When I first opened Moodstream I was excited. There marketing statement said, "Moodstream is a powerful brainstorming tool designed to help take you in inspiring, unexpected directions." As a designer, I'm always looking for tools to help me find the media I need for current projects. While the interaction looked fine at first, as I started using the application there were functions I felt I needed that were missing. You are presented with images, media and audio, however, there is no way to show just one media type. If I only want to be inspired by images I have to sit though all of the video snips to get to the next image. Next, the control box took up a great deal of above-the-fold space. While you can pause the presentation there is no way to stop and go back one or two images. You just have to wait for all of them to cycle through. On pause, a backbutton would have been very helpful. The core feature of finding media related to mood is a great idea, and Moodstream is a good start, however, it would nice to see some improvements to the UI.
What I’d *really* like to see is Getty release an API for the controls and stream that would allow others to integrate Moodstream into a wider range of devices… like the XBMC media player. I’d much prefer to interact with this “application” on the couch in the living room, with the stream playing on my widescreen and stereo.
Here’s hoping…
Max Kiesler is an award-winning strategic designer and co-founder
and principal of Ideacodes.com, a web consultancy in San Francisco focused on next generation websites. About Max...
09-05 11:41
listening to funplex by the b 52's "last call - last chance to dance" -fred schneider :)
