank cardboard boxes for the participant to hold – with the designs then virtually overlaid on top. Or sending out cardboard sheets for participants to then slot together into physical prototypes– and using the digital world to help them visualise the final products in action.
Hello world
We're finally live with our website, which feels like a significant milestone. I'm not one for doing "shout-outs" exactly, but I do think big thanks are in order for the work of Moving Studio (who created the SketchBook brand) and Owen Davey (who created our fantastic illustration).
Welcome to the internet!