I've often wondered what it would be like to have a computer-like interface for the real world. Imagine redesigning a rundown parking lot or a local park with your mouse, keyboard, and favorite design app. How would it work? What would it look like?
While we often take for granted the interaction and control computers provide, it would certainly be an awesome feat to use Photoshop to edit your real world surroundings. Sounds cool, right?
Well, it looks like a few others have thought about the same thing. Wanda Kamarga & Co. have taken our favorite image editor, Adobe Photoshop, and turned it into their own real world rendition. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Don't forget to check out the whole set, tactfully dubbed Art Snob Solutions.
Taking something from the digital—the interactive—world and turning it into something tangible and real is truly an exercise in interface design. How do you transfer the control of a computer to real world tools and actions? The team that created this real world Photoshop chose cardboard, paint, and standard graphic design tools. My only question is how do I zoom in?
The ability to create interactive experiences across any medium is a challenge all designers have attempted to master for years. Real world, digital, mental, mobile, print, Web browser, desktop, touch—all mediums that make for different interactive experiences, but all roads we can use to similar tasks.
Maybe a real world Photoshop—and others—is closer than we think. How would you turn your favorite application into a real world interface?
