It all started with a groundbreaking website – the first ever to use Microsoft’s Deep Zoom technology – enabling rock fans to get extremely up-close-and-personal with Hard Rock’s worldwide memorabilia collection. The site, now featuring over 1,500 priceless pieces of rock history (en route to thousands more), was an immediate popular success.

But even as development continues on still more amazing editions of the website, Facebook page and memorabilia widget, Hard Rock management threw down the gauntlet: get the technology “out of the box” and into the properties.

Working with Hard Rock’s technology, property-development and memorabilia teams, and our friends and software development partner Vertigo, Duncan/Channon designed and produced three new interfaces for the cafe. These include two apps for Microsoft Surface – the multi-touch, multi-user, interactive tabletop – as well as a touch-based interface for the restaurant’s booths, where guests can manipulate memorabilia, peruse merchandise and vote on what video plays next in the cafe.

Check out the videos and images below:

 
Hard Rock memorabilia app for Microsoft Surface

 
Hard Rock Booth Interactive

 
Hard Rock memorabilia website
First unveiled at Microsoft’s MIX conference in Las Vegas, the collection has since grown to over 1,500 items (and counting).

 
Hard Rock channel animations
Hard Rock runs a massive video system to coordinate the displays throughout its cafes, hotels, casinos and live venues worldwide. Duncan/Channon collaborated with artist Erik Natzke to create a series of dynamically-generated animations to display when music other than music videos is playing (live music, a DJ, etc.). Animations are paired randomly with whatever music happens to be playing at the time and each resolves into a specific visual revelation. Here’s a six-minute sample (you’ll have to supply your own mushrooms).

 
And there you have it. As the man said, Rock is King.