Jason's Creative Research Portfolio
Why, hello there! Below you'll find a collection of interactive and immersive projects I've worked on since joining USC. These projects range from virtual and augmented reality, to interactive apps and personal projects. I've also included a section of work student's have done under my guidance.
Piranesi's Worlds
18th century engravings meet virtual reality
Blending the worlds of gaming, art history, and wearable technology, Piranesi’s Worlds takes you on a captivating journey through time. It's more than just a multiplayer video game; it's an immersive art-history lesson and a virtual museum that brings 18th-century engravings to life in the modern age. This innovative VR experience showcases how technology can revolutionize the way we learn and engage with history.
Imagine stepping into the intricate mind of 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Piranesi, as his masterful engravings come alive around you. Piranesi’s Worlds is an embodiment of experiential learning, transforming historic interpretations and traditional art-history methods into an accessible virtual adventure.
This project is the sibling of The Digital Piranesi, a monumental endeavor that digitizes all 28 elephant folio volumes into a meticulously interconnected website. But Piranesi’s Worlds takes it a step further by answering the following questions:
- How do we bridge the gap between rare art and modern accessibility?
- How can viewers engage intentionally with the art, the process, the immersive physicality, and the artist's vision?
- How can we create an experience that goes beyond a massive Wikipedia-like site?
I served as lead PI for this project, which received funding through an ASIPRE II grant—the first for a J-School faculty member. Collaborating with co-PIs Evan Meaney and Dr. Jeanne Britton, we recruited talents both inside and outside the university. Student developers and artists from SJMC, SVAD, Darla Moore, CEC and RIT lent their skills to make this vision a reality.
We are in the process of submitting the game to the Meta Quest App Store, however, in the meantime the game is available for digital download via itch.io.
While I've had the privilege to present this project at various organizations and conferences, a standout moment was being invited to present for Piranesi's 300th birthday in Rome. Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, we showcased our project virtually. Our efforts even resulted in a book chapter for the conference proceedings—a milestone that left me both proud and eager for more innovative adventures ahead.
Below you can watch a 10-minute walk-through of the game where I talk about the design, interactions, and overall expereince.
I've also included a few BTS images with a link to the development blog for the project.
Olive, It's Trash!
An augmented reality-enhanced children's picture book
Driven by the boundless curiosity of my own young children, this project dives headfirst into the realm of augmented reality to explore children's storytelling. I wanted to extend the narrative beyond the confines of the pages, creating an immersive experience that intertwines the magic of verbal visual interactions with the wonder of augmented reality.
The struggle between child's blooming imagination and personal agency are at the forefront of a world they're only just beginning to grasp. Amidst the verbal-visual lines of bedtime stories, is Olive, a spirited 6-year-old raccoon on a quest for discovery.
As the tale unfolds, Olive stumbles upon discarded items within her home, each becoming a canvas for her wild imagination. Take, for instance, a seemingly mundane used toilet paper roll her mother deems trash. To her mother, it's just that – an empty roll. But through Olive's imaginative lens, it transforms into a spyglass, an essential tool for her pirate escapades. As you read, you, like her mother, see only the empty roll, until the moment you peer through the augmented reality lens. Suddenly, the mundane becomes magical as the spyglass Olive envisions comes to life before your eyes.
Page after page, an AR experiences await, seamlessly woven into the narrative's fabric. By scanning the purple objects using the Blippar app, the world of Olive's imagination unfolds in delightful hues.
From playful scavenging to whimsical creation, this AR-enhanced children's book transcends the traditional reading experience. It transforms storytelling into story-living, where the pages come alive with a touch of technological enchantment.
The book can be purchased on amazon
Augmented Reality Lenses
#CountEveryVote
As the dawn of the historic 2020 election broke, a spirit of eager anticipation filled the atmosphere. That morning the urgency to uphold the essence of democracy and ensure an accurate count of every vote became a rallying cry. In collaboration with Van Jones' non-profit, Magic Labs Media, I had the opportunity of contributing to this charge by creating two engaging Snapchat lenses.
More than a filter the lenses were interactive tools designed to resonate with every voter, transcending party lines. Each lens featured three distinct color variations—White, Red, and Blue—symbolizing the diverse tapestry of voters. Users could effortlessly activate their preferred hue by tapping the corresponding dot on the right of the screen, turning their selfie into a beacon of civic participation.
The lenses were launched on election day and in the first week garnered 79,000 activations.
A Battle for the Soul of Snapchat
With the notion that everyone has a not-so-great Trump impression tucked away, I embarked on a quirky project. In a lighthearted twist, the Trump lens didn't just serve up a filter; it transformed users into their best - or perhaps hilariously worst - Trump impersonation. But it didn't stop there. A Biden lens soon joined the mix, ready to face off in the ultimate popularity contest.
With 328.7K activations, the Biden lens garnered its fair share of attention, but it was the Trump lens that stole the show with a whopping 5.08 million activations. In the lens popularity showdown, it was a the yuge win.
Pepper's Harry Potter Birthday
At the request of Pepper's Mom, a touch of magic came to life as I crafted a custom Daily Prophet for her daughter's 7th birthday. Inspired by the enchanting images that came to life in the Harry Potter movies, I sought to make Pepper's experience just as magical.
Using the wizardry (eh? eh?) of After Effects, I created the animation from a single image. But the true spectacle came to fruition within the Blippar app, where I used augmented reality to make the enchantment leap off the page.
Among the myriad details that danced to life, my personal favorite is the cryptic headline at the bottom—a nod to the fourth book in the series. This subtle clue added an extra layer of delight, especially as Pepper unwrapped her brand new copy of The Goblet of Fire.
The joy of creating this AR lens wasn't just in the technical wizardry, but in bringing Pepper's magical journey to life, capturing the essence of wonder that the Harry Potter universe ignites in us all!
Engaging Virtual Discussion Groups with Snapchat
Bringing life to a fully virtual classroom was a challenge I tackled head-on. By using user-friendly communication tools, student-generated prompts, and Snapchat's augmented reality filters, I create an interactive online learning space that encouraged active participation and a strong sense of community.
When the pandemic hit, I introduced a Mobile Augmented Reality course that was originally intended as a discussion-based seminar. The meticulous orchestration of Microsoft forms within weekly Blackboard modules, seamless communication via Slack for day-to-day interactions, and utilizing student-crafted Snapchat filters for personalized avatars all converged to create an online class that thrived. It was an arena where intricate topics could be dissected, debated, and deeply comprehended, and where technical software could be mastered without undue stress.
Below, you'll find screenshots of some of our virtual group discussions, along with a collection of student-selected Snapchat lenses. These lenses, spanning themes from Beach Day to Black History Month, offered engaging visual elements to our conversations. The Snapchat filters I designed for the discussions are marked with a yellow dot, providing a creative twist to our class interactions.
Buzz Lightyear AR Hologram Tests
I'm in the discovery phase for my next research project; animated AR holograms of real people!
An early test of the technology pipeline involves the following steps:
- Luma AI for photogrametry scanning
- Blender to clean the 3D scan up
- Mixamo, an Adobe tool, to rig the 3D model
- Rokoko for motion capture
- Back into blender to transfer the motion capture data onto the 3D model
- Export and upload to MyWebAR to host and launch the expereince
I put together the short video below about this process for Admitted Students Day this past spring. You can scan the QR code at the end of the video to see the WIP Buzz Lightyear test for yourself!
I'm currently working on high-fidelidy pipeline for this process... stay tuned!
Ward One App
Ward One App is an interactive experience that aims to bring to light a community of families that was forcefully removed due to urban renewal and university expansion in the 50s-70s. The app asks you to consider what the cost expansion, and to an extent gentrification, brings to a community in its way. The app engages with Ward One, a community that stood where part of the University of South Carolina stands now. It brings the voice of the ward into the present and invites you to engage in their lives the way they once were. It’s not focused feeling bad or guilty about what happened to Ward One, instead it’s a celebration of culture, community, and families.
The app functions, more concretely, as a geo-locative experience that pushes text, images, movies, oral histories, music, ideas, and concepts to engaged interactors as they navigate the old ward. The more the interactor explores, the more custom experience is had through the active tracking of interaction and navigation.
I developed the overall visual language through navigation and design. I specifically worked on navigational onboarding, organization of Entities (location specific content), Found Poetry, and the Radio Station.
Navigational Onboarding - This high-fidelity previsualization demonstrates the login, an introduction section meant to teach how use and recognize specific elements of the app's navigation, before settling on the main map interface. There is also a visual concept detailing the navigation of a "parallel" function.
Entites - This high-fidelity previsualization demonstrates navigating from the map to an Entity section, selecting an Entity, and working through that Entity's content.
The following are mock-ups for the Entity images with text and color options, and navigation details for the Entity section.
Found Poetry - This high-fidelity previsualization demonstrates the functionality of a Found Poetry section which uses used the words of the Ward One residents as a base to dive deeper into parallel text and stories.
Below is the font style guide for the the app.
Radio Station - This high-fidelity previsualization demonstrates the functionality the app's period specific radio station. This function was developed to promote the overall narrative of the app through period programming complete with songs, a DJ, and even commercials. Music taps into the soul of anyone listening and while the music of the ward was timeless it is a distinctive part of immersing interactors in mid-century Columbia.
Below is the radio style guide, along with radio ads and icon development options.
Jeopardy! Interview Question Edition
Jeopardy! Interview Question Edition is an interactive website designed to help students develop and refine their job interview skills. Modeled after the popular game show Jeopardy, the platform allows students to select and discuss suitable responses to a range of interview questions. Following each round, a comprehensive discussion ensues, offering insights into the interview process and effective answer construction. This environment, available both in-person and online, fosters a low-pressure atmosphere that minimizes anxiety and boosts confidence. The game's adaptability enables customization to specific JMC specializations, career goals, or job opportunities. By promoting active learning and participation, this interactive tool equips students for real-world interviews, laying the foundation for their career success.
You can play the game and test your skills using this link.
Let's Get a Job
Transitioning from college to the professional world can be daunting for graduates, especially those eyeing creative careers. To bring the wisdom of seasoned creative professionals to students, I decided to transform the classroom into a podcast.
Let’s Get a Job is a podcast takes a conversational dive into the career trajectories of creative professionals, where they spill about how they got their first jobs and the things they wish they knew when they did.
I sit down with experts from various creative media fields, including augmented reality, visual journalism, athletic apparel graphic design, animation, and wedding photography. By targeting roles and locales that resonate with the students' aspirations, as well as reflecting the class's diverse composition, the podcast offers relatable insights. These professionals aren't necessarily industry giants, but rather mid-level creatives students can truly connect with. Each episode unfolds with questions sourced directly from students, forming a foundation for probing discussions that unearth answers students might not yet know how to seek.
The outcome is the podcast I wish I had during my own college years: an intimate exploration into the "how and why" of creative industries, as narrated by the individuals immersed in them. Let’s Get a Job goes beyond mere career tips; it lifts the veil on the creative realm, sharing stories of shared journeys, epic setbacks, challenging clients, and triumphant dreams.
With no formal advertising, Let's Get a Job has reached listeners across 60 countries in over 700 cities purely through word-of-mouth buzz.
At nearly 40 episodes, Let’s Get A Job is available to stream on all podcasting platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
USC Comms wrote an article about the podcast here.
Student Work
Augmented Reality
“Looking Forward” Garnet & Black Spring 2023 Cover - Aaron Falls, Savannah Nagy, Melissa Borgerding
Carolina Insider 2023 Cover - Lily Ferguson, Leslie Arango, Tyler Sprague
Tarot Snap Filter - Emily Schoonover
Student made Snapcat filters for a Halloween assignment in a Mobile Augmented Reality Course. The CIC Comms team wrote an article about the course here
Interactive
Holiday Zoom Log - The Carolina Agency
This holiday from The Carolina Agency was sent out to all their clients. When you click on the link it opened a zoom meeting to the continuously looping video you see here, which ran continuously for the last two weeks of the year.
Bimble App Prototype - Kaeleigh Dunn
Off-Grid Website Development - Abby Dodson
The full site can be viewed here.
Motion Graphics
As part of a collaboration with Garden & Gun magazine, students developed informative explainer videos for G&G's Manual of Southern Know-How., offering a contemporary twist to traditional Southern knowledge.
Design a Nightime Garden - Ben Buttles, Krista Larson
Float a River - Grace Gomez
Bag a Bourbon Boat Drink - Sabrina Hampton, Lily Ferguson
Thump a Watermelon - States Beall, Spencer Kerr
These presentations marked a semester-long collaboration between Motion Graphics and Advanced Creative, led by me and Jeff Williams. Students from both courses united their efforts to tackle creative briefs sourced from the esteemed D&AD Awards.
Duoling: McLingo - Kelsey Worthington, Riley Norris, Sarah Corry, Steven Durrot
Penguin: Bellyflop into Books - Melissa Borgerding, Parker Knight, Jessica
Do The Green Thing: Reinvent Your Closet - Katie Emery, Vanessa Lewis
Design
Best of Carolina 2022 Vote Countdown / Launch - Gracie Bryant, Will Frame
Funky Bones Festival - Kelsey Worthington
WUSC Jamboree - Emily Schoonover
Video
Digital Accessibility at USC - Caroline Moore, Libby Breeze, Sarah Massengale
Before USC
I used to work in Advertising, VFX, and Video Games. Below you can view my demo reel, a few of the clients I've worked with, and games I've worked on. A couple even won some awards!
You can view my professional portfolio at JasontheWebsite.com
