Novalia, a UK-based printed electronics pioneer is part of a consortium of British companies showcasing the potential for interactive printed material at the SXSW event this week.
The group, which also includes agency Uniform, art group Found, musician King Creosote and Dr Jon Rogers from the University of Dundee, have created a series of postcards and a poster which plays samples of music.
The poster is called Listening Post, and was one of several so called Paper Apps
that the group demonstrated at the SXSW Music, Media and Interactive expo taking place in
Austin, Texas this week.
Printed electronics is no longer a "new" technology, although it's yet to
gain main stream traction. Novalia has been winning awards at trade events for its use of
the technology since 2009.
Whilst these particular demonstrations involve music, the tech has potential in
other areas such as food packaging, marketing, disabled access and even safety. Imaging the horror of
a carton of milk that moos at you, or the implications of a ready meal with
an audio file of cooking instructions embedded in the packaging.
The first video shows a
demo of work previously done by Novalia, whilst the second is a marketing reel for the technology created by Uniform.