red dot award: communication design 2011

Hosoya Schaefer Architects and shiftcontrol, Copenhagen, in collaboration with unitystudios, Aarhus completed an online application for zdf.de. The game accompanies the three-part documentary “Universum der Ozeane” with Frank Schätzing on ZDF’s TerraX and allows the visitor to explore the oceans in a dive robot or five different avatars. The application is an experiment in interactive and immersive information graphics and uses 3D game software, behaviors and narratives to communicate dependencies and relationships in a complex (eco)system, such as the oceans. With special magenta cyan glasses the game can be played in 3D. The October 1 issue of tvdigital with a circulation of more than 2 mio. contained a special feature about the series and a free pair of 3D glasses.
"Universum der Ozeane" is also available as iPad App.

The oceans are an ancient and complex ecosphere of which we know and understand only little. Especially the deep sea is as foreign as outer space. Yet, the oceans are the origin of life. And they are the basis for our existence on earth. Even for us terrestrial creatures, the sea holds the key to our past and future. The delicate balance of the oceans currently seems to be tipping. Food webs are unrevealing and reorganizing. Some species disappear, others multiply in abundance. Even the geology of the ocean floors itself could be affected by human intervention. At best, we are losing an important source of food, resources and revenue. At worst, life on earth could be affected in a profound way in the worst case through runaway climate change through methane blowouts. Such shifts happened in the past and are documented in the geological record which we are starting to decipher. Nature always moved on, but the dominant species of the preceding eras usually disappeared.