Been busy down on the South Coast with a fast turnaround project working on our first planetarium.

The Bristol Data Dome is the UK’s first 4K stereovision full dome 100 seater presentation theatre. We’ve been commissioned by the UK Government organisation Digital Catapult to develop new visual approaches for presenting data stories within this type of environment.

Working with our friends at Urban Tide and the guys at NSC Creative at the National Space Centre, we had 6 weeks to process nearly 300 data sets and develop a series of linear video and runtime presentations for the Dome’s launch to showcase its potential to developers, education and industry.

The first series of demos has now gone live and we’ll be working with the team at Bristol to further develop and promote the Dome’s data potential over the next year.

We are pleased to announce the relocation of ISO to 65 Virginia Street in Glasgow’s vibrant Merchant City. In many ways a return for us as our first (tiny) studio was three blocks away on Albion Street, 15 years ago. We’ve spent the last 18 months stripping the space back to a shell and redesigning with architects Brian McGinley and Mark Bell at NORD / McGinlay Bell.

Sat on one of the area’s oldest, most historic streets, the building was in previous lives home to a tobacco merchant, one of Glasgow’s earliest print shops and will now be ISO’s home for the foreseeable future.

The three story Victorian unit now has a spacious open plan studio for our designers and developers, a social floor for meetings and quiet spaces and a subterranean screening room and live events space. We even have a sunken garden now.

If you are looking for a base for hot-desking or need access to meeting rooms, the studio or event space drop our Studio Coordinator a message. We would love to hear from you.

Special thanks to Gillian Hayes of Dapple photography for the images.

The Secret life of Midges is a one hour documentary for BBC Scotland explaining the facts and dispelling the myths about the Scottish midge.

Dr James Logan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine uncovers the mysteries of the midge and how to live along side them.

ISO were commissioned to produce a series of animated graphics bringing a lighted-hearted approach to the difficult subject of the Scottish midge, the animated sequences tell the story of how the Scottish midges helped to shaped Scottish history and the science behind the mighty BITE!

Discover more here.

BBC One Scotland from 9pm Monday 19th October.

ISO scooped the award for Best Use of Typography at The Scottish Creative Awards last night in an evening celebrating home grown talent.

Drinkaware‘s Boundaries cinema advert is a punchy type-driven animated sequence aimed at responsible drinking and non intrusive contact! We played around with kinect sensors and virtual projection to create the fluid graphics. Radio One’s MistaJam provided the v/o and Benji Merrison the full surround cinema mix.

See the full list of winners online here.

As the Turner Prize approaches The Story of Scottish Art takes a look at what the host nation has contributed to the global art world. This four-part series celebrates Scotland’s artists through the eyes of presenter and accomplished painter Lachlan Goudie.

He explores Scotland’s artistic heritage, examining developments and innovations from early neolithic finds to art in the 21st Century.

ISO developed a dynamic title sequence which encapsulates the ever-changing landscape of Scottish art. Multiple macro shots of ink and water were digitally blended and extruded in 3D space to create abstracted topographic forms. The colour palette draws influence from Scotland’s beautiful, rugged and ancient terrain.

BBC One Scotland from 9pm Tuesday 7 October for 4 weeks. Also available on iPlayer.

From an invitation to 40 of the countries leading digital companies ISO have been selected as one of the 10 exhibitors showcasing their work at the Digital Catapult’s Headquarters in London.

Digital Catapult is the National Centre for advancing the UK’s best digital ideas to market with a focus on data and metadata.

We are showing a selection of work we premiered at IBC, Amsterdam and include a mix of our data and archive visualisation and interactive work alongside work in robotics, VR and wearables from agencies such as Emotech, Preliminal Games and Appic.

The Creative Content Showcase runs from now until the end of 2016 at Digital Catapult, 101 Euston Road, London, NW1 2RA.

Robots have taken over the BBC this week as part of its Make it Digital season. Panorama: Could A Robot Do My Job? is part of a range of shows exploring intelligent machines commissioned by BBC head of Technology Rory Cellan-Jones. In this Panorama special, reporter Rohan Silva examines the workplaces already using A.I. and asks whether we should be worried, or whether it will benefit all of us.

We worked closely with the Panorama team to create a full suite of animated graphics that augmented their live action footage. The graphic elements were employed to tease out narratives and illustrate statistical information, whilst giving the show a distinct graphic identity.

Watch Could A Robot Do My Job? on BBC’s iPlayer here.

And take a quick quiz to see if a robot will take your job.

Today sees the launch of the University of the West of Scotland’s (UWS) leading edge digital third space UWS.io.

Over the past year we’ve been working with UWS Media Academy staff and students to create a new interactive platform for their work.

Led by Professor Nick Higgins, the project has brought in leading industry experts to develop experimental cross-media work across a series of practical workshops focussed on how a new generation of digital creatives conceive of new work, produce it and distribute it.

The first two editions of UWS.io have premiered at the 360D conference. Entitled River and 2.4km, they offer visitors a sonic exploration of the River Ayr and a multi-media investigation into life around a nuclear reactor. More editions are planned for later this year.

See the project online here www.uws.io. For more on 360D visit www.360d.org.uk.

The studio suddenly started receiving a torrent of likes and comments last week. Appears an infographic we’d posted a couple of years ago on VIMEO was picked up by a couple of online sites and it went, well, viral! 910,000 plays to date with over a quarter of million in just a couple of days.

Needless to say we never realised the formations of Roman troops could be so popular. The clip comes from one of the installations we did at Vinlandia, The Roman Army Museum by Hadrian’s Wall a few years back with our friends at Studio MB. You can see the clip – and add to the viewing figures here!

Lincoln Castle re-opened its doors this month following a £22m four-year long renovation. Visitors can discover more about the history of the castle and the justice system of Victorian England with a series of media installations and interactives by ISO.

We have created a series of bold, expressionistic ‘Prisoner Stories’ films based on real inmates’ lives that are projected into individual cells to create a promenade experience. A series of multitaction touch tables reveal the journals of the people who managed the prison alongside a series of graphic films projected throughout the building. A 3D topographic model of the site uses video-mapped animation to show key stages over 1000 years of development.

We worked with a group of talented collaborators with composer Andy Cowton creating the music and sound for the prisoner stories, director Tim Niel the character performances and photographer Manuel Vazquez to create a series of reconstructed historical scenes used across the interactive tables.

Discover more about Lincoln Castle online here.

Full project case study to follow.