Giant magnetic coin-like structure invites people to leave behind their spare pennies, when passing by the Southbank Centre in London. The installation will close on 8 October 2010 and £1 will be donated to children’s charity Barnardo’s for every penny attached to the structure. Drop is an inspiring example of how to playfully engage people in making a donation – the interaction is simple, intuitive, and fun, as people move around the collected pennies like they do with fridge magnets, drawing or writing messages. Drop stimulates visitors to purposefully leave a trace, feeling ownership of their space, while giving back to the community.

This is a project spotted on Dezeen – I have not seen it in person, and wonder if people know how significant their donation was… even if the project does not need instructions for interaction, it still would be nice to know what will happen to all these pennies – especially when it is so motivating to know that each penny will become pounds…

A lovely idea, so simple: Karoake Cinema presents muted old film footage and lets participants improvise the dialogue in voice-over. They can also take instruments lying around and make their own musical soundtrack. The set up is a straightforward invitation — a set of microphones standing in front of a wall projection, a set of instruments on the floor. The bold drama scenes showed on screen serve as exciting motivation to take part.

Interestingly, Celine Semaan, the creator of Karaoke Cinema, said initially she had the film’s original subtitles showing, for inspiration, or guidelines – but people plead to have the subtitles removed and started improvising, happy to take a more creative role in the project.

You may have heard of a similar project, Teevx, which is in fact the project’s former edition. Teevx imagined a rather complex screen interface to let participants not only create their own soundtrack, but also draw or write live on TV footage. Teevx was meant to be a call to take over the media, a call for freedom of expression (and it also made it to Cannes Festival).

Karaoke Cinema’s call to revolution is a little more subtle — the project rather focuses on the performance of participants. Its character finds a new elegance — a simplicity focusing on the playfulness at the heart of the improvisation game.

Watch a quick film!

More here!

Tone of voice isn’t just verbal. People can pick up cues from the surrounding environment. Saying no can be effective and communicate clearly without being harsh. This selection of barriers all communicate effectively and clearly delineate boundaries, letting you know the go / no-go areas without any additional verbal information. They also fit in with the surrounding area naturally and don’t make you feel cut off from seeing beyond the barrier.

Above: Elephants Delicatessen at closing time, PDX airport, USA

Gate for archeological site at Calle de la Canuda, Barcelona, SPAIN:

Portland Zoo wildlife exhibit, Portland, Oregon, USA: