Last year – yes, we can already say that – on the 22nd December Isobar and Studio Sophisti, an Amsterdam based interactive design company, got together and kicked off the Dutch Isobar Nowlab with its first project.

Nowlab is a global initiative within the Isobar network to accelerate innovation. It fuses craft with technology to create new forms of creativity. Its goal is to amplify, distribute and scale the innovation expertise and knowledge that resides within local Isobar agencies. If and when possible we work together with other creative and technical agencies to combine talent and energy.

How can a digital mirror be used to enhance retail environments?

In the Netherlands, Isobar has just started the Nowlab and the first results are in. A team of designers, creatives and technical producers, both from Studio Sophisti and Isobar, came together to work on the question ‘How can a digital mirror be used to enhance retail environments?'. With a fixed time span we produced fast and pragmatic results. Using the Xbox Kinect SDK, Facebook Connect and basic gameplay principles the team created a couple of prototypes that are now ready to be shown to potential retail clients. Special thanks to Panasonic for letting us work with one of their Pro Display's!

Continuing onwards from this kick-off, Nowlab will evolve into a bigger initiative. Isobar NL will follow the global Nowlab in organising events such as Create48 (Boston/London) and Create32 (San Francisco) and sharing outcomes of more prototyping sessions to come.

How can you get involved?

Since Nowlab is an initiative that sits independently from client work, it’s open for great ideas and good questions. If you would like to work with us on an idea, or would like to prototype concepts around a basic question, we want to hear from you! If you would like to organise an event in coöperation with Nowlab or would like to sponsor a Nowlab event in the future, we want to hear from you! You can send your inquiries to lab@isobar.com.