Interactive fashion label CutieCircuit created interactive jackets for rock band U2.

The digital revolution began in the 1950s with the transformation and transposition of analog and mechanical activities to digital ones.  Today, the reverse tendency is becoming more apparent as virtual technology merges with the physical world. It’s resulted in a new word: phygital.

Phygital is about creating an ecosystem between the brand and consumer across physical and digital spaces, then drawing on the best from both in order to expand beyond a one-dimensional brand communication. There are already many technology-driven phygital devices that users can interact with such as QR codes, augmented reality, 3D, Sixth Sense, Google Glass, Apple Watch.

Tesco’s Virtual Store

For example, consumers in South Korea can order their groceries while standing on a subway platform by interacting with “shop-like�?display walls that emulate the real world shopping experience.  Consumers scan the QR code of the product they’d like, the item is automatically added to an online shopping cart, and, after paying, shoppers will find a bag of groceries on their doorstep.  Tesco’s Homeplus pioneered this virtual supermarket and saw an increase of 76% in online shoppers and 135% in online sales.

Phygital storefronts like Homeplus�?bring a whole world of opportunities to businesses.  Digital stores enable companies to set up in unconventional locations because they do not require significant real estate.  Temporary pop-up stores are easy to set up, tear down, and transport.  They need no inventory or staffing (except for the periodic technical support).  And stores with a physical presence can continue selling products even after business hours.

But phygital isn’t just about marketing and retail.  Wearable technology like Google Glass and Apple Watch allow people to bring their technology with them wherever they go.  Zombies, Run! is an immersive smartphone running game that attempts makes exercising more fun.  The creative, apocalyptic tale tells a story of zombies chasing after the listener, motivating the exerciser to run away from the flesh-eating undead.

Street Eraser
Source: Street Eraser

Phygital technology can also add a new dimension to visual and performance art.  In spring of 2014, two artists stuck giant “Street Erasers�?(Adobe-inspired grey-and-white-checkerboard shapes that resemble the eraser tool in Adobe Photoshop) to London’s urban environment to reveal a blank Photoshop canvas under the surface of everyday objects.

In the summer of that year, London’s Barbican Centre opened the Digital Revolution exhibit as an exploration of humankind’s digital achievements.  Exhibit attendees can interact with a 3D laser light field, see the future of wearable tech, or revisit classic video games.

The world of phygital is endless and so are the opportunities it presents.  By blending storytelling, entertainment, fun, and utility into a device or activity, consumers can become a part of the phygital experience itself.

Looking for more examples of phygital technology? Check out these links:

• “Connect�? interactive billboards
• PERCH, a customized digital display for shoppers
• Real-time Facebook ‘likes’ displayed on Brazilian fashion retailer’s clothes racks
• Facebook birthday powered by 1-800-FLOWERS
• Angry birds live
• Billboard that talks to passerbys
• Interactive fashion that include wearable technology

Make Phygital Work For You

The bridging between the physical and digital worlds is becoming more common and the possibilities are endless. Logic Solutions can help you make your dream become a phygital reality. Let us create the innovative mobile apps, websites, eCommerce, or healthcare solutions you need to stand out.

Find your perfect solution

Jennifer Pan is a marketing coordinator at Logic Solutions. If you want to get her attention, try talking to her about d20s, (board) games, sci-fi and geeky references, or cute animal videos…or all of them at once. Just don’t bring up her uncanny ability to roll natural 1s.

The post Phygital: Bridging Digital and Physical Spaces appeared first on 雷技信息科技（上海）有限公司.

You might be asking yourself “where do I even start?�?We sat down together and came up with a list of 7 things you should consider when looking for a suitable WordPress theme to help you narrow the field of options into something very manageable.

1. Functionality & Features
Knowing what you want your website to be is extremely important in selecting a WordPress theme.  A beautiful photo theme is worthless if you’re trying to launch a news site.  Similarly, you’re probably going to need a catalog and shopping cart if you have products to sell.

What is the purpose of your website?  Are you trying to find a theme for something corporate? Maybe you have products to sell and are looking for an eCommerce design. Do you write and post news articles?  Are you trying to showcase your artistic portfolio with an art gallery?

Source: Elegant Themes

There are many online theme marketplaces like WPHub, WPEden, and Mojo Themes that organize their themes into categories, such as theme types, color palettes, features (e.g. built-in SEOs, responsive design, drop-down menus), layout, and prices.  These categories help in narrowing down the selection pool to just themes that, functionally, fit what you want your website to be.

Additionally, be on the look out for features that you’d eventually like your website to have. Examples include:

• Sliding image gallery
• Pop-up text boxes
• Contact forms
• Collapsible or self-expanding content panels
• 5 columns instead of 3

If you’ve kept these features in mind, it’ll be a piece of cake to scale up your theme when you’re ready!

2. Responsive Design
A responsive web design means your website layout adjusts to the user’s screen size (like desktop, tablet, “phablet�? and phone), to provide the optimal viewing experience.

Source: Logic Solutions

An increasing number of people use their mobile devices to conveniently browse and shop online. If you think you will have or want to have a large customer or viewership base that will be looking at your site from somewhere other than a desktop computer, it is a good idea to find a theme that is responsive.

3. Customizability
Not all WordPress themes are equally customizable. In some you can alter the – layout, colors, font, short codes, etc.  and more. Some you cannot.

If you are a WordPress developer or are comfortable with content management systems (or know someone who is), we recommend that you find a theme that is fully customizable.  Not only does this give you a lot of control over what your website will ultimately look like, it also helps you stand out from other generic, default themes and sites.  And standing out and being unique is good.

Source: Theme Forest

If you are not as comfortable with WordPress, try finding a theme that is easier to customize.  If you’re feeling adventurous, try a theme that is fully customizable and use its comprehensive user guides and support forums to help you navigate the unfamiliar waters.

(Or we recommend going to an independent developer like Logic Solutions who has WordPress experts that can do the hard work for you!)

4. eCommerce Capability – Sell Things!
First off, what is eCommerce?  eCommerce is the trading of products or services online and draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

So, got products you want to sell?  Find a WordPress theme that integrates with wooCommerce or WP eCommerce. Trust us, it’ll make your life so much easier than trying to squish an eCommerce plugin into a non-eCommerce theme.

Source: Templatic

Alternatively, try Magento!

5. Documentation & Support
Even the best WordPress experts can struggle with an unfamiliar theme if it’s not accompanied by good documentation, such as comprehensive user guides, support forums, clean codes, and the photoshop (PSD) files. Clean codes and PSD files can give you greater modification power so that you can further customize the design to suit your needs.

Good user guides and support forums are especially important when you’re trying to customize the theme for your own site.  Documentation should explain exactly how the theme can be used and point out common problems.  Check developers�?support forums to see how well they are responding to customers and if they provide polite, professional customer service.

With that in mind, try to not select a theme that either doesn’t have comprehensive user guides, support forums, or is no longer supported by the developer.  An unsupported theme will only cause nightmares and headaches.

6. Software/Theme Version
Check the theme’s version and make sure it is compatible with not only the most current WordPress system version, but also a couple of the past versions too.  It’s always helpful to know that the developer who created the theme is continuing to support it. With every WordPress update, you’ll want to make sure that your site (or parts of your site) doesn’t suddenly become non-functional because your theme hasn’t updated to keep up with the latest WordPress changes.

Source: ThemeForest

How can you tell if your theme is still supported?  Most obviously, if the developer lists theme version release dates, check those dates! Check the online theme marketplace – the most popular theme designs are most likely still supported by their developers.  Look up the theme on the developer’s own website – not just the online theme marketplace – and make sure that theme is still listed.  You can also look at the developers’ support forums to see how recently they have helped the last customers.

7. Browser Support

Source: Everythingbutthefood.net

Check to make sure the theme works with different browsers.  Some of your viewers might use Chrome or Internet Explorer (IE). Others might prefer Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Chrome.  And still others are using Opera and even lesser-known browsers.  Not every browser will necessarily support all of your theme’s functions and features.  Just because CSS3 isn’t supported in the latest version of IE doesn’t mean that it isn’t in Firefox.

Basically, you don’t want to select a theme that looks fantastic in Chrome only to discover the layout is all wrong in IE.  But you don’t have to do the testing yourself!  Check to see if the theme developer has cross-checked the theme’s appearance, functionality, and code over multiple browsers.

Want to optimize your website?

Logic Solutions is happy to assist!
Check out what we have to offer in web development, SEO optimization, web solutions, and responsive designs!

Find your perfect web solution

Jennifer Pan is a marketing coordinator and The New Recruit at Logic Solutions. If you want to get her attention, try talking to her about d20s, (board) games, sci-fi and geeky references, or cute animal videos…or all of them at once. Just don’t bring up her uncanny ability to roll natural 1s.

The post 7 Things To Consider When Choosing A WordPress Theme appeared first on 雷技信息科技（上海）有限公司.

Flat graphics from one of my recent presentations 

What I would like to convey is a few reasons why understanding flat design is important for mobile and web development.

Apple is doing it. This might sound like I drink from the Apple Kool-Aid (admittedly, I do…I am a convert), but arguably people expect Apple to be the bellweather for hardware and software design innovation. Leo, our senior tech lead, opined that actually Microsoft employed flat design first with Windows 8, but it was too radical for immediate acceptance. Dominic thinks Microsoft users tend to be a bit behind the curve when compared to Apple users, with a higher reluctance to adjust to major changes. I will chip in that I don’t think the populace is willing to accept that Microsoft can possibly innovate “better” than Apple. And that is why Apple is important in this horserace.

Yahoo’s gorgeous weather app will be integrated with iOS7.

People are now familiar with mobile technology. We understand swiping and pinching and toggling and scrolling and selfies and slingshotting a yellow bird into a green pig. As slightly more enlightened beings, we can handle the sophistication of design that is gesture-based rather than a visual road map of what to do next.

Mobile is influencing web. Flat design isn’t exclusive to mobile apps. I regularly visit the aptly named The Best Designs for inspiration, and if you stroll through the site gallery you’ll see that a vast majority of highlighted websites employ the simple elements and principles of flat design—purposeful and lean typography, minimalism, longer page scrolling, deliberate color choice, gorgeous-yet-understated photography and imagery, inforgraphicism (showing with pictures instead of telling with words…I just coined that, feel free to use it), and the absence of graphic “bells and whistles”: beveling/shadowing/reflecting/etc.

Screen grab from Scytale.pt.

Side note: People have strong reactions to flat design, both positive and negative. Many of our more senior tech people utterly bristle at the idea of the long scroll web page and pared down design, explaining that it is “old school.�?To which I say, like fashion, everything comes back into vogue. At some point in our lives we all have chosen to wear bellbottoms and neon, man.

For some more examples of flat design, visit //designmodo.com/flat-design-examples/.

And for a laugh, the fine folks in Tumblr’s universe reimagine the world through the eyes of Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, Jony Ive: //jonyiveredesignsthings.tumblr.com/.

Credit @recurrie and @Agapov.

The post Flat Design Roars to the Forefront in Mobile Technology appeared first on 雷技信息科技（上海）有限公司.