RES Features: RES 10
Tronic
Words: Sandy Hunter
Shaping space -- virtual or physical -- is the forte of New York's Tronic Studio, which has ranged freely among installations, experimental architecture and broadcast design since architecture students Vivian Rosenthal and Jesse Seppi teamed up in 2001 following graduation from Columbia University. In 2002, fellow Columbia architecture alum Michael Foronda and Rei Inamoto, art director/interface designer, plugged in. Foronda and Inamoto, who also happen to be coworkers at New York design firm R/GA, enriched Tronic's unusual blend of skill sets.
"We tend to think spatially, informed by our architectural backgrounds," says Foronda. "One thing we carry over is creating immersive experiences. There is a direct correlation between how an architect thinks and how one creates immersive experiences on the Web, or in illustrative or broadcast work." As an example, when Inamoto (who still works with R/GA) art directed Nikelab.com, Tronic developed 3-D visualizations of the products on display, which created digital sneakers and MP3 players easily manipulated by users. All of the 3-D goods on the site were modeled from hand and sculpted in 3-D Studio Max in a process that mirrors designing and constructing a building.
In a more physical encounter at New York's Diesel Denim Gallery, Tronic exposed shoppers to a retail experiment via an interface kiosk that linked the act of purchasing with looking younger. While consumers signed their names, an image capture of their face was triggered. This later became a mask constructed of a waterfall of letters and characters washing down a wall. The person's face then appeared and began morphing into a younger visage. "It's a triptych in which all the pieces overlap," says Rosenthal. "It's immersive in the sense that it paid attention to the shopper by incorporating him into the piece." Foronda adds, "We wanted to respond to the idea that shopping changes your existing image, thus creating a new image. We translated this to getting younger and the desire for a new identity."
In early 2003, Tronic also teamed up with writer and filmmaker (and frequent RES contributor) Shari Roman to direct a live-action/CG music video for Chris Clark, and they designed title sequences, special effects and creature concepts for the upcoming feature film, Light and the Sufferer. Overall, the Tronic team's similarities and differences as designers help produce a unique, unfettered design aesthetic. "By combining different means of visual communication, we can create new kinds of work impossible for traditional graphic designers or architects," says Inamoto. This is illustrated by their upcoming gig, which involves creative direction for the development of a new hotel's identity and aesthetic. "We can't give the name away yet," says Seppi," but it's not Hotel 6!"
