July 28 Dan Zen Expo Exhibit
Posters
Dedicated to Mark and Mac for their poster help
Dan Zen came from the music scene into the new media scene so brought with him the usage of posters to advertise his wares. He may be one of the first to poster for Interactive Media features. Let's see what there was to see!
Dan Zen Poster 1996 ▲ Zen's first signature also appeared as the interface for his Web site. The poster lists the games available and also provided pull tabs with the URLs. Above is a photograph of Zen's last remaining poster - up on his den wall. First Interface
Spirogram Poster 1998 ▲ an early Dan Zen gadget to send and receive spiral encoded messages. Note the subtle code border on the poster. This code gives a hint to the spiral encoding technique invented by Zen. Also, while looking at the poster on walls and poles, the viewer would tilt their head to read the code thus creating a spectacle to encourage others to come read and spin their heads. Spirogram is also a traffic building tool as people send out messages and then the receiver of the message goes to the site to decode the messages. Over 1000 people have placed a spirogram on their site and many thousands of messages have been sent and received. Encode Message
Hipcats Poster 1999 ▲ Turn on, Jack in, Hang out! Hipcats was a major endeavor for Dan Zen taking three months to build a full social media site at the dawn of Dynamic HTML so it got a full marketing treatment including business cards, ads, posters, newsletter, even a hired social media influencer. The beatnik character (shown here) is a fellow from the sixties band the Lemon Pipers known for Green Tambourine. Tune In
Shrink Ray Flyer 1999 ▲ Dan Zen bent these along a vertical access and had them placed on desks. The game is over after 7000 people were shrunk! Shrink Summary
Save Earth Poster 2000 ▲ a large multi player game of pattern matching. In the age of drones, this poster looks familiar! Mobile device, mapping and landing. This is the game that started the Meta Mystery series - it also features a sensory system interface using inventive CSS at its inception. Save Earth
Spy-mail Poster 2001 ▲ these were cut in half and the edge bent so that the spy character peaked out from a post or a wall. The characters (by Sylvia), are agents that deliver messages to you in one of the first Web mail apps - this with a twist: messages self destruct ten minutes after reading. Spy Mail
Opartica Poster 2001 ▲ 10" by 28" silkscreen posters on heavy card were made for Opartica. The hopes were people would advertise with logos in the middle of opartica as it was presented at raves and on bands, etc. Mark made the silkscreen and Zen still has a dozen or so left if you are interested. The poster shows version one of Oparatica the world's first online op art making tool (not for mobile devices). The new version called Tunnel is a free form 3D version! Make Op Art
Dan Zen 10 Years Poster 2005 ▲ A poster for the ten year anniversary of Dan Zen. The poster had an addition at the bottom also advertising the Sheridan Interactive Media program where Zen teaches. The Zen Deck of games (not for mobile devices) was the main interface to Dan Zen at the time. Visit Deck
Moustache Mysteries Lady with Brooch Poster 1995 ▲ The first of the Moustache Mysteries series of interactive mysteries. (Created in Director, these will not play on mobile devices). Play Mystery
Moustache Mysteries Kula Pu Idol Poster 2000 ▲ The second of the Moustache Mysteries series of interactive mysteries. (Created in Director, these will not play on mobile devices). This mystery was written in Hawaii and makes for a great summer party! Play Mystery
Moustache Mysteries Baron Digbody's Castle Poster 2000 ▲ The third Moustache Mystery in the series of interactive mysteries. (Created in Director, these will not play on mobile devices). This mystery was made for Halloween parties and has printable booklets too. Play Mystery
Moustache Mysteries Baron Digbody's Castle Poster 2 2000 ▲ The third Moustache Mystery in the series of interactive mysteries. (Created in Director, these will not play on mobile devices). This mystery was made for Halloween parties and has printable booklets too. Play Mystery
Dan Zen Utopia 1998 ▲ an erotic mystery set in Utopia. Dan Zen took away all his features to concentrate on this one mystery with a $500 prize. Zen distributed flyers in wooden flower holders. He made bookmarks, and posters. There was a month long line up to play the mystery and over 4000 people played. These were some of the assets. The main posters were below. Visit Utopia
Dan Zen Utopia 1998 ▲ here are the main posters as well as online marketing assets. Utopia was set inside melted snowflakes. The characters by RoseAnne are displayed in the snowflakes and in a retrospective look, the answer to the mystery is obvious, yet Utopia predated the largest TV trend by several years. There is a compiled collection of screen shots here: Utopia Screenshots
Creativity and New Forms of Mobile Games Poster 2011 ▲ hand drawn poster for a Hamilton demo camp keynote talk. The ideas presented eventually turned into the Dan Zen Creativity Framework which has now been changed to creativityframework.com Creativity Framework
Dan Zen Celebration Poster 2014 ▲ Dan Zen turned a half century old and celebrated by inviting everyone he knew to a party. The poster shows a stylized event location with information in the windows and as trim. The ticket motif helps get across the idea of a Museum and was matched in the design of the museum site. See Party
Dan Zen Expo Poster 2015 ▲ the poster for the expo is also used as the header for the site - although the color was removed. Dan Zen also plans to distribute golden tickets but the printing has not worked out yet. If you look closely at the words in the background you can get a hint at future exhibits. There will be 52 over the year until Zen turns 52. The poster features the Dan Zen totem logo in its current incarnation. The lettering was designed by Zen and he got a chance to make more letters for the word EXPO. Tuesday was picked for the launch day of each exhibit because Zen likes the word Tuesday. Visit Expo
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