Masha du Toit

Another memorable Design Indaba presentation was by Troika, a design team made up of designer and illustrator Conny Freyer:

Designer Eva Rucki:

Product designer and engineer Sebastien Noel:

They are graduates from the Royal College of Arts, and in the five years they have existed, they have done work for British Airways, the BBC, the Science Museum, Warner Music, MTV and Thames & Hudson.

It seems though, that some of their most interesting projects are entirely self motivated.

The SMS Projector:

“Small, portable, and battery operated, the ‘SMS Guerilla Projector’ contains a mobile phone that enables the device to receive and project messages from other people.” from troika.uk.com

The SMS speaker – “for armchair activists”:

“The concept offers a modern alternative to the speaker corner, and saves you the hassle of sitting in the rain waiting for your favourite MP to pass by. A lament to the demise of the organized protest of yore, ‘The Tool for Armchair Activists’ pokes fun at both the powers that be and the powers that would be – if only they could get their a*rses out of the couch.”  — from troika.uk.com

The Troika Cloud

A five meter long digital sculpture commissioned by British Airways for their lobby.  It was inspired by the “flip dot” signs that were used in train stations and airports in the 70’s and 80’s:

“ By audibly flipping between black and silver, the flip-dots create mesmerizing waves as they chase across the surface of ‘Cloud’. Reflecting its surrounding colours, the mechanical mass is transformed into an organic form that appears to come alive, shimmering and flirting with the onlookers that pass by.” — from troika.uk.com

Troika shared the process they went through to create the cloud – from solving the problem of how to “tile” the flip dots over an organic shape, to how to animate each tile:

The most engaging aspect of the “cloud” – apparently – is the sound it makes.  This reminded me of Daniel Rozen’s “digital mirror”.

A World Clock:

“All the time in the world” is a world clock with a difference – it does not just concentrate on the usual “London, Paris, New York” but includes the time in places such as

• Great Barrier Reef

•  Angkor Wat

• Guggenheim Museum

And many other intriguing places.

For this piece, Troika invented a new way of displaying luminous type – an electroluminescent wall” that modernised the old modular “8” display.

The result is a surprisingly timeless and graceful font – pleasing to the eye and the intellect:

Read more about t All The Time In the World:

More interesting links:

• Check out their “listening post”
• More videos of the cloud:

This post was first published on www.designindaba.com