December 29, 2020
A Glance At The Future – Interactive ‘Smart’ Tattoos
It’s no secret that most industries are reaching toward the future with open arms. Old practices evolve and get more refined as equipment and techniques advance. The tattoo industry is certainly among those embracing growth. Looking back even 40-50 years ago, tattoo artists did not have access or knowledge of single use needles or other equipment now made disposable for safety. The industry continues to boom and make leaps and bounds forward as tattoos become more popular. Some artists are looking ahead even further, as they work with digital content creators to create interactive ‘smart’ tattoos.
Soundwave Tattoos
Skin Motion, an LA based company, is successfully integrating tattoos with smart phones. In 2017, tattoo artist Nate Siggard create a tattoo of a soundwave. Using an app, an audio clip is played via smart phone when the soundwave tattoo is scanned – like a QR code bringing up a menu. The concept quite literally blew up over night, and thus, gave birth to Skin Motion. Through an interactive app, you can upload your very own sound clip to have it transformed into a visual soundwave. The site and app can also help connect potential clients with artists within Skin Motion’s network. Now anybody can have an interactive audio clip immortalized forever in ink!
Tattoos That Can Sing?
Speaking of scanning QR codes – what about a QR code tattoo? That’s precisely what Paris based artist Karl Marc accomplished in 2011. At the time, the QR code trend was just taking its first steps. Ballantine’s, a Scotch whiskey company, approached Marc with their unique idea – to tattoo a scannable QR code and thus make an interactive tattoo. The concept was to be a promotional campaign for the whiskey company. Marc live streamed the entire session on social media. Finally the moment came to try and scan the QR code within the tattoo – and it worked! The colorful rose came to life on a phone screen and was replaced by a singing cartoonish face.
A Playable Tattoo – Concept
At first glance, the tattoo appears to be just a bold minimalistic design – but put it in front of a smart phone and a virtual world comes to life. Graphic design artist Olo Sabandija had an idea similar to the scannable QR tattoo. He explains that he had wanted a tattoo for years, and an augmented reality tattoo even longer. Sabandija worked with two different software and AR companies to create his vision. When a smart phones reads his NES controller tattoo, his arm transforms into an interactive level of Sonic The Hedgehog. While this concept is highly innovative, it is still in it’s infancy. Sabandija explains that for now, he can only make Sonic ‘jump’.
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