TDC Annual Awards 2002, Interactive Design Prize : Norio Nakamura		Japanese
	2002 Award Winners

"UGOKU(animated) -ID" on mobile phone The "Animated ID" started out in the year 2000 as a very simple idea: Wouldn't it be interesting if you could animate your name on your cell phone screen? I developed this project together with Masahiko Sato. The users enter their names, send it to the provider and it send back animated versions of their names. But even with cell phones, which were supposed to be the latest medium on the market, what we could do was very limited. The limitations were (a) the number of pixels on the screen (only 72 x 94), (b) the number of frames available for animation (only 5) and (c) the number of usable colors (only 4). These limitations were quite an obstacle, but the work we managed to produce by accepting and working around these limitations turned out to be minimalistic, giving a bold feel to the animation. As a result, I think they are rather unique as a mode of expression. And now as we begin the year 2002, we have had to meet the demands of "updating" -- one of the interesting but onerous characteristics of web media -- and continuously expand on ideas, much as newspaper cartoonists do with their 4-frame cartoon serials. Norio Nakamura Born in Kawasaki city in 1967. Graduated from Art faculty at Nippon University, worked at Sony Music Entertainment. Became a freelance in 1997. His major past projects include Play Station software "I.Q." and "I.Q.Final" ("KURUSHI" for abroad), planning art direction for "Poke-tan (Pocket-size English words book)", the cover of "Kokoku Hihyo (Monthly Advertisement Comment Magazine)" in 1999, a toy "Pon-chiki", and graphic works for Meiwa Denki.