Matt Gibson, Cyber-Duck’s Production & Marketing Director gave an inspiring speech last week to students at his old university; UEL.

The show was a chance for all final year students from Interactive Media Design BA, Multimedia Design & Technology BSc and Computer Games Design BA to show off their final year projects which make up a bulk of their final marks along with their dissertations.

Matt gave a short speech about his time at UEL and what he gained from his experience there, along with how his career has panned out since! He then went on to give words of encouragement to a group of very promising young talent due to graduate from the university this year. He was invited to the event by Tony Sampson (Senior lecturer and programme leader for new media degrees) to show the graduates some of the exciting and rewarding paths they have the opportunity to take in the new media industry.

After his words of encouragement, Matt presented awards to the 2 best final year projects which congratulate them on their innovation, presentation/delivery and research. The stand-out projects to win awards were:

  • Affect-ed by Matt Radbourne and Stuart Norman. The idea behind Affect-ed was to test emotionally designed prototypes and produce innovative (pervasive, ubicomp) software that can stimulate a more engaged learning experience related to ICTs. The project used infrared sensors to control interfaces on a larger scale than traditional computers, so a class for example could control the digital environment on their desks or even on the teachers whiteboard. The guys did their testing at local schools (they even got CRB approved) with their target users; school children. The project raises the question about how emotional design and affective usability can be employed to produce more engaging and effective education experiences when it comes to IT.
  • Cloud Creative by Claudia Potton. This is another interface enabling people to engage in design experiences for learning i.e. the space enables users to play, create art and share their creations. From creating visual poetry to abstract art based on physics anybody can be creative or trigger ideas / inspiration.