Erin sees possibility: She is a frequent witness to scenes and scenarios that haven't actually occurred and she tasks herself with bringing those stories to the rest of the world in any number of ways.
"Writing, doodling, photography, film, asking questions, causing scenes, exploring, making stuff out of whatever or whoever is around...I let the idea at hand determine what its execution(s) will be," McHugh explains. "Sometimes the idea admits it isn't quite right and I kill it in the most humane way possible- by recycling it."
With an active interest in the interactive world, McHugh tells stories that draw people into and immerse them in malleable narrative.
"I enjoy spinning yarn that connects the dots between peoples' internal worlds and the big, round one surrounding all of us," she elaborates. "It's becoming easier and easier to unite people all over the globe."
Erin's goal is to comment on and influence culture in positive ways using writing and imagery and get other people involved in doing the same.
Writer and visual thinker from Ohio. Graduated from Syracuse. Moved to NYC and stayed 3.5 years. Worked at TV production company in program development, assistant editor and associate producer roles. Took classes and performed improv and sketch comedy. Tended bar. Waitressed. Worked as an extra. Was intern / jr. writer at a small Manhattan ad agency. Moved to the mountains. Currently a student in the Boulder Digital Works 60 Week program. Makes money for to-eat by freelancing as a copywriter. Also available for freelance otherwriting, video work (shooting and post), concept development and problem solving. Likes laughing, film, truth-hunting, 3D experiences, tap dance, traveling, words, absurdities and abstractions. You are at modernstoryteller.com.
Turn the downtown Boulder alley connecting Walnut and Pearl Streets into an interactive experience.
• Most alleys are creepy, but this one is both well-trodden and well-loved. In fact, the space is so beloved that more than one person interviewed described it as “magical.”
• The people of Boulder consider themselves to be extremely open-minded- it’s something they take pride in. We observed these same people stereotyping one another, day after day, grouping those they did not know well into one of the following buckets: “hippies,” “yuppies,” “cyclists,” “tri-athletes,” or “students.”
How can we design an interactive experience in the Walnut Arches space which enriches everyday interactions and changes the way people think about one another,without taking away from the alley's inherent magic?
Our installation, "How Are You," asks and then actually empathizes with and responds to how an individual is feeling. A pedestrian is free to choose "happy," "sad," "angry," "excited," "stressed," or "wildcard," (because we all have those days where we feel...unpredictable). It may seem as though the alley is responding to the passerby, but really we are allowing Boulderites to upload video and sound content into a response bank tagged with specific emotions, allowing those who might never have spoken to each other otherwise to engage in genuine conversations.
As long as we were solving a problem by making changes to this popular alleyway, we wanted to also improve it aesthetically in any way possible. The window space currently lending views of the underground parking garage was unanimously described as the only unattractive aspect of the space among those we spoke to. In our installation, these areas are covered by the projection screens. The result: what was once a window into a parking garage is now a window into an emotion shared between the passerby and somebody else in town. I mocked up a blueprint to give you a better idea of the setup.
Now see what a few trips through the revamped space might be like below, in our video prototype:
In a start-ups module this year at BDW, we were asked to take a company from concept to beta launch in six weeks.
Edutainment isn't doing its job- we found that kids are wasting time in the arcade areas of sites like Webkinz, instead of playing in the (easily avoidable) parts of the site where real educational value is offered. Purely educational websites simply can't compete with sites like these for kids' attention. But maybe the problem isn't that children don't want to learn- they are naturally curious about the world around them. Maybe it's that children don't want learning to feel like school. My group's goal was to take world travel, part of elementary school social studies curriculums, out of that context and turn it into a hobby and interest for kids at an early age.
I acted as Creative Director and Producer on 'Travel Critters'- a site allowing kids to travel the world via a virtual critter, rewarding their adventures in foreign lands with passport stickers, souvenirs and postcards from said critter.
In the Travel Critters world, a child receives a postcard and a passport sticker every time his or her critter arrives in a new country. Several games specific to that country and its culture await the critter upon arrival, as does the opportunity to win additional souvenir stickers for the 'Magic Scrapbook'- an actual, physical scrapbook in which the child can document his or her critter's trip around the world. In the gallery below, you'll see the site homepage, the play homepage, illustrations for games and passport / souvenir stickers, and an example of a postcard a child might receive from his or her critter. The actual site is undergoing some work and should be up later this month.
No brief existed for this project. My art director friend and I simply wanted to do some work together to build our portfolios.
Before choosing a brand, we looked at a category- grocery stores- and pinpointed a need and opportunity when it came to buying and selling food. All grocery stores allegedly sell 'fresh' products. When every brand in a category makes the same claim, it becomes hard to believe. This is unfortunate in the case of Greenwise, a health-oriented Florida offshoot of the Publix grocery store chain, which really does receive fresh products daily from local suppliers, including farms, fisheries and orchards.
This is a new brand initiative and integrated campaign my art director partner and I conceived of for Publix's Greenwise Market. We rebranded Greenwise to become the first grocery store to aggressively connect consumers with its suppliers, providing shoppers with tangible proof of product and source authenticity.
In the rebranding, Greenwise proves its claim of freshness through innovative use of familiar technology, as well as through live events and by providing "inside information" anywhere Greenwise is mentioned.
Once implemented, an ad campaign could boost awareness of the in and out of store experiences. We built a quirky persona around the brand's legitimacy, which we thought would resonate with the 25-55 crowd. Examples of how it might be executed include co-branded delivery trucks (with Greenwise and their sources), baby bow tie labels on fruits and veggies driving home how new they are, and print ads introducing the public to the individuals actually growing the food. We want to make it easy for people to get to the source in every way possible.
This is a print ad I did on spec for Virgin America with an art director partner.
OneSeam is an e-commerce site focused on selling eco-friendly fashion that women will actually want to wear. Three fellow BDW students developed the company in early 2010, hiring me to help brand it with a tag line and write copy to introduce the concept to the world. It launched in beta on Earth Day, appropriately enough. Check it out.
This particular Halloween occurred 26 days before Thanksgiving. For some turkeys, that meant 26 more days to live. I constructed this costume out of thick posterboard, construction paper, tissue paper and ribbon, then added a bit of makeup. The eyebrows were lightly taped on, allowing the turkey to go through the various stages of grief as the evening progressed- It started off in complete denial. Captured here is a turning point when the turkey began to let go of its anger and sink into a deep despair. Party hopping that night, the turkey asked random costumed people to consider salad for this year's Thanksgiving feast. It wasn't a vegetarian movement- just one lone creature in the midst of a crisis.
I love photography- especially the candid sort. Here are a handful of photos I've taken.
