by Vas Mylko
New visitors to our website quickly understand that Curiosio is AI but we got a feeling [and metric] that some users are getting it from a different angle. The upcoming v21 scope already includes a facelift for better usability, tuning features, visualization, and storytelling. Now we are going to include styling and even more usability. This post is about our design philosophy for the next versions of Curiosio.
Homepage
Some users directly told us they had trouble understanding the product without reading the About page. Asked why the stuff was in About instead of the Home page. We know why… because originally we designed Curiosio to resemble a white page of Google with only one text box and one button. That design didn’t sustain beyond v3 but its roots are still visible.
The new Homepage will be more friendly and much more useful for first-time visitors. We will put some text there, structured in small paragraphs, proactively communicating the purpose and utility function. We will describe the ETHOS, our focus on the travelers’ EXPERIENCE. We will do it in style to appeal to the kind of travelers Curiosio is the most efficient for — those who want to visit all places on Earth. For those who are following their curiosity on the never-ending life-long journey.
For those visitors-travelers who feel the thing we will embed two USE CASES on how to start travel planning with Curiosio without any prior learning. A first use case is to get inspired by other travelers and build on top of their trips. Second use case if you know what you want, have initial requirements, and start mapping out your travel options. By immersing in the detailed use cases the first-time visitors will discover and learn.
Interface
Content is the interface. The interface is the content. Everything is interactive. There are two major types of content in Curiosio: text and map. Itinerary is text. Route is a graphic over the map. Everything in the Itinerary text is interactive. A click/tap on the point name will open its description on Wikivoyage or Wikipedia. A click/tap on the place name will open its description on Wikipedia or Atlas Obscura. Map mode has a huge interactive potential for future versions of Curiosio — up to Google Maps for Leisure Travel.
There is another type of content — visuals of the points and places. We tried to not limit ourselves and travelers by photos, especially by that “straw view” common frame ratio. In Curiosio you will often experience panoramic views. You will see drawings and paintings. Check out the Curious Netherlands. Animations are still the Easter eggs — they are present but they are very rare — try to find one. Videos, timelapses, live view cameras could be the visuals.
I was always fascinated by the Seadragon presentation given by Blaise Agüera y Arcas at TED2007. When I taught others how to present I included that show directly or as a follow-up. Everything was the interface there — different types of content made interactive without any user controls/widgets (buttons or scroll bars). I was fascinated by his real-time augmented maps presentation from TED2010. He rocks and inspires a lot of geeks, including me.
In Curiosio v21 and on we will continue the philosophy that everything is the interface, at high-level, and at low-level. We will design without (or with a minimum) decorations, and minimum controls. Curiosio must be useful and efficient on all devices — morphing from big desktop screens to limited phone and car screens to unlimited AR headsets and glasses. Notebook is the most efficient device for travel planning in 2023, thus is our focus.
Style
We know much better what we don’t want to build rather than what we want to build. We don’t want to follow fashion, hype, or temporary trendy things. We want to build something solid that will not be afraid of time. We looked into the past to know what will be good and solid in the future. Lindy effect defines the style of Curiosio. It is related to the overall look and feel, interaction, visualization of points, places, itineraries, routes.
We researched all guidebooks published since the dawn of time. We analyzed many instances from the same publisher (guidebooks for different countries or regions). There are invariants that live and function through time. We researched all road trip guides ever published, and many online that sustained through time. There are objects that carry on.
We researched many trip planners — websites and mobile apps. We analyzed many travel magazines in the scope of Curiosio v20 aka Supertrip (Supertrip Technical for tech details). There is potential in the old huge travel industry for improvement and innovation. It starts from the style — do it in your style and respect the things that defied time. Those timeless concepts will live during AR times, and longer.
Semiotics
During the design of the Una Curiosità concept with the applied artistic AI we unlocked the creation of the visuals for the multiple facets of the same object. Even multiple facets on the same object’s feature, element. Multiple facets of the same object’s concept, metaphor. We got opportunities and we got a problem — how to render the multi-faceted visuals on screens? The morphing ideas were mentioned during the experiments, but there was no specific design for how to do the morphing animation by facet.
Recently I started to read Ubi Sunt and was blown away by the morphing effect. There is a title page, then you scroll down to the coins page with a head and a tail side by side. Then you are scrolling down but the coins don’t scroll, they are morphing instead. After a while, you can scroll to the first page. The coin morphing is beautiful. We want to do it in Curiosio, especially on the big screen. The book was written and designed by Blaise Agüera y Arcas. Curiosio design is being indirectly influenced by the artistic geek and the geeky artist, but he doesn’t know this.
The 137 coins video is a creation of David Lebrun for his Transfigurations: Reanimating the Past project. Scientific artists and artistic scientists show visual icons and invariants that sustained time. They call them hyperobjects. The animation process required the creation of the outlines for significant elements, then using Re:Vision Morph and After Effects. Full coins morphing video is available in Wondercabinet in the middle of the page. There is Transfigurations overview tour with more great visualizations of hyperobjects together with the excellent narrative.
There are hyperobjects in travel. There are symbols defining our civilization and past civilizations. We want to visualize them in an emotional way, it’s an emotional design mission. The monumental objects will be visualized within the Una Curiosita initiative. The everyday things that differ between the countries, or cities/towns/villages of the same country, will be visualized within The Prism initiative. It would be ideal if Curiosio would guide travelers through the all symbols everywhere on Earth — all from The Book Of Symbols — reflections on archetypal images.
Una Curiosita
Artistic visualization will operate with allegory, metaphor, symbolism, signification, metonymy. We want to show multiple points of view of the same POI in parallel, simultaneously. On big screens, there will be compositions from the main, runner-up, and extra facets, all visible simultaneously, all complementing each other. Different screen sizes and ratios will lead to the artwork disassembling from the composition to fit the screen and will be delivered to the viewer facet by facet as a stream.
If there are multiple (or even many) facets of the POI then we could select several depending on the theme the traveler wants. The same POI will look different in the Curious vs. Obscure theme. The number of facets could be different, all facets could be different, though the same facets could be used in both themes, especially the main and runner-up facets. Morphing would be cool in the extra facets. There could be a few extra facets in the composition. When a user scrolls or hovers then the picture morphs.
We performed some experiments with Generative AI. Fundamental POIs-symbols are feasible. Obviously, because there was enough training data with them. Pantheon in Rome is a candidate. While Mano Del Desierto in the Atacama Desert is not feasible in the nearest future.
The Prism
Visualization of everyday things will deal with signs, indication, designation, likeness, communication. Our travelers must be not tourists. They should embrace that life went differently at different points on the planet. They should enjoy comparing here and there, as a never-ending game. They should think about why things differ, and educate themselves.
The Prism is planned from two perspectives:
- Same Scene Different Point
- Same Point Different Scenes
In the Same Scene Different Point, you operate with a set of facets-axis how you observe the world. E.g. I pay attention to natural scenery, architecture, public transport, traffic signs. I will enjoy the prism view that shows me different places through those four facets. I can change the facets, and look again. It’s a discovery tool for the points and places Curiosio is suggesting.
In the Same Point Different Scenes I want to look via a set of facets-axis that is more informative and satisfactory for me. E.g. besides the natural scenery, architecture, public transport, traffic signs, I am also interested in food, graffiti, and aerial cablecars. I want to look at one point at a time and see these seven facets. It’s also a discovery tool on the points and places that Curiosio is recommending in each trip plan.
The Prims is about the different classes of hyperobjects — at the level of everyday things, commodities. Like Dollar Street where you could compare tableware, door handles, and even toilets. Those small ubiquitous elements define the style and vibe. What makes Paris look like Paris?
