http://www.specialmoves.com Special Moves RSS Feed /work/research-and-development/BitDisco With this experiment, our mission was to simplify music: to create an iPad app with a keyboard, drumbeats and synths that’s easy and fun for anyone to use.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Kaiser%20Chiefs All killer no filler. Working with the Kaiser Chiefs, Universal Music and our friends at W+K London we’ve created the world’s first filler-free album, and snapped up more awards that you can shake a stick at. For the launch of ‘The Future is Medieval’, we gave fans the chance to create their own version of the album, sell it on to their friends, and earn a £1 kickback for every sale.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Smirnoff Parties, travel, vodka: a hedonistic mix indeed, all encapsulated in an interactive touch screen retail experience we created for the world’s number one vodka brand. Time to get holidaymakers in the mood and whet their taste buds for the thirst quenching cocktails to come.

]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Walkers%20Rainy%20Days In 2010 Walkers challenged the British crisp eating public to predict the weather for a chance to win £10. AMV BBDO asked us to take charge of the visual and interaction design to create a beautifully fluid user experience. We said: ‘Great’.

]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/The%20Lynx%20Effect How do you make a sexy content management system? Design it to let brand content teams publish anything: PHP, .NET, Flash or HTML, all seamlessly integrated.  That’s exactly what Specialmoves designed and built for Lynx/Axe. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/AR%20Projects We've just completed two augmented reality projects for Manchester City: the incredibly successful 'Lift the Cup' campaign in 2011 (read more below) and a new commission to to support the release of the new Manchester City Football Club ‘Clever Cards’. We can’t show you what we created without spoiling the competition, but from what we can tell, it put a smile on a fair few faces!
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Consequences For Creative Review’s second Tweet Up at Tate Britain, we created an interactive installation inspired by the much-loved game Consequences, a.k.a Exquisite Corpse. Two people draw on iPads in real-time, building on the previous work created to generate a giant digital art mash up.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/3D%20Room%20Planner We’re not all talented interior designers, nor do we have hours to scour the shops for the perfect sofa. That’s why the team at Mydeco set out to revolutionise the way we shop for our homes, and where Specialmoves came in to create a 3D room planner: a unique take on room decoration. The tool won the E-consultancy Innovation Award 2008, an FWA award, and IMA and BIMA nominations.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Carpe%20Diem%20Daily Carpe Diem means “Seize the Day”. We were commissioned by W + K to think differently about an integrated multimedia mobile app and website to help you do just that. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/research-and-development/Voodoo Do you sometimes need to vent some serious frustration? We thought so. So here’s the answer: a 3D iPad application that allows you to map a photo from Facebook onto your virtual voodoo doll’s face, then tug and stretch its arms and legs until your heart is content. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Misfits%20Facebook%20Trailer A cutting edge mix of VFX and Facebook integration allows viewers to become part of the Misfits' world, in a personalised experience to promote the hotly anticipated second series of Channel 4's teen drama. ]]> Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:56:11 GMT /work/research-and-development/Divvi Often we use our R&D projects to fix problems that bug us. Like this one: you’ve had a great weekend with friends, you've all taken loads of photos on your phones and you want to share them quickly and easily. Not by laboriously uploading them to Facebook or Flickr, or attaching them to emails, but in a way that lets you ‘own’ the photos yourselves. We created Divvi to do this. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/history/A%20look%20back%20at%20The%20Osbournes 2002. Time for a certain inimitable Black Sabbath front man and his family to rocket into the public eye on a television show that resembled the Simpsons in a knife-fight with the Addams family. 
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/history/A%20look%20back%20at%20Robin%20Hood Anyone who makes games will tell you that creating a good, complex and subtle experience takes a tremendous amount of effort. Leafing through the Specialmoves archives recently, it’s not surprising that this job jumped out for looking really very difficult. The next thing that became obvious was that the team who worked on it loved every second of it.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Arial%20Black%20displaying%20in%20Italic%20IE%20/%20WebKit%20SP3 Recently whilst working on a rather large client project we came across an annoying bug. The project originally used a custom font which we advised against due to licensing, instead we decided to use Arial Black. If you’re intending on using Arial Black in your font stack, or as your main font it is worth checking with the client or the creative whether this is imperative. ]]> Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Automating%20the%20Automator%20%E2%80%93%20Hudson%20job%20creation If you don’t know about the wonders of Hudson and Continuous Integration, check out this earlier post on Hudson and Automating Development.
]]> Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Flash%20Data%20Transfer%20using%20FluorineFx Recently at specialmoves, we’ve worked on some very large, multi-language, bespoke CMS driven sites. The Flash versions of these sites require many calls to the back-end (.NET) to send and retrieve data.
]]> Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Hudson%20and%20Automating%20%20Development%20Tasks Over the past 6 months we have been using Hudson to automatically build and deploy both Flash and .NET projects. Hudson is a continuous integration server. It monitors source-code repositories and at regular intervals or when it detects changes, it can run scripts. Those scripts can compile code, run unit tests, generate version numbers, deploy to servers and more. Although it’s a relatively new introduction to our studio, it’s rapidly becoming indispensable. Here’s why.
]]> Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Flash%20Font%20Embedding%20Using%20MXMLC%20Compilation Ever since the early days of Flash, embedding fonts and supporting both multiple and large characters sets has been somewhat of a sticking point. Whilst support for various intricacies of font loading and embedding has gradually improved with each version, there are some inherent difficulties.
]]> Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT /labs/The%20different%20methods%20of%20Font%20Embedding%20%26%20Serving With the impending relevance of HTML5 & CSS3, web-designers and developers alike are looking towards different approaches of font-embedding. Fonts have always been the crux of the online design world, with designers coming up with more interesting and leading designs but being hampered by the fact they will most likely have to resort to a traditional web-safe font (web-safe fonts can actually produce the most consistent results across multiple browsers.) ]]> Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Voodoo%3a%20Unity3D%20R%26D The Voodoo project came about through a desire to build a 3D application for the iPad, learning as much as possible along the way about the tools and workflow involved. The result is an interactive doll where the user can grab and toss him around a 3D environment, pull his limbs with multitouch gestures, and optionally map a Facebook profile picture to his face.

This article outlines the Unity3D for iOS development experience and some of the technical hurdles we encountered along the way.
]]> Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Divvi%3a%20photo%20sharing Adobe have been promoting the use of AIR to develop cross platform applications, especially since Apple relaxed their rules around 3rd party tools for App development, thereby making AIR a valid tool for iOS development. Recently a number of devices have come to market that have made this more appealing too, notably the Blackberry Playbook and Android tablets like the Xoom.

So we thought, why don’t we try and develop something across all these devices and see what happens? ]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Kaiser%20Chiefs%20Album%20Generator Working with our friends at W+K London we launched a site for the Kaiser Chiefs. Well it’s a bit more than a site, it allows you to create your own version of the band’s new ‘The Future is Medieval’ album. Choose ten songs from a list of twenty, design your own artwork and get a £1 kickback for each one sold.
]]> Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Draw%20with%20Flash%20using%20iPhone For this R&D experiment, we wanted to find a way for one/multiple iPhones to communicate with a Flash Website in real time. So we decided to build a prototype of how this could work by creating a Drawing Pad application where the iPhone functions as a controlling device and the output is displayed on a Flash website in real time.
]]> Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT /about/history/How%20Specialmoves%20began Specialmoves officially started in 1999 in our Creative Director’s bedroom, but its story began way before that. The four founders Dave, James, Pascal and Darrell met four years earlier, as students on the influential Media Lab Arts (now DAT) course at Plymouth University. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/London%20to%20Brighton%20Bike%20Ride Anyone who knows anything about Specialmoves will tell you that we have near-superhuman capabilities. So it just made sense that the entire office would take part in the 2011 London to Brighton bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/Specialmoves%20weekender The company trip was supposed to be a surprise.  No one was supposed to know a damned thing about it, aside from the fact that they had to bring warm, waterproof clothes for three nights. ]]> Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:44:37 GMT /about/culture/D%26AD%20New%20Blood Bright eyed, bushy tailed … absolutely no clue where to start. It’s daunting trying to find your place in the working world when you first leave school or university. ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/research-and-development/Tea%20Mailer Tea is the drink of choice here at Specialmoves. We drink it by the bucket load. Rather than send an all-staff email to let everyone know that tea is in the pot, we decided that thumb recognition could speed the process up.

]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /work/research-and-development/Draw%20with%20Flash%20using%20iPhone ‘Transmedia’, ‘Interconnectivity’, ‘Cross-Platform’, call it what you like. Increasingly one platform needs to speak to another. For this R&D experiment, we wanted to find a way for an iPhone, or even iPhones, to communicate with a Flash website in real time.  ]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/About%20us Specialmoves is an interactive studio. We create incredible experiences on mobile, web and in the real world.

We believe cool interactive things can make a positive impact on peoples’ lives. It can make them happier and more productive. And we love making them. 

We're one of London’s longest standing independent studios and we're experts in creating masterful interactivity. 

]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/We%20invest%20in%20R%26D We've invested in R&D right from the start of Specialmoves.  Today, we put at least 15% of our annual profit back into our research and development LAB for the following year. This investment allows us to experiment, collaborate and strive for perfection: to investigate new technologies and processes, and combine existing technologies in new ways.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/We're%20rock%20solid In our eleven year history, we've never failed to deliver a solution we've pitched to a client. And we've never had to ask a client for more money to complete a scope of work mid-way through.  That’s because our estimates are based on solid proto-typing and scoping.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /jobs/Jobs We only recruit insanely talented multi-skilled people who love interactive design and are committed to the highest digital standards.
]]> Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 GMT /labs/A%20little%20chat%20with%20Darrell As one of our founders, Darrell Wilkins’ opinions have helped to shape Specialmoves since we first started out. Here are a few of them.
]]> Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT /work/client-work/Halifax%20Online%20Choir In case X-Factor didn't quite get you in the mood for singing your heart out, then perhaps the prospect of raising £100k for Save the Children would have. We worked closely with adam&eve and Halifax to create a digital platform that kept on giving last Christmas. ]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/Young%20Developer%20Day%202011 On 7th November 2011 we hosted our first Young Developer Day, giving students a break from drinking cider and watching Jeremy Kyle, to experience ‘a day in the life’ of a fully operating studio. ]]> Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT /labs/How%20I%20learned%20to%20stop%20worrying%20and%20love%20Jenkins I’ve written about Jenkins before but felt that a broader description of how we use Jenkins would be good to share. It’s interesting how many places still don’t use continuous integration tools like Jenkins and how many places don’t automate their deployment systems. Hopefully this will help them get started. We’d love to hear about people’s experiences of Jenkins and how they use it.
]]> Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Better%20JavaScript%20organisation%20with%20RequireJS When you've got lots of JavaScript files in a site you can run into problems. Each file you specify is another http request, every third-party plug-in can come with several dependencies that have to be included, and remembering what order things need to be executed in might not be obvious at first.

Require JS solves those problems and in this article, I'll let you know how this lightweight library can help you organise your JavaScript into well structured modules. ]]> Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Responsive%20design%3a%20a%20combined%20workflow%20 As a digital company we're always looking to push ourselves to use the latest Tech, Design and Production principles. 'Responsive design' and 'Progressive Enhancement' are amongst the most exciting things happening in web design and development as we speak. And we think we've got some answers as to how designers and developers can better work together to visualise and build responsively.
]]> Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT /about/culture/The%20D%26AD%20Student%20Awards%202012 At Specialmoves, we think encouraging young talent is incredibly important, and we do as much as we can to make sure up-and-coming developers, designers and producers are given the chance to shine. Which is why we wrote the Digital Design brief for D&AD’s Student Awards 2012. ]]> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Demystifying%20HTML5%20%26%20CSS3 If you’ve been even remotely connected to the Web Development community you would have at some point heard the chatter about HTML5. Unfortunately, you’ve probably ingested a lot of misinformation as well.
]]> Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/The%20Beginning%20of%20Skynet%20with%20Arduino%2c%20AIR%20%26%20Flash Being in an industry of technology and innovation, I am always looking at new ways to create interactive systems that are fun but also useful. This project began when I first learnt about the Arduino, which is: "An open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.” ]]> Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Using%20MVC%20at%20Specialmoves I joined Specialmoves as a .NET developer at the beginning of 2011. At the time, the lead developer had just started an MVC 3.0 .NET Razor project. At my interview, it was clear that MVC was the way forward for Specialmoves and I wanted to get involved with that. I had only ever worked on web forms and was really looking forward to seeing what was new. ]]> Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:19:34 GMT /jobs/Head%20of%20People We've been going for over twelve years and we're in the process of growing our team. Exciting times! We're looking for an exceptional part-time Head of People to join our digital studio and cover a maternity leave starting in June. 

You'll report directly into the Managing Director and will be responsible for staff welfare across the the studio. It’s an exciting opportunity to be close to the business; playing a key role in decisions and helping to drive change. 
]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/The%20Agile%20Way%2c%20Our%20Way At Specialmoves, we’re into agile. We like the structure it brings to our development, the understanding it has for how technical stuff is made and the inevitable changes we’ll encounter along the way. But above all, how it empowers developers far beyond the more traditional waterfall approach. The sprint planning, development, retrospective and demoing at the heart of agile puts the development team in the driving seat. Skill plus ownership will produce results that skill alone never will. ]]> Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Capes%20and%20Aliens In a studio meeting the other day, Steve (one of our developers) presented a little iPad game that he'd mocked up in a few days. It was simple, but nifty - you move the 'Green Atom' character whilst avoiding and destroying asteroids that appear from the top of the screen. We all fought to have a go and a rugby tackle later, I had the iPad in hand. It felt responsive and smooth and most importantly, good fun!

As dev-led projects tend to go, all the art assets were stock bits and bobs - the rewards of many a Google 'Image Search'. There was some great humour in it, but it all needed a bit of designer loving. We thought we'd design a few characters and elements to bring it all together as a side project to brush up our drawing skills. Steve gave us a folder containing all the assets with a brief of "Take 'em and make 'em shiny!". Or something like that. ]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/MongoDB%20shows%20the%20way MongoDB is an open-source document-oriented datastore. It’s one of the darlings of the NOSQL world, and with good reason, using it on our 24 Days project really helped getting started very quickly - run mongod.exe and you are good to go. There’s no schema, set up is effortless and there are drivers for every major language and platform. As you probably can tell I quite like it.

Download Mongo and follow along on in the shell if you have the time - the data I used for this write-up is in a script here. Some instructions for running it. If you don’t know Mongo there is a great tutorial shell - http://try.mongodb.org/ to get started.

]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT /labs/Bacon%202012 Bacon is a two day, two track conference run by the lovely Ladies and Gentlemen at Mint Digital. It focuses on 'things developers love', to deliver a tech-led, all-encompassing event held at The Mermaid Centre, London.
 
I was lucky enough to be there to soak up the knowledge and, after an early morning injection of coffee and bacon sandwiches, that’s exactly what I did. As it turns out, I learnt quite a lot and as a bonus, found a use for my university-gifted, note-taking reflex.
]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT /jobs/Developer%20Internship At Specialmoves, we believe people love brilliant interactive experiences. We conceive, design and build wonderful things for mobile, for the web and for the real world with brands that share our vision that beautifully crafted experiences are valuable and worthwhile.

We're now looking for an intern to join our studio. Someone who will play a key role in our developer team. This is a paid internship which starts in September for 10-12 months. We'd like to hear from anyone who wishes to pursue a career in development, you don't necessarily have to be a graduate or a placement student.

It's a fun and engaging place to work, so we're looking for someone who is enthusiastic and ready to learn. If you feel like you've got what it takes and are super talented, this is a great opportunity to learn from the best in the industry, so read on. ]]> Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT