C.V.
Philip van Allen Profile
Interactive designer, producer, and entrepreneur with over 30 years experience developing commercial and experimental media, computer and interactive projects. Focus on projects related to sound/music, physical interfaces, and ubiquitous / pervasive computing. Innovator of interactive music/sound applications, tools for designers, multi-user interfaces. Member of first commercial interactive design/development team in the 1980s. Founder of interactive agency.
Educator experienced in teaching, administration and curriculum development. Active in both graduate and undergraduate programs teaching full time for more than 10 years.
Technologist in diverse fields ranging across physical computing, software engineering, sound recording, electronics, and web database applications.
Current Affiliations
Art Center College of Design – Professor Interactive Design, Core Faculty within Graduate Media Design Program
Commotion New Media, Inc. – Interactive Consulting, design, and production, Principle
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) - Member
Publications
NET Lab Toolkit Website – Documentation & resource website to support the NET Lab Toolkit and my other research activities. Author/designer. (2008)
The New Ecology of Things (NET)
Thinking About Interaction Design for Online News Delivery (USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review 2004)
Productive Interaction research paper presented to Southern California Digital Culture Group, hosted at the Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California (2004).
Designing the future: writing, design and research on NOT-linear interaction – Symposium & publication on Designing Interactive Systems – DIS 2004, (ACM ISBN:1-58113-787-7 2004)
ArtCommotion.com – A website devoted to the literary and visual arts on Los Angeles. Publisher (1995-1996)
Selected Projects, Exhibitions, Products
NET Lab Toolkit for Designers – Part of the New Ecology of Things research program in the MDP, the toolkit is an integrated set of tools for designers that enable them to create interactive projects with sensors, effectors, and media in a simple to use, drag-and-drop environment. Designer, programmer. (2004 – present)
Interactive Learning Stations, Huntington Library Art Gallery – Two touch screen learning stations installed in the recently renovated Huntington House on the grounds of the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. Interactive design and programming in collaboration with Liz Burrill and Jamie Cavanaugh. (2008)
Objects & Screen Speculations – A video experiment to explore the affordances of various object types in the context of how they might be used to interact with large and small screens and the information on them. In this project, different object forms were made in clay or adapted from found objects (e.g. marbles) – we then video taped a simulation as if these objects actually controlled a video display. (2008)
Acura Oracles – Interactive Multi-touch tables for the Auto Shows. I consulted for George P. Johnson on the interactive and technical aspects of the project. The Oracle was also loaned and then donated to the MDP for use in our research and courses. (2007)
Infiniti Interactive Mirror – Interactive life-sized interactive system composed of 3 mirrored glass panels with 20,000 lumen rear projections for each panel. Installed at the Detroit & Chicago Auto Shows. I engineered and built the touch-less sensor system that detected when a user selected a link by passing their hand in front of the glass. In addition, I provided interactive design consultation for the project. (2006)
Corporate Delicti – Interactive sound work (multi-user, multi-channel) with office machines as part of a group exhibition at Nucleus Gallery. In collaboration with student Colin Owen. (2005)
Information Explorers – A series of experimental screen based projects that explored new modes of interacting with complex sets of information using ideas from my Productive Interaction paper (2005).
Interactive Music Project – A series of self-initiated experimental physical projects that explored the potentials for making consumer products that would enable non-musicians to create and play with music (2001-2004).
SoundBreak.com – A project of Acacia Research, SoundBreak.com was an early internet radio station. I helped develop the initial prototype and attitude and hired the creative director and other staff (2002-2003).
Interactive Curriculum, Santa Monica College – Developed a complete curriculum for an interactive media certificate at SMC’s Academy of Entertainment of Technology.
Internet & Interactive Music – At Interval Research I helped lead a team developing internet and interactive music projects with Joy Mountford as the principle investigator. One of these projects, the Bead Box, is mentioned in Bill Moggridge’s Designing Interactions
Launch Magazine – An interactive CD-ROM magazine about music. The publisher hired my company Commotion to design and produce the inaugural 6 issues. We also created some of the first ever interactive advertisements for a Nestle Butterfinger campaign within the magazine. (Launch Media/Yahoo 1994-1996)
Music CDi Discs – While at Philips, I created a series of the first hybrid music CDs (called CDi-Ready) that also had interactive content on them – included titles profiling James Brown, Luciano Pavarotti, and Mozart. In addition, I created a working prototype of an application that enabled the user to remix the classic rock song Layla.
The Germs – Recorded The Germs and other seminal Los Angeles punk bands in my garage studio (1978-1980).
Selected Talks, Presentations & Awards
Frog Design’s web publication “design mind On Air” Podcast - Interviewed by Chris Sallquist
Frog Design Seattle – Gave a talk on emerging trends in The New Ecology of Things, and their implications for designers.
Sketching in Hardware 09 – Presented research on affordances for media designers (2009, University College, London)
Elected to Art Center Faculty Council - Participating in council activities, and serving on Technology, Facilities, and IP campus-wide committees. (2008-Present)
Sketching in Hardware 08 – Invitation only invitee and speaker at symposium on prototyping physical computing projects (2008, RISD, Providence)
AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers of 2007 – Award for Book Design that “Successfully introduces the book to technology in a single form.” for The New Ecology of Things publication (2008)
FlashBelt Conference – Keynote presentation on The New Ecology of Things at Flash conference in Minneapolis (2008)
USC Interactive Media Arts and Practice Program - Talk and live webcast on The New Ecology of Things publication for an iMAP/Adobe Panel. (2008)
Art Center Faculty Enrichment Grant (2007)
Maker Faire – Introduced NET Lab Toolkit, and demoed re.moto, a wireless sensor system with Moto Development (2007)
UCSD Cal-IT 2 – Talk on NET Lab Toolkit, a tool for designers to make physical computing projects without programming (2007)
Up Next – Coordinator for the MDP conference at Art Center, Pasadena (2005)
Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) – Moderator and author for “Designing the Future” panel & position paper, and ACM Conference proceedings (2004)
Invision Award, Best Interactive Magazine Design - Launch CD-ROM Magazine (1995)
Digital World – Interactive Music Discussion Panel (1994)
Audio Engineering Society – Presented “UMix” a consumer music remix project featuring the original tracks of the song “Layla” (1992)
CDISC Conference – Organized 3-day software developer’s conference for the CDi platform. 200 attendees. Santa Barbara, CA (1991)
Teaching
Art Center College of Design – Pasadena, CA – 2000 to Present (full time since 2002)
Associate Professor in Interactive Design, Core Faculty, Graduate Media Design Program
- Elected Faculty Council, serve on Technology, Facilities, IP committees
- Collaborated on writing new MDP curriculum (2008)
- Established The New Ecology of Things research project, created NET Lab Toolkit for students, co-writer for NET publication
- Taught 3 different funded courses (New Ecology of Things – Sun Labs, Starbright, Interactive Sound – Beatnik)
- Coordinated MDP UpNext Conference
- Writing, interactive design, software development for MDP New Ecology of Things publication
- Coordinate Media Design Program department technology
- Awarded Faculty Enrichment Grant (2007)
- Departments taught for: MDP, Fine Art Media, Graphic Design, Digital Media, Grad ID, Weekend seminars
- Courses: Productive Interaction, The New Ecology of Things, Thesis Workshop, Sound in Space, Interactive Objects & Spaces, Interactive Design 1 & 2, Flash 1-day seminar, Programming for Designers seminar
Santa Monica College – Santa Monica, CA – 1998 to 2002
Assistant Chair, Design Technology Department, Academy of Entertainment Technology
- Developed new Interactive Media certificate
- Scheduled 70 classes per term
- Served on curriculum committee of Faculty Senate
- Developed new forms of teaching that integrated online and on-ground methods
- Courses: Intro to Interactive Media, Web Design 1, Web Design 2
McGill University – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – 1996
- Taught multimedia courses to audio engineering students
Work History
Art Center College of Design – Pasadena, CA – 2000 to Present (full time since 2002)
Professor in Interactive Design, Core Faculty, Graduate Media Design Program
Santa Monica College – Santa Monica, CA – 1998 to 2002
Assistant Chair, Design Technology Department, Academy of Entertainment Technology
Interval Research – Palo Alto, CA – 1997 to 1998
Consultant – Designer, Group Lead, Business Development for Joy Mountford’s music & Internet research team at Paul Allen’s company
Commotion New Media, Inc. – Los Angeles, CA – 1993 to Present
Founder and Principal, Interactive Consulting and Production specializing in web and interactive installations and exhibitions
Philips Interactive Media – Los Angeles, CA – 1988 to 1993
Senior Producer, Creative Director, Interactive Designer – MusicWorks Group – Interactive music titles for CDi set-top platform featuring CD music tracks, illustrated & narrated artist histories, interactive music games & discographies
GE Nuclear – San Jose, CA – 1985 to 1988
Systems Consultant – Porting of nuclear reactor monitoring software, developed operating system support modules
Prime Computer – Culver City, CA – 1983 to 1985
Senior Marketing Support Analyst – Systems analysis, benchmarking, and customer support for super-mini computer manufacturer
Santa Monica College – Santa Monica, CA – 1981 to 1983
Programmer Analyst II – Administrative computing software, created large computer RFPs, set up and managed student computer lab
Sunbird Sound – Los Angeles, CA – 1975 to 1981
Owner/builder of recording studio and freelance audio engineer – Recorded early LA punk bands (Germs, Dils), mixed live concerts (Ricky Lee Jones – Santa Monica College, Arco Jazz series – LA Bonaventure Hotel), sound technician for events (Ray Charles at Dorothy Chandler, Bette Middler – The Rose premier). Lighting and sound for television shows.
Education
BA in Experimental Psychology (focus on Cognitive Science) – University of California, Santa Cruz – 1988
Highest Honors, Cowell College Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, Graduation Speaker. Senior project on the computer recognition of melodies using neural networks. Research assistant for Professor Dominic Massaro – collected & collated data in human experiments, graduate level coursework in linquistics, courses and attended conferences in Artificial Intelligence.
General Education - Santa Monica College – 1976 to 1979
General education courses, stage lighting & sound, computer programming (punch cards!), electronics, drafting, construction techniques
Patents
Patent 6,164,541 – Methods and systems for providing human/computer interfaces—for Interval Research.
Patent 6,411,994 – Interface system for providing content using context hotspots—for Interval Research.
Technical Skills
Electronics prototyping, database design & development, web development, software development (PHP, ActionScript, Processing, MAX/MSP), sound engineering, stage lighting, network management
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