Widget + Gadget Design Showcase
IMAGINATION WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
Looking for a virtual device so realistic you want to pick it up off the desktop and hold it? Look no further - absolutely nobody creates more impactful, fluidly-animated and fun-to-use Widgets and Gadgets than The Skins Factory. Other studios may try to imitate our work, but to state that The Skins Factory has been responsible for defining what's possible within the medium is no exaggeration.
Yahoo! Widgets, Apple Dashboard Widgets, Microsoft Vista & 7 Sidebar Gadgets... companies like Microsoft, Yahoo!, Lenovo, Nero, HP and others come to us for a reason - we deliver excellence.
HP: The Ultimate Sports Gadget
Client: HP + Microsoft (OEM Division)
The Skins Factory's design team was contracted by Microsoft's OEM division and industry giant, HP to create the ultimate, animated sports Windows Sidebar Gadget. This incredibly, dynamic sports gadget covers football, basketball, baseball & soccer. With stunning animations that will delight all sports fans, The Ultimate Sports Gadget from HP and Microsoft gives you quick access to all the sports information you'll ever need and the special links included are powered by Fox Sports.
Yahoo! Search & Email Gadget
Client: Yahoo!
Yahoo!, Inc. joined forces with The Skins Factory to design & develop their Yahoo! Search Gadget. With a hyper-glossy dual-acrylic styling (color injected into a virtual, clear acrylic base), animations featuring realistic motion blurs & an exciting color palette, this dynamic gadget "flips" so the user can use both sides of this virtual device. The gadget comes in 2 distinct modes - the robust desktop & compact Sidebar mode in 8 colors.
Disneys Its a Magical World Audio Remote
Client: The Walt Disney Company
As part of the Hyperdesk Disney It's a Magical World Windows desktop theme, the magical Mickey Mouse Audio Remote delighted users of all ages with its high-gloss style, seven vibrant colors and Mickey Mouse's iconic shape. The Mickey Mouse Yahoo! widget controlled Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Windows Media Player as a remote control with a small desktop footprint.
Windows Media Player Sidebar Vista Gadget
Client: Microsoft
A special project assigned to us by Microsoft to design their default Windows Media Player Sidebar Vista Gadgets for the release of Windows Vista. This was Introduced by Bill Gates at the keynote at PDC 2005 and shipped on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Besides being a remote control array for Windows Media Player, Microsoft and The Skins Factory designed a game called Guess That Song to be played with the remote. Fully animated, the gadget was a hit among music aficionados everywhere.
Journey to the World of Tomorrow
Reimagining the Design & Technology of the American Mid-Century
A 3-PART GENERATIVE AI ARTWORK SCIENCE FICTION SERIES
From the imagination of The Skins Factory's Founder, comes an exciting 3-part Generative AI Art Sci-Fi Series called “Journey to the World of Tomorrow”.
It asks and answers the question: What if the science fiction writers, futurists, and artists of the American mid-century actually saw their dreams materialize into reality? It’s an alternate American reality, where technology advanced quicker and farther than our own reality. Created over a 7-month time period, with over 11,000 pieces of art generated using Midjourney with only the best artwork selected for the series. He then spent hundreds of hours post-processing the artwork in Adobe Photoshop where he removed all of the imperfections, rebuilt parts of the images using Adobe’s generative fill tool, corrected both lighting & color and more. This is a huge collection of imagery spanning 3 decades and featuring robots, rockets, hover cars, stunning interior & exterior architecture, life on the moon and more! When you see the word RELEASED below, click on the image to view the series.
Intel Graphics Control Panel Gadget
Client: Intel Corporation
A custom Windows gadget created in tandem with the jointly developed application - the Intel Graphics & Media Control Panel application. Over the following 2 years, The Skins Factory orchestrated development with Intel’s Engineering & Branding arms to reinvent the graphics control panel. In addition to crafting a beautiful fluidly animated appearance, we created this dynamic Windows Sidebar Gadget that shares perfect visual symmetry with the Graphics Control Panel.
Nero Disc Copy
Client: Nero
Nero once again contracted our little band of pixel ninjas, to create their highly animated, Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget - Nero Disc Copy. Nero Disc Copy Gadget copies CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs. It also burns ISO, NRG, and IMG files via drag-and-drop. While it has a super small desktop footprint, it is large in functionality. Stylized with a mock red acrylic body, the animation sequences feature animated data blocks while the disc spins.
STAR TREK: The Original Series Audio Remote
Under License from CBS Consumer Products
From the moment you hear the original sound of the transporter energizing and watch the audio remote beam to the Windows desktop, youll understand the official Starfleet iTunes/Windows Media Player remote was built by trekkers for trekkers. Part of the official Star Trek Windows desktop theme created by The Skins Factory and powered by our Hyperdesk Windows theming solution. The widget is unfortunately no longer available. TM & 2009. CBS Studios Inc.
DarkMatter: Quadrilogy Audio Remote Special Edition
Client: The Skins Factory
The Skins Factory Presents the remarkably shiny, scratch-resistant, The DarkMatter Quadrilogy Special Edition Audio Remote for both Apple's iTunes & Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11. This animated Widget is a companion to our mega-popular Windows 7 / Vista / XP Hyperdesk desktop themes - The DarkMatter Quadrilogy. Includes a special plasma visualization, reversible transport mid-plate, which houses special functions on the back and other cool features.
DarkMatter: Quadrilogy Audio Remote
Client: The Skins Factory
Welcome to the galactically cool. The Skins Factory's DarkMatter Quadrilogy Audio Remotes, offer users a dual audio control for both Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11. This animated Widget is a companion to our mega-popular Windows 7 / Vista / XP Hyperdesk desktop themes - The DarkMatter Quadrilogy. Includes a special plasma visualization, reversible transport mid-plate, which houses special functions on the back & other cool features.
Hyperdesk Flagship Audio Remote
Client: The Skins Factory
The Hyperdesk Flagship Audio Remote for Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Windows Media Player 11. Play your favorite iTunes and WMP 11 playlists with this animated, see-through Yahoo! Widget & then flip it over for quick links to Hyperdesk.com, Hyperdesk Support and check out the latest themes. Hyperdesk Flagship Audio Remote is perfect way to get introduced to our Hyperdesk Flagship Windows desktop theme for Windows XP, Vista or 7.
The Bee Movie
Client: HP + Microsoft (OEM Division)
Working closely with Microsoft & HP, The Skins Factory's UI design team, developed the official Bee Movie Windows Sidebar Gadget. Taking a slightly different approach, our team developed a gadget that was not only fun, but educational as well. With a special honeycomb calculator & 3 search areas that link to MSN Encarta, MSN Dictionary & Windows Live Search - you have the world's information at your fingertips. Designed for children of all ages.
In Part 3 of The Journey to the World of Tomorrow, a 3-Part Generative AI Artwork Science Fiction Series, we explore an alternate timeline, mid-century American space program and colonization of the Moon including rockets, robots, lunar structures and more.