Client Prototyping: College digital signage mockups

Sample Trivia Game

Sample Trivia Game

Recently a client called and wanted a quick set of sample images, movies and Flash animations created. He was attending a Higher Education technology conference and needed sample content for his booth. The deadline was just a few short weeks away.

This was a fun project, with a completely “open” set of requirements. The only constraint was two fixed sizes. Colors, theme, layout, messaging: just make them”look cool, believable” and recognizable to visitors at the booth. We took a road trip to a few nearby campuses and got “inspired”. Here’s what we came up with. The client loved ‘em! Continue reading →

Recording narration in Keynote ‘08 - WORKAROUND!

Figure 1 I use Keynote ‘08 for my professional presentations at the office, I also use it for client work such as training and technical presentations. I am super-excited about the new features in Apple’s Keynote ‘08 update. Unfortunately, if you have decent audio recording equipment it seems Apple didn’t do a good job at testing this with the “Slideshow Recording” feature. Problem: Keynote ‘08 is not able to use some Firewire audio interfaces as the audio input source. If you try, you get this error message (Grammar Girl, where are you?):

The Apple Discussion board has been tracking this bug since Paul Figgiani reported it on Aug 10 2007. I respect Paul and like his work so I was extra-motived to find a solution. Someone posted a workaround that involved basically dumping the “Line out” of your interface into the “Line In” on your computer. Yes that works, but it feels dirty and you’re compromising your sound quality. Here’s a better way! Continue reading →