Novalia worked with DJ Qbert to create the world’s first interactive DJ Decks in an album cover.
QBert’s Kickstarter funded Extraterrestria album features a set of working Bluetooth MIDI decks and controls that connect to iOs and OSx. Touching the paper connects to the Algoriddim DJAY app, allowing the user to scratch, mix and fade any songs they load into the software.
Complete with two decks, a cross fader and an array of SFX buttons beautifully printed onto paper using printed electronics and artwork designed by Morning Breath for QBert, the decks demonstrate the possibilities for interconnectivity between the physical and digital in a way that can enhance user experience.
Talking about the technology behind the product, Novalia’s Dr Kate Stone comments, “We believe the future will look more like the past than the present, where beautiful old school things we love and are nostalgic about will not die as many have said. We hope to breathe life into things like books and album covers, keeping the creativity in physical products alive. We work at the interface of the digital and physical, taking the essence of the digital world and putting that digital DNA into beautiful physical objects which have intuitive touch, connectivity and data beneath the surface and are manufactured by processes such as regular print.”
