FlashBack Tribute # 1: Kai's PowerTools.
Over coffee this morning, the conversation led me to recall a particular moment in my past where I was challenged to present (to my peers) what I believed was creative and inspirational. I think it was during '92 or 3. At the time I was a Mac evangelist at TBWA / Hunt Lascaris.
My colleagues all had great references to Bob Dylan, Calvin and Hobbes and Nicolas Cage's intro sequence to Red Rock West. It was all very impressive and overall a great exercise. The folks called it a Creative Jumboree. I had very recently acquired a set of Photoshop filters called Kai's Power Tools. At the time there were a few Mac's in the studio but many of them lay idle whilst traditional art directors and copywriters locked themselves away in room's full of beanbags squirting water pistons at each other. Not many were converted at the time.
I stood up, and behind me, on a large projector screen was the interface for KPT Texture Explorer. This, for me, completely threw the interface design rule book out the window - for a start there was hardly any labeling, words or text. And what's more, the software kit came bundled with 'an explorers guide' not a user manual (i remember reading that Kai always thought a Users Manual sounded like it had to do with drugs). All of this blew me away. I spoke feverishly and passionately about the 'gene tree', the 'lens filter' and ultimately about the user's experience being similar to being in the same room as the software itself ... and not akin to many rooms in a hotel.
I was met with blank faces and silence.
So our first FlashBack Tribute goes undoubtedly to Kai Krauss and his team in developing the ground breaking Power Tools. He may not have helped me with a standing ovation that day. But I forgive him.
Interestingly enough, today Kai lives and works in a 1000-year-old castle, Burg Rheineck near Bonn in Germany which he calls ByteBurg. In February last year he was acknowledged as one of the Top 15 Innovators of the last 15 years.
My colleagues all had great references to Bob Dylan, Calvin and Hobbes and Nicolas Cage's intro sequence to Red Rock West. It was all very impressive and overall a great exercise. The folks called it a Creative Jumboree. I had very recently acquired a set of Photoshop filters called Kai's Power Tools. At the time there were a few Mac's in the studio but many of them lay idle whilst traditional art directors and copywriters locked themselves away in room's full of beanbags squirting water pistons at each other. Not many were converted at the time.
I stood up, and behind me, on a large projector screen was the interface for KPT Texture Explorer. This, for me, completely threw the interface design rule book out the window - for a start there was hardly any labeling, words or text. And what's more, the software kit came bundled with 'an explorers guide' not a user manual (i remember reading that Kai always thought a Users Manual sounded like it had to do with drugs). All of this blew me away. I spoke feverishly and passionately about the 'gene tree', the 'lens filter' and ultimately about the user's experience being similar to being in the same room as the software itself ... and not akin to many rooms in a hotel.I was met with blank faces and silence.
So our first FlashBack Tribute goes undoubtedly to Kai Krauss and his team in developing the ground breaking Power Tools. He may not have helped me with a standing ovation that day. But I forgive him.
Interestingly enough, today Kai lives and works in a 1000-year-old castle, Burg Rheineck near Bonn in Germany which he calls ByteBurg. In February last year he was acknowledged as one of the Top 15 Innovators of the last 15 years.
Comments
Kai certainly opened my eyes.
:)
Wouldn't it be a hoot to find out what Jacob Nielson's view would've been?
By the way: I'm open to suggestions for future FlashBack Tributes ... keep the peeps pealed.