Eristoff Experience

Introduction

The Digital Convergence Project for the Eristoff Experience at the Synergy music festival in Cape Town, South Africa, is a pioneering example of blending interaction design with social media integration, conceptualized by Herd Africa and developed by Wezside. The project's main attraction was an innovative rectangle-like structure with rear projection on its side walls, creating an immersive environment for festival-goers.

Design

Drawing inspiration from the classic 1980s film "Tron," the design team conceptualized the structure's visuals around a grid motif, symbolizing wolf packs globally. This theme aligned perfectly with Eristoff's brand ethos, which celebrates "Vodka from the land of the wolf." The grid in the installation represented a digital sphere where each node signified a wolf pack, tying back to the brand's narrative.

Inside this structure, people were invited to experience the essence of Eristoff vodka with their friends or 'wolf pack,' thereby merging the physical experience of enjoying a beverage with a virtual, interconnected world. This fusion of the physical and virtual realms underscored the project's focus on digital convergence, allowing visitors to interact with both the space and the brand in a novel way.

Features

A key feature of the project was its social media integration. The installation was designed to interact with live social media feeds, primarily focusing on Facebook and Twitter. The structure incorporated a system to count Facebook likes associated with the event or brand, further engaging the audience. More dynamically, it displayed tweets from revelers in real-time. When a tweet was posted, the user's handle would appear on the grid, followed by a dot-matrix styled wolf animation that would run across the screen. This visual spectacle culminated with the wolf 'exploding' and its remnants settling into a position on the grid. This feature not only added a visual thrill but also connected the physical event to a global audience, as tweets from around the world were harvested and displayed on this digital grid.

Technology

Technologically, the project was a feat, utilizing OpenFrameworks and Arduino to create this interactive experience. OpenFrameworks provided the necessary flexibility for creative coding, enabling the team to develop custom visuals and interactions for the installation. Arduino, known for its user-friendly microcontrollers, likely played a role in managing the hardware aspects, such as the sensors and display mechanisms that made the interactive elements possible.

Conclusion

In summary, the Digital Convergence Project for the Eristoff Experience at Synergy represented a seamless blend of interaction design, social media integration, and brand storytelling. By leveraging advanced technology and creative design, the project offered an engaging, immersive experience that resonated with the festival's audience, bringing to life the concept of a connected, digital world through the lens of a vodka brand.