FITC began as a pure Flash event back in 2002. Since then it has evolved into a complete Design and Technology event that encompasses a wide array of crafts including Flash, Processing, motion graphics and design. With a lot of recent progress in the interactive world, topics surrounding Flash have become fairly heated and there has been some very exciting developments as a result. So when I heard that FITC was throwing down in the Bay Area, I jumped on the opportunity and convinced my lovely StruckAxiom peeps to send me.
Having never been to an FITC event I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Mostly, I was expecting crowds of people and packed presentations. I was very pleased to find that the rooms never quite filled up and every session I went to was very personable.
Some hot topics at the conference were motion detection, voice recognition, processing, programmatic art, 3D, PixelBender, Unity, Cinder, Open Frameworks, multiuser Flash applications and Flash on mobile devices. Needless to say there was an abundance of talent and knowledge under one roof.
There were a couple common themes at this FITC. One of those themes is the acceptance of failure. Failure can lead to some beautiful, unexpected results and at the very least, knowledge. Also: step outside your comfort zone. Don’t spend all your time in one specialty, explore fresh boundaries and learn new things. Lastly, collaborate without an ego, find fun in your work and be passionate about what you do.
Some memorable moments for me were Ralph Hauwert’s in depth, sometimes confusing, interpretations of his work, Robert Hodgin’s mind blowing Processing and Cinder experiments, Shaun Hamontree’s wacky but hilarious and inspirational presentation of MK12’s in-house work, Didier Brun’s in-depth session on voice recognition in flash and of course Yugo Nakamura’s closing presentation. There wasn’t a presentation that I went to that wasn’t inspirational.
I learned more at this conference than I expected. I was also exposed to more expertise than ever. I will absolutely attend FITC again if given the chance. Best of all, I took a bunch of notes(mostly links to great resources).
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Prior to becoming our Struck/Axiom blood-brothers, our comrades from 
Since it seems that everyone and their mother out there is sharing with the world how they delivered their Zappos proposal… we’ll go ahead and jump on that too! We felt Zappos has a great story to share and given that thought, we cooked up this little dilly. Dan C and the design team did some serious DIY pop-up bookage for the packaging of our prop. And man did they slay it.
Botticelli chocolates have been off the Struck radar for a few months. We buttoned up on the design, and sent our satisfied client on their way to impress retailers midway through 2008. Well friends, Botticelli is back on the radar for Christmas inside Walgreen’s corner markets. This photo depicts the product placement on the front kiosk as you walk in the front automatic sliding-glass door (right next to the Steven King novels). So here is your prescription for your next chocolate fix. Swing on over to Walgreen’s and have them fill it with the Botticelli Classic Collection.
