NIKE+ run Club Video Promo

This blog is about a one minute video prototype demonstrating one of Nike’s App: Nike+ Run Club, which is designed for runners to track their activities.

Design

The design of this video aimed to be as exciting as possible since the purpose of the App was to encourage people to workout. I was hoping my audiences to get excited and motivated to go for a run after watching this video. An very important element of this video was the music, Light em up. The whole video was designed for this song, catering its beats. The reason I did this way was simple, based on my video editing experience, adjusting speed or duration of videos was relatively easy, but editing music was very difficult because the pitch would change if you change its speed. Therefore, in order not to change the music in the editing phase, I did some light editing on the song to make sure it fits the one minute requirement before I drew the storyboard and planned the visuals. Then I just left the music unchanged until the video was done.

There are 5 features demonstrated in the video:

Scenario 1:

• Feed: the feature that allows the user to browse Nike’s news;
• Activity: the history of workouts done by the user, including data and analysis;
• Club: the place to check out and reserve Nike events;

Scenario 2:

• Run: the core functionality for this App;

Scenario 3:

• Auto-pause/resume: the feature that automatically pauses tracking when user stops, and resumes tracking when user starts running.

Stodyboard

Drawing a storyboard with preset music was fairly simple because I did not have to plan the time duration for each scene. I already had empty slots (the music beats), so all I need was just to fill in those slots with footage.

The storyboard was precisely planned. Each second had its purpose. If you watched the video, you will find out that the video is almost exactly the same as the storyboard. The execution of the storyboard was very strict.

Filming and Editing

Filming the video was fun. Because the due date was on Monday, I had to shoot the video on the weekends. However, Seattle was rainy on weekends. I had no choice but continuing the project. Here I would like to give my special thank to the runner that appears in my video, Jack Sun. He helped me filmed all the scenes on a cold rainy day with only one shirt and one pair of shorts on. Thanks to his dedication, the filming session went really well. We got all scenes that I wanted in two hours.

Another interesting fact was the use of wheat flour. I planned one scene where the actor clapped his hand and the talcum powder went all over (like what LeBron James always does). However, nobody had talcum powder, so we ended up using wheat flour. It worked!

I used both my own iPhone and Apple Watch in the video.

You may noticed that my Apple Watch was actually broken. I did not broken it during the filming session. I broke it a while a ago but I still decided to use this one because it looked very stylish.

Editing the video was not very hard since I had a lot of experiences editing videos. However, it was still a time consuming process as you can see how many video clips that I imported from my camera.

Finally, big salute to my dearest camera, the hero of this filming session. It underwent two hours of raining while remaining functional.

Feedback

Likes

• Perfect editing: people love the organic combination between video and audio;
• Nice idea to pause the music when the person in the video was pausing running;
• Very exciting music (people love fall out boys).

Need Improvement

• Demonstration of the UI is short: people did not have time to watch a scene because they switched too fast;
• One person mentioned that she did not know what the App was until the ending credit. I might add an intro for the next time;
• A little overexposing: I turned the ISO a little too high so some parts are very white. I should have turned it down a bit.

In terms of the nature, this video is more “promotional” than just a walk-through. It is more like a TV commercial that attracts people’s attention with cool visuals and exciting music. The intended audience are potential users. However, as a prototype, this video lacks some elaborations on the App’s features. It can be more descriptive on the operation of the App. Although it is very difficult to thoroughly illustrate an App in a minute, I could use more time on demonstrating the App rather than scenarios.

3D PRINTED PLESIOSAUR

I made a Plesiosaur using laser cutting techniques. This time, I decided to turn my widely praised 2.5D project into a 3D project. Behold, here comes Hua’s Plesiosaur V2.

Design

I made several design changes to the original 2.5D Plesiosaur. First I removed those humps on its back (because Plesiosaur has no hump). Then, to make this object actually useful, I decided to leave a hole on the Plesiosaur’s back, turning it into a pen holder. This project is required to use at least one of three 3D printing operations: extrusion, revolution, and boolean. I used two of them. Since extrusion could not create spindle shaped objects, I used a variation of it, loft, to create the body of the Plesiosaur. I sketched several circles of different sizes and applied loft operation to connect them (see screenshots). For boolean, I subtracted a cylinder from its body, making the hole for pens.

This project is made with AutoCAD. I used Rhino at the beginning but somehow Rhino kept crashing on my computer, so I switched to AutoCAD, which is also very handy.

Sketching

Learning CAD software is painful. The biggest frustration in this project came from drawing the 3D object. However, I still managed to draw my Plesiosaur in AutoCAD.

I first drew a few circles to make an outline.

Then used the loft operation to convert them into a solid object. I tried to use revolution on an eclipse to make its head but I realized that it did not look like a head at all.

So I abandoned this idea and took a more complicated approach, drawing more detailed circles and lofted them to make a more realistic head.

This was the entire body.

I applied the same technique to make fins.

And that was the Plesiosaur.

The final step was to subtract a cylinder from the Plesiosaur’s back and mesh the whole thing because I knew that the printer was not precise enough to make smooth surfaces so that mesh surfaces would work better.

Printing

Import the file into makerbot app

The printing process was smooth. The only problem was that the supporting raft was annoying.

The pen holder held a pen!

Removing the support raft took a lot more time than I expected.

Eventually it was all good.It even floated in the water, which made it more authentic.

Feedback

I received plenty of comments during the peer review session. I was glad to see that they were mostly positive.

1. Drawing a 3D object was so hard. I did not want to download a file made by someone else so I tried my best learning AutoCAD. I was struggling with 3 dimension views for a while but after playing it for several hours I got used to it;
2. I wish I had known how to avoid having the raft or how to effectively remove them before doing this project. I used all the tools I had, including a knife, a pair of tweezers, a pair of pliers, and a rasp to remove the raft and polish the surface, but it was still really painful. Next time I will definitely flatten the bottom. Or if CoMotion can purchase some of these 3D printers which have water dissoluble raft, my life would be a lot easier.
3. One thing I enjoyed most in this project was seeing the printer making this object. Moreover, although drawing in AutoCAD was difficult, I am really happy about learning a new skill;
4. AutoCAD is very handy. Personally I prefer AutoCAD to Rhino because it is more stable (it did not crash) and its UI is more visually appealing. Most importantly, AutoCAD is free for students so my drawing skill can be useful in the future whereas Rhino expires in 90 days and I will definitely not spend 1600 dollars to purchase the license.
5. One comment said that I could make  the flipper joints wider so they are less fragile. I think that is a reasonable point.

My favorite comment: “I love this! You should make it into a wine holder by making it a lot bigger. Drink it when something you never thought would happen happens.”

LASER CUT PLESIOSAUR

This is a laser cutting practice. I created a plesiosaur using 9 pieces of matte paper.

Design

The initial design consists only 6 pieces, four legs, a body, and a head. I was struggling with connecting those pieces together. Without any background knowledge about laser cutting techniques (without Googling other people’s work), I “invented” a connector: As the sketch paper shows, I planed to punch several holes on one piece and insert a serrated piece in it. However, it did not seem to be durable enough. Then I saw other people doing it and realized that a better way was to clamp pieces together. Well, it is always good to explore a little before copying other people’s techniques, right?

I made one change in the design phase. I thought the back is kind of boring, so I decided to add three humps to it. I know a Plesiosaur does not have humps, but that was before I realized I made a Plesiosaur. When I designed this animal, I just had an image in my head: a swimming dinosaur-like creature with a long neck and four flippers. This image might came from both the myth of the Loch Ness and some dinosaur pictures I saw in my childhood.

Process

I drew the outlines in illustrator because I was more familiar with it. Then I imported the file to Rhino to adjust layers. I added some patterns (etching and rastering) on the back too, and it looked like this in the printer:

Those were pieces I cut from both the thinner and thicker paper.

Although I liked the color of the practice paper (the thinner one), but the first try did not work out since the paper was too thin. Connections between pieces were too loose to make the creature stand. BUT IT LOOKS CUTE just lying there!

After realizing the size of connectors were not right, I adjusted it. Then I found out that the size was actually right for the thicker paper. As a result, I went back to the original dimensions and it worked out well. Here is the final product:

I seriously think my first Plesiosaur was better looking due to the lighter color, but this is fine too.

Feedback

Since this product did not serve any utility purpose, the critique session was relatively casual and most reviews were based on the appearance of the creature.

Likes

1. Some people like the etching and rastering on the back. Some don’t;
2. Most people think this little creature is cute;
3. “This is exactly what a Plesiosaur should have looked like.”
4. “I love how the back looks like a surfboard. It looks like I could ride on it :D”
5. People like the fin design.

Need Improvement

1. One person said rastering makes the back dirty. I had the same feeling. Maybe I used too much rastering;
2. “Cut out the eye next time” Sure. I did cut out the eye on my first try but forgot to do so on the final product;
3. One person suggested to add some etching on the neck.
4. “The eye seems really big and not proportioned” — Hey dude it’s called cute.

Making a 2.5D object is a lot of fun. I hope I will have more opportunities doing this.