project: eye film institute quiz booth buttons

In April 2012, the Netherlands' new EYE Film Institute opened in Amsterdam and the building is fantastic. It's the first thing you'll see when you walk out the back of the seemingly ever-renovating Centraal Station.

Just look at it!
Eye

Take the stairs down to the lower level of the building and you'll see some intriguing yellow pods designed by NorthernLight, built by Fiction Factory and installed by Beam Systems.

Sit in one of these cozy pods and answer multiple-choice questions about movies. The software design and interaction was executed by Submarine. When you select your answer, you'll enter it into the system by pushing a button... a beautiful, sturdy button with a reassuring click and a cheery yellow glow... Those buttons were made by Ubi de Feo of Hello Savants and myself!

Look how pretty:

Okay, we didn't actually make the buttons themselves, that was done by precision Swiss engineering, but we made them talk to the quiz via an Arduino with a custom-designed shield. I thought that I was a perfectionist, but Ubi added so many nice professional touches to this project that made it both fun and a learning experience for me.

All photos by Ubi, except the first one of the building exterior, which is by Flickr user jpmm. For more pics, see the post on Hello Savants website.