Diana de Sousa

Flowd, a social networking app for music lovers

2010-12-09T16:13:00.021+02:00

Digia, 2010

Flowd is a free mobile location-based social networking and communication service for music lovers. Flowd’s unique artist related features are set to transform the relationship between music acts and their fans.

The app is available for free for Android, iPhone and some selected Nokia devices. The simplest way to get Flowd is to point your web browser to http://flowd.com. You can also use Flowd as a web service on the same URL.

My role
Interaction design and visual design for the mobile apps and website.

URL
http://www.flowd.com

More about Flowd
Wired review 16.11.11
TechCrunch review 14.11.11
Petri Poikolainen's blog

Concept and project development
Digia

3D UI demo for Lenovo and Nokia N900

2010-12-01T09:56:00.015+02:00

Digia, 2010

This was a one-month quick demo where we explored ideas for a 3D user interface concept for a mobile desktop. We wanted to make some fun things and experiment with the possibilities of Meegoo and Open GL. The end result is just a demo, not intended for real use.

My role
Concept development, sketch, illustration, visual design.

Project management, concept development
Asko Kokkonen.
Concept development, visual design, illustration
Diana de Sousa.
Development, 3D graphics
Tuomo Hirvonen.

Nippon Kendo Kata

2010-05-16T23:15:00.005+03:00

Mikko Salonen, 2010

This website was designed to promote a book about the japanese martial art of sword-fighting Kendo. It uses the content management system Zipi Web Builder.

My role
Visual design.

URL
http://www.mikkomes.com

Visual design
Diana de Sousa.
Implementation
Taro Morimoto

REMediaCity – Free Samples for Commuters (FSC)

2010-04-15T23:50:00.000+03:00

FBAUL 2002, student project.

REMediaCity - Free Samples for Commuters (FSC) from Diana de Sousa on Vimeo.

This is the introduction (part 1 of 3) of my final project for the Communication Design course at FBAUL. Teachers requested students to develop a concept for a real-time installation that would take place at a specific street in Lisbon, choosing any theme they would like. Works were done individually and students were not expected to finalize the actual installation, only to develop a good concept and to simulate it using any media they'd like.

My concept was about a real-time interactive game that would take place at Rua (street) Garret.

The game was called “Urban Warrior” and it aimed at arising reflection about the importance of our emotions in the process of building a self-conscience and knowledge about oneself. It was inspired in the book “The speed of liberation” by Paul Virilio, among other readings.

The plot:

In the year of 2334 cities are perfectly organized urban spaces. Lisbon is one of these magneticCities. People in magneticCities trust electromagnetic devices such as the I-book to register all important information about themselves: dreams, memories and feelings are scanned from their minds into the devices.

One day in Lisbon the I-book system broke down. The engineers could however recover the electromagnetic waves sent by the I-books and liberated them into Rua Garret. On that street everybody’s memories started being replayed continuously in a loop – like in a phantom theatre play.

To succeed in the game you must go to Rua Garret to rescue your own memories, recognizing and separating them from everybody else’s.

Media used
Macromedia Director and Adobe Premiere for the animation. This video was made later with Final Cut Pro. Graphic elements made with Freehand, Photoshop, some hand drawing, original photos and other pictures scanned from several sources.

My role
Concept development, videography, illustration, script writing, animation, interactivity, multimedia editing, visual design.

Deko online game

2009-12-21T02:03:00.001+02:00

Adsek project, 2006.

Deko is a popular Finnish interior decoration magazine. At that time they were looking for new subscribers. Adsek created an online campaign in which an email sent to a selected audience would tease them to test if they embodied any Deko “spirit” by playing an online game – participating as well in a money lottery.

The game consisted on a multiple choice selection of interior decoration items that participants could “buy” with a pre-determined budget, competing to best decorate an empty room.

The campaign also had an underlying theme of a dream holiday on a paradise tropical island, so at a certain point in the game the participants were surprised by a colourful parrot entering the room inviting them to participate in an extra lottery and suggesting that they could use the money to offer him a relaxing visit to its homeland.

The game was implemented with Flash.

My role
Concept development, visual design, 2D animation.

URL
http://www.dekolehti.fi/netti
Please notice,there might be some changes or it might not be online anymore!

Project management
Eija Sinisalo.
Design supervision
Jaani Vaahtera.
Design, illustration and Flash animation
Diana de Sousa.
Copy
Päivi Larikko.
Flash actionscript
Tremedia Oy.

Digitytöt website re-design

2009-12-16T22:15:00.003+02:00

Digitytöt, 2009

From June to July 2009 Digitytöt went through a major concept development phase. It became a women's video blog lifestyle magazine, the first of it's kind in Finland. Digitytöt's most popular areas were Fashion, Beauty and Design & Technology.

Digitytöt had a strong presence on social media channels such as Blogger, Vimeo, Bliptv, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook. From July 2009 to January 2010 the website received a total of around 21,000 visits and 10,500 unique visitors (data from Google analytics).

My role
Visual design, channel customization (Blogger), concept development.

URL
http://www.digitytot.com
The project ended in February 2010.
Some videos might still be available from Blip TV:
http://digitytot.blip.tv/

Original concept
Helene Auramo, Sanna Aronniemi.
Visual design, cross channel customization
Diana de Sousa.
Logo design
Margaret Plaisted.
Bloggers
Helene Auramo, Anni Taimisto, Mariela Sarkima, Kaisa Simola, Sanna Aronniemi.
Videography
Teppo Hudson, CityVice TV.
Marketing and branding
Tuukka Laurila.

AAAFBAUL website re-design

2009-12-15T21:39:00.009+02:00

AAAFBAUL, 2009

AAAFBAUL is the alumni association of the faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon University. Their website is used to promote and announce the activities of the association. The website is a blog hosted on Blogger.

I wanted to design visuals that reflected the analogue feeling of the institution. I used a mix of photo-illustration collage techniques to create the background image and then customized the CSS of one of Blogger templates to create the final layout.

My role
Visual design, channel customization (Blogger).

URL
http://aaafbaul.blogspot.com

Visual design, channel customization
Diana de Sousa.

Live casting at TaiK

2009-10-20T23:45:00.000+03:00

VIPP symposium, 2010

I was invited by Antti Raike to be in charge of broadcasting live video of the VIPP - Seeing Red symposium at TaiK. We recorded and transmitted about 20 hours of video during 4 days.

This was my first attempt at live casting!

My role
Filming and live video editing.

URL
http://lume.fi/live --> arkisto

Coordinator
Antti Raike.
Technical supervision
Juhani Kantola, Ilpo Kari, Heikki Tuononen.
Filming and live video editing
Diana de Sousa.
Sound
Heikki Tuononen.

Esa ja Esineet

2009-10-20T16:33:00.016+03:00

Design Museum, Zipipop, ConnectedDay, MA thesis work, 2009

Esa ja Esineet is an online service to promote design education in Finnish daycares. It was developed in collaboration with the education team of the Design Museum in Helsinki, Connected Day and Zipipop. This service encourages daycares to use social media and social interaction tools such as online forums, video, photo and document sharing services to connect and engage in conversation with the museum’s education team and other daycares, sharing their learning experiences, obstacles and suggestions.

Esa ja Esineet was also the subject of my MA thesis at Media Lab. The project was supported with a grant from AVEK worth 17,000.00 euros.

My role
Concept development, project management, visual design, web design, videography.

URL
http://www.esajaesineet.com
http://dianadesousa-thesis.blogspot.com

Concept development
Hanna Kapanen, Anna Louhelainen, Leena Svinhufvud, Diana de Sousa.
Project management
Diana de Sousa.
Visual and web design
Zipipop, Diana de Sousa.
Sound design
Zipipop.
Puppeteer
Anna Louhelainen.
Videography
Diana de Sousa.
Implementation
Zipipop, ConnectedDay.

Digitytöt, season one: the coolest online show

2009-08-20T15:48:00.008+03:00

Digitytöt, 2009

Digitytöt was a magical show with vibrant girl energy aimed at young urban adults. The online show discussed the internet’s hottest topics in plain Finnish. The show was hosted by Sanna and Helene Auramo. A new video was released every Sunday evening.

Preparatory work started in September 2008 and the first episode was launched in March 2009 simultaneously in several social media platforms, Blogger, Vimeo, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook.

The last episode came out in May 2009. During those three months the blog-website received a total of around 15,000 visits and 10,000 unique visitors (data from Google analytics).

The project was supported with a grant from AVEK worth 5,000.00 euros.

My role
Visual design, channel customization (Blogger, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook), concept development.

URL
http://digitytot.blogspot.com
This phase of the project ended in June 2009.

Original concept
Helene Auramo, Sanna Aronniemi.
Visual design, cross channel customization
Diana de Sousa.
Logo design, motion graphics
Margaret Plaisted.
Composing, sound design
Matti Luhtala.
Videography
Teppo Hudson.

Zipiko

2008-04-15T20:46:00.003+03:00

Zipipop, 2008

Zipiko was a mobile Web social tool for organizing personal social life, events and ad-hoc get-togethers, developed by Zipipop. It won the Best Early-stage Start-up prize at Mobile 2.0 Europe 2008 and was selected for the start-up competition at Le Web '08 in Paris.

Zipiko could be accessed through any browser and mobile devices including mobile phones. The invitations were sent by SMS and people could respond through SMS also. The system displayed all the responds in real-time and automatically confirmed and updated the list of invitees.

One year of feedback and usage data showed that Zipiko was being used mainly for group activities – even though it had not been primarily designed for groups. The service was closed in June 2009. Zipipop is currently looking for investment to help boost the development of Zipiko into a dedicated “group activity organizer”.

My role
Concept development, project management, user testing.

URL
http://blog.zipiko.com
http://zipiko.com/about

Concept, design, branding, implementation
Zipipop.

Fantasy drawings

2008-04-14T21:50:00.000+03:00

Own work, 1994-96.

These drawings come from the imaginary I had around mid nineties. I was a teenager and my favourite illustrators at that time were Luis Royo and Wayne Anderson. I thought to become an illustrator if I went to study arts.

Media
Hand drawn illustration. I used graphite and a point ball pen on paper.

Adsek website concept

2008-01-22T21:25:00.007+02:00

Adsek, 2006.

This project was developed as a conceptual exercise. We aimed at improving the visitors’ experience of Adsek's website through immersion in the agency’s creative world. In this world the visitor could explore several floating islands, navigating in a soap bubble balloon powered by dragonfly’s wings.

Each floating island was designed around a theme inspired by one of Adsek’s works. The inspirational works were shown at the islands, so visitors could also explore Adsek’s portfolio at the same time.

The website was designed to be implemented with Flash so it would be fully animated. A soundscape was also planned. But the project was never implemented.

My role
Concept development, illustration, visual design.

Design supervision:
Jaani Vaahtera.
Concept development:
Diana de Sousa, Jacqueline Früh.
Design and illustration:
Diana de Sousa.

Memento Mori – Inside a Live Reptile Tent

2008-01-10T22:34:00.013+02:00

TAIK 2007, student project.

(poster design by Viara Gentchev)

From January to March 2007 at Media Lab we planned (and built) a live performance event utilizing interactive narration in spatial design, under the theme "Live Inside a Reptile Tent", later renamed "Memento Mori". This project went towards the more artistic side of the Media Lab.

The end result show was presented at the Lume Studio Stage on the 7th and 8th March 2007. The aim of the event was to recreate an electronic freak-show experience.

I also made an autonomous blog that documented the evolution of this project on a daily basis.

My role
Concept development, live-performance, interaction design, staging, narration, set design, production management.

URL
http://reptiletent.blogspot.com

Later that year I took the project as a study case for my New Media Management courses, and did the Work Breakdown Structure for the whole process.

Students involved
Heikki Ryynänen, Pii Paappanen, Atle Larsen, Anna-Maija Kesonen, Diana Sousa, Katarzyna Miron, Tommi Horttana, Viara Gentchev, Antti Mäki.
Teaching team
Dr. Chris Hales PhD., Jukka Ylitalo, Teijo Pelinen, Jouko-Thomas Kleine, Pipsa Asiala.
Technical support
Ilkka Riihikallio, Tero Vesterinen, Pekka Salonen, Heikki Niiranen, Tuukka Teponoja.

Matkaopas Suomeen – online promotion and order form

2008-01-08T21:33:00.005+02:00

Adsek project, 2006.

In the spring of 2006 Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet Oy was launching a travel guide with pedestrian routes across Finland.

The book was first launched and advertised on the internet. For that promotion event Adsek created an online marketing channel strategy where ad banners placed on one of Finland’s most visited webportal, Plaza.fi, directed the viewers to an animated presentation of the book and from there to an online order form.

The advertising went around the concept of light summer travelling, where the only things needed were a pair of comfortable shoes and a camera. Giving the feeling of long pleasant summer walks, the audiovisual presentation of the book showed attractive samples of the book interior pointing out its unique features.

This presentation ended on an online order form offering a good promotion discount to the online shoppers.

The animation was done in Flash.

My role
Concept development, visual design, illustration, 2D animation.

URL
http://www.matkasuomeen.com
Please notice,there might be some changes or it might not be online anymore!

Project management:
Eija Sinisalo.
Design and illustration:
Diana de Sousa.
Flash animation:
Diana de Sousa, Jacqueline Früh.
Copy:
Päivi Larikko.
Flash actionscript:
Tremedia Oy.

SCP & FCP 2003 Christmas cards

2007-12-02T23:45:00.001+02:00

T-bsolutions, 2003

SLB, SCP and FCP are three of the major football clubs in Portugal. Back in 2003 there was an e-mailing list for the club fans. In the year 2003 the newsletter included these Christmas cards with the season greetings.

My role
Visual design, illustration.

Archaeological drawing

2007-12-01T19:06:00.009+02:00

FBAUL 2002, student project.

In my final year as a student at FBAUL I was enrolled in a Museum Studies course. For that I took a specialization in archaeological drawing and made a series of drawings about XVII and XVIII century pieces of ceramic plates and pots that became my final work. For those drawings I had to research about the correct way to measure the pieces and different representation techniques.

Media
Hand drawn illustration. I used mixed painting techniques, acrylics and coloured pencils on cardboard and black ink on draftex sheets. Accurate measurements and techniques of representation.

Kimppa – the spirit of two

2007-12-01T00:56:00.003+02:00

Training project developed while working at Adsek, 2005.

Kimppa (finnish slang = in company) was an idea for a low-alcohol drink, competing with the segments of beer, cider and long drinks in Finland. Kimppa was to be a mixed drink (of two popular low-alcohol drinks), a concept already known to some European countries but new to the finnish market.

The project development involved field work such as finding the right combination for the mix, asking consumers’ opinion on the drink, placing the drink among its competitors on a price and trend scale, brand development (core, associations, target audience), product design (logo, packaging), launching campaign plan, long term advertising campaigns and finally pitching the product to the larger finnish brewer companies.

My role
Concept development, market research, brand development, label design, ad campaign design, pitching.

Project leaders
Jaani Vaahtera, Pekka Rintamäki, Riikka Antila.
Concept development, visuals, copy
Jacqueline Früh, Diana de Sousa, Reea Marjamäki, Teemu Tuohimaa.