A Quick Look Back as We Move Forward

by admin | Aug 2, 2018 | Other

To say that the last two years at Alt Ethos have been a whirlwind of busy excitement would be an understatement. That is why we are taking a moment to slow down and look back at everything we have accomplished and where we are headed in the coming years. Here are just a few moments that made the highlight reel:

Looking Back

After months of brainstorming, planning and recruiting, Alt Ethos landed our first major client in early 2017. The project involved creating Soundscape for the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. This first installation combined all of our passions: immersive projection mapping, interactivity, and spatialized audio and brought our vision to life.

Finding a New Home and Traveling

With plenty of passion driving us forward, we began producing lots of work and seeking new clients in several key markets. By this time, we had become full-time tenants at Commons on Champa. Our new home also became a client and we actually completed several installations in the space, including an interactive LED hallway. It was an amazing time for the company.

As part of our constant quest for new ideas and partners, Ethan traveled to the ix conference and Paul was off to the i/o conference to find inspiration and make connections. At the same time, we delved into the events industry with installations at both 5280 Magazine’s Anniversary Party, and Denver Startup Week.With each new experience, the company was gaining momentum and name recognition.

It wasn’t long before we moved our office to Prism Workspaces and celebrated with an open house. This most recent move has fueled our creativity and allowed us to expand our capabilities as a company.

Another milestone included a trip to Albuquerque in October to participate in the Creative Startups Accelerator program where we acquired a lot of new knowledge and workshopped various aspects of our business. This event helped us to developed a plan for the future and hone strategies that will take us to a whole new level. We found that this crash course/boot camp for creative businesses to be invaluable and we are constantly referring back to things we discovered and learned during our time there.

Notable Projects

Taking this newfound knowledge and inspiration, we started blazing a trail to what we now separate into two categories known as Events and Environments, which has resulted in partnerships with a myriad of new events.

Some highlights include:

Creating a 20’ tall lion sculpture for Gari Safari’s Halloween at the Church Nightclub. This project involved create a 3D rendering that was then turned into a physical object that included two moving heads and laser beams that projected from the mouth. It was quite a treat for party goers.
Installing our Balloon Hive in the form of a DJ booth for Meow Wolf’s Denver Announcement party. Different size balloons were attached to a wall and used as a projection screen that totally transformed the room. This same concept can be used in practically any space with stunning results.
Developing a fabric instrument that was showcased at two cryptocurrency conferences; ETHDenver and Token Fest. This interactive display not only created a conversation piece, but played a vital role in starting conversations and encouraging hackers to connect and collaborate.

Celebrating Our Second Anniversary in Style

To mark our second anniversary, we hosted an annual talk at The Commons on Champa, Denver Vision. As part of the night’s lineup, Ethan gave a keynote address and hosted a panel inspired by his blog article “The Meow Wolf Effect”. The event was a success and has spawned a series of meetings designed to keep the conversation going when it comes to fostering creative technology in Denver and its surrounding areas. Be on the lookout for more updates regarding these efforts in the coming year.

Since our anniversary, we have been working hard on creating more great experiences for people. We are continuing to push forward on our rental product line and beginning to offer more and more ready-to-deploy installations catered towards events of all kinds. Check out our rental page for more details about what we have to offer.

Our partnership with the Downtown Development Authority of Fort Collins, Colorado is also in full swing. This project will augment a mural painted by Italian artist Peeta, with interactive animations. During the day, visitors to Old Town will enjoy the amazing work of Peeta and at night the mural will come to life, tracking visitors who move through the space to influence the animations. Keep your eyes out for more details on this project as we move forward.

There are a lot of other irons in the fire, projects in development, fun being had, and coffee being consumed here at the Alt Ethos Studio. After looking back at all we have accomplished so far, I can’t even begin to imagine where we will be at this time next year. We will continue to bend reality and challenge perceived limitations in new and exciting ways. If you are interested in hearing more about our work, feel free to contact us. We never tire of talking to people about what we do and our vision for the future.

Designing The Soundscape Interactive Exhibit

by admin | May 22, 2018 | Case Studies, Community, Other, Technology

Creating a high engagement museum exhibit with the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

Background

The Fort Collins Museum of Discovery was looking to activate an old exhibit space into an engaging experience, so they turned to Alt Ethos to create a lighting instrument. The previous exhibit displayed a looped video about the music scene in Fort Collins with a set of couches for visitors to sit to watch the video. The exhibit was passive; they wanted an environment that captured visitors’ attention and pushed deeper engagement.

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

Objectives

1.Create a unique instrument playable by multiple people at the same time.

2. Turn the space into an active experience that engages people of all ages.

Solution

Step 1: User Experience Research

The team began the journey with user experience research to better understand the community that enjoys the museum and the relationship between the vision of the organization, personas of the users, dynamics of the space, and interactions that connect people to the space and vision.

Step 2: Design

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Soundscape Design

Paul and Ethan take a meeting to learn about the museum’s needs.

The design phase highlighted that the tucked away location of the piece was a unique opportunity to engage “sweater holder” parents as well that don’t often interact with the exhibits choosing instead to watch their children and sit off to the side.

The ideal interaction time was approximated around five minutes to ensure adequate flow throughout the other exhibits. The team moved forward with wireless sensing technology located overhead in the room to maximize the life of the exhibit by basing the interaction dynamics off of the position of audience members in the space.

Step 3: Development and Testing

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Soundscape Execution

A child dances among the lights, activating new sounds in the space.

The development and testing of the exhibit occurred in a series of sprints. The major benefit of the sprints was iterative testing of the sound curation because in generative sound environments it can be easy to be swept into a cacophony of sound.

Tuning the parameters to limit key aspects of the sound design along with smoothing sensor data was a major breakthrough in the design that pushed the aesthetic of the installation.

Step 4: Implementation and Delivery

Alt Ethos installed the installation over the course of two weeks ensuring that any major physical changes to the environment took place on the Mondays when the museum was closed.

An essential factor in a smooth delivery was remote access to the computers allowing for the team to make changes and improve the software while not onsite. This allowed for a faster delivery time and for changes to take effect rapidly during the installation phase.

Step 5: Evaluation

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery Soundscape Evaluation

What formerly was a passive exhibit is now an active space for all ages.

The use of wireless sensing technology also meant that as soon as a person enters the space, they became part of the musical composition. After the implementation and delivery, this dynamic was identified as a key variable in converting passive adults to active participants in the museum experience.

Doing so created an environment ripe for more connections to the space that involved the whole family thus driving more memberships, donations, and buy in from the adults in the local community.