• Playlist design
• Graphic design for cover art

Carlos loves music. He enjoys making playlists and cover arts.

Swing Meets Electronic cover arts (square & wide)
Illustrator

Tango Meets Electronic cover arts (square & wide)
Photoshop

Romantic Evening Awaits You Tonight cover arts (square & wide)
Photoshop

Electro Cats cover arts (square & wide)
Photoshop

Acoustic Cats cover arts (square & wide)
Photoshop

• Interaction design
• Information architecture for sitemap
• User flow and prototype

Front Page of the website

Using Axure RP, Carlos is designing a full featured website wireframe for a fancy jewelry retailer in San Francisco, California. He is striving to design it easy to use not sacrificing visual aesthetics. By doing so, he aims to facilitate communication between graphic designers and programmers not to mention of the client.

Live demo is available at http://share.axure.com/QJ39AX

Sign In Page of the website

Register Page of the website

* Company name and graphic assets are removed due to copyright issue.

• Interaction design
• Select music and write up commentaries.
• Send Musiq Mail and post it to the website.

Musiq Mail from Carlos is an asynchronous broadcast that introduces music along with personal commentaries via email and the website.

Flow Diagram of Musiq Mail from Carlos

Carlos started Musiq Mail from Carlos to share good music with friends on July 22, 2009. Using email as its main communication channel, he introduces wide variety of music along with personal commentaries, which foster active communication among subscribers. As of Aug. 3, 2011, it has well over 170 subscribers and is growing. Welcoming its 3 years anniversary recently, he revamped its website and opened it to public with a hope that more people enjoy music and join the conversation.

The website is at http://musiqmail.sokions.com. Or you can just google “Musiq Mail from Carlos.”

Wireframe of the website‘s list view(left) and screenshot(middle, right)

Wireframe of the website‘s grid view(left) and screenshot(right)

Upcoming

Multi-language translation

English

Japanese

• Designed layout for an easier-to-read About page of project Color :: Phrase.

Click image to enarge

The project owner, Paulwei Wang, wanted its About page more organized. Carlos helped him make it more structured and consistent visually.

Color :: Phrase is an experiment to crowdsource the relationship between certain colors and certain phrases. For more information, visit its About page.

• Research and Development: HTML5, JavaScript

This is an example of how HTML5 can enrich the way we watch videos. It enables us to skim multiple videos in synchronization. Moving the scrubber should scrub both videos. It is useful to play videos simultaneously. As you can see below, a music video and its complementary video are good combination that needs playing at the same time.

Compatible with the latest version of Safari, Google Chrome and Opera.

One day, he found these videos interesting and tried to embed them to one of my blogs. However, it was really tricky to play both videos synchronized because you have to click play each video separately. That’s how this project started.

Applications

There’s a lot that can be done with this. Here are some examples.

• Multiple surveillance camera recordings monitoring software – This is especially for crime scene investigating purpose. Investigators will be able to check several relevant videos synchronized to find clues without hassle.
• Events’ highlights visualizer – This solutions is useful to boost spectacle moments visually. Imagine you are watching fireworks from various angle at the same time or even decisive moments of sporting events such as soccer, baseball and so on. It will create more holistic video-watching experience.
• Media art with multiple videos – It can be used for experimental media art as well. Separate video clips somewhat connected can be laid out in an artistic way using HTML5’s new features such as size, ratio, angle etc.

Credit

• Research and ideation
• Idea sketch production

HEAD BANG BEATS is a concept application of Jawbone ERA which will allow DJs to create even more vivid and dynamic performance with their head.

Idea sketch of HEAD BANG BEATS

Jawbone ERA is not just a beautiful bluetooth headset. It has an accelerometer built-in which opens a whole new level of possibilities for bluetooth headsets. Inspired by Daito Manabe’s Nike Music Shoe, Carlos conceptualized HEAD BANG BEATS by creating the idea sketch video.

* Note that Carlos is not affiliated with Jawbone.

• Ethnographic research to develop interaction wireframe
• Promotion video production
• Weekly project report
• Project management

Team S.C.I.F.I created HIVE, a suite of software and hardware for search and rescue operation inspired by gadgets from Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Dead Space.

S.C.I.F.I. Packaging in Progress I & II: DRADIS, Arrow of Apollo & Cardio Gauntlet
* Note that these are photo slide show, not 3D models
* Photography / Videography by Carlos Sokion Shin

Official promotion video
* Videography by  James Doughty, Motion Graphics & Audio  by Carlos Sokion Shin

It’s time of calamity. Roads blocked. No cellphone reception. People injured or missing. Our hero sets his destination in Arrow of Apollo application on his Android mobile phone and follows the green dot that Arrow of Apollo draws on the ground. Encountering the wounded lying on the ground, he performs quick assessment with Cardio Gauntlet, which translate heartbeat rate into readable cardiograph that helps to decide their condition. After he’s done what he can do, he flags the location on DRADIS, which is then automatically transmitted to other members so that medics in the team can provide them with proper treatment.

Weekly Updates (The S.C.I.F.I. Weekly)

Future Development

Even though the team’s focus was more on making “working” prototypes not leaving Sci-Fi world, consulting Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group (AMRG) revealed that this project can be extended to solve real world problems. Followings are examples of the difficulties search and rescue teams run into very often in the field that HIVE can contribute to.

• Teams losing each other
• Way-finding failure
• Delay in assessing patient’s condition

These requests can be implemented easily.

• Draw a boundary
• Body temperature
• Secure packaging
• Reasonable price

Throughout the project, the team realized that there is a lack of development for search and rescue, which is apparently due to their surprisingly low funds despite their noble and humanitarian efforts and sacrifice. As a result, the team decided to put their source code under General Public License (GPL) hoping their work to be developed further with help of open source community.

Credits

Carlos Sokion Shin: UX Designer, Producer
James Doughty: Concept Artist, Experience Designer
Michael Hill: Programmer, Hardware Designer
Hanika Karkhanis: Programmer, Hardware Designer

Scott Stevens: Project advisor
Shirley Saldamarco: Project Advisor

For more information, please refer to project website at http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/lm-sci-fi/

Carlos was in charge of defining and refining its overall user experience to be educational, engaging and intuitive.

• Interaction design and UI refinement
• User tests with children and parents
• Sound design
• Project management

Fabulous Philly! is a game for children on Microsoft Surface that introduces Philadelphia to engage and educate children, and ultimately propel them to every corner of the city.

Walkthrough of Fabulous Philly!

Features

Fabulous Philly! is designed carefully to serve its purpose in many aspects. It features a wide variety of places to visit along with relevant library resources available at the library. Children are exposed to eye-catching pictures of those neighborhoods and children’s books throughout the game. Furthermore, a character of William Penn, the founder of the city, encourages them to learn more about the city by praising their achievements with supports of cheerful background music and joyous sound effects. Developed on Microsoft Surface, children can play Fabulous Philly! with not only fingers but also a stamp which improves intuitiveness and responsiveness for children.

Credits

Carlos Sokion Shin: UX/Sound Designer, Producer
Evelyn Chang: Researcher
Paulwei Wang: Programmer
Jiwon Kang: Artist
Joan Kim: Co-producer, Artist
Te Hu: Programmer

Sound designer
Entertainment Technology Center, Fall 2009

• He was sound designer in this project. Inspired by stunning sound effects in Star Wars series, he focused on generating dynamic and lively sound effects for immersive gaming experience. As a result, the game features rich audio experience with unique sound effects.

Pod Racer is a racing game utilizing Wii Remote and Audience interaction in the world of Star Wars developed in 4 weeks by team Joan & Boys.

Working on sound effects for the world of Star Wars was intriguing and challenging. It was not only because sound effects of Star Wars brought unreal creatures into life but also they are one of the greatest works in the field, which set a high standard. Everyone exposed to Star Wars knows how appealing it sounds. Furthermore, this is a game. Another level of consideration had to be put into: interaction. Thereby, my goal in this project was making sure they stay seamless even when interrupted not to mention of being vivid and dynamic.

Credits
Carlos Sokion Shin: Sound Designer
Jiwon Kang: Modeler
Joan Kim: Producer / UI Artist
Beomsik Kim: Programmer

• As producer, he implemented and led agile production method for the project. To keep up with such fast-paced development, he used video recordings of every play tests to visualize current status and next steps of the project.
• As sound designer, he selected background music and created multiple sound effects that match The CORE’s futuristic Sci-Fi look. For example, Chemical Brothers’ Block Rockin’ Beats was chosen not only because its groovy and repetitive sound suited well with the gameplay but also its tempo was perfect for the rhythm of the game.
• As videographer, he created a promotion video using video recordings of everyday progress.

The CORE is a Pong-style arcade game for Jam-o-Drum* where up to four people compete each other to survive protecting the core. The CORE is developed in 1 week by team CORE.

Promotion video of The CORE by Carlos Sokion Shin

Gameplay

The CORE consists of 5 essential gaming elements including core, shield layers, paddle, ball and items. Each player is given a core that is protected by shield layers. However, they are peeled off when they are hit by a ball leaving the core vulnerable to attacks eventually. Players have to bounce off the ball with the paddle before it hits their shields or even the core. Also it is important to use various items strategically. An offensive item lets your paddle to collect a ball instead of bouncing it off instantly while defensive one makes your paddle stronger for certain amount of time. Destroying someone else’s core has you one step closer to the victory but you have to be more careful because loser’s core multiplies the ball.

Daily Updates

Credits

Carlos Sokion Shin: Producer, Sound Designer, Videographer
Tatyana Koutepova: Modeler
Andrew Edwards: Texture Artist
Dan Pike: Programmer

* Jam-o-Drum is a projected table with four pairs of a botton and a wheel that players use as controllers.

• Asset collection
• Asset selection
• Video production
• Publish

Memoir of ITCT is a slideshow featuring 14 unique events at the department of Information and Multimedia Culture of Seoul National University along with bespoke soundtracks.

Memoir of ITCT

Goal

As he had such a wonderful time with people in the department, he wanted memorable closure. He wanted to create something they all can enjoy. Then he realized that they already had something they had been sharing, common experiences.

Inspiration

He continued to ask himself. “How could memory be maintainable and sharable?” David Weinberger’s book inspired him to an answer: a gorgeous photo slideshow with great music. He wanted to wake up thousands of digital photos that were likely to be buried, forgotten somewhere in someone’s hard drive, and eventually vanish on earth.

Chapters

00:11 Christmas with M, 2007
02:55 2008 Spring MT @ Stay7
05:12 OMG!!! Culture Contents class ’08
07:56 Affairs in 2008 spring
11:13 Pedaling to Yangpeong
18:49 Saturday with M No. 1
20:35 Good Luck to Jean, Minhee, Boram and Byungsan
24:44 Saturday with M No. 2
26:29 Graduation photo taking, Seriously?
28:22 ITCT goes to PIFF
32:34 Media Lab goes on busy
35:08 Adieu, 2008
38:15 Annapurna
46:38 ’09 Spring anew

Process

1. Asset collection (3 days)
- Collected more than 5,000 photos.
- Organized them by events.

2. Asset selection (2 days)
- Selected about 1,300 photos.
- Determined background music for each events.

3. Video production* (4 days)
- Created slideshows for each events with matching sound / visual effects.
- Combined them into a single video.

4. Publish (1 day)
- Gifted DVDs to people in the slideshow.
- Published to web.

* Memoir of ITCT is made with iPhoto, Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Motion and LiveType.

UX Designer, Researcher
Seoul National University, Spring 2008

• Case study research
• Script for voice-over
• Voice-acting / audio recording / audio editing
• Usability test

Sound Pill is a concept product to relieve your mental stress with friends’ voice messages.

Aiming to rediscover the potential of audio, the team focused on its emotional value that no visual run parallel with. An extensive research revealed that surprisingly many people are undergoing emotional problems and voice of close friends is a very effective remedy. In light of this, the team categorized these emotional symptoms into six groups, which they listed sentences that are adequate for, respectively. Accordingly, they recorded voice messages from twenty people and created six distinct audio clips that are available on the right.

Sound Pill is then packaged in a small form factor shaped as a pill. Because their research revealed that tangible products emotionally appealed more to people than digital files. Also because the shape of a pill matches the purpose of the product metaphorically. So when you need some mental support, you can open the pill and plug the small chip inside to your Sound Pill player as if you take an aspirin for headache.

Lessons Learned and Future Development

Usability tests revealed that it works best when it is made of friends’ voices. Also, an automated system is necessary that combines many audio clips of different people into one and send it to the person. In sum, Sound Pill is a promising future project which has 2 issues to solve: how to make *YOUR* friends to say something for you; how to make it easier to record and send. One good solution to tackle these issues is to have a mobile phone application that connects to your Facebook friends and send voice messages within.

Credits

Juho Kim
Hyejun Kim
Jun Hee Lee
Carlos Sokion Shin
Daeun Kim
Jaehun Jo