Now open to the general public, the recently launched Morpholio project seeks to create a new platform for presentation, dialogue, and collaboration relevant to all members “of any image driven culture”. Originally initiated by a group of five architects and academics, the Morpholio project has grown to include over 200 contributors including representatives of other visual disciplines including photography. “Our interest is in advancing the ways that we discuss, debate, and critique our work with a global community,” the founders say. They have recently released a free iOS app called Morpholio Beta 1.0 and launched a website where you can learn more about the project.

Website: MyMorpholio

Morpholio Press Release

THE MORPHOLIO PROJECT OPENS TO THE PUBLIC ON DECEMBER 15, 2011

New York, December 15, 2011 – The proliferation of device culture, social networking, and cloud technology is changing the way we work and connect on a daily basis.  For designers, this means that technology is not only transforming the process of production, but also the processes through which we share, critique, and organize ourselves around the work we do.  It has been predicted that in 2020, there will be 50 billion mobile internet connections worldwide, the equivalent of seven devices per person. Morpholio is not simply about the existence of technology, but rather is a tool for and an experiment in how we might better harness its power.

What is the future of critique, the driver of design culture, in this increasingly connected world?  Is the speed at which images circulate around the globe, advancing the level of conversation within and amongst design disciplines?  When placed in opposition, the time honored design school tradition of convening public debate around a set of images and ideas, presents a stark contrast to the typical comment forum found in social media. Taken together, however, a new spectrum of valuable means of gathering feedback about one’s work becomes visible. Its continued evolution will be impacted by the tools we create for sustaining and magnifying meaningful conversation, critique, feedback, and debate with a global community.

The Morpholio Project begins by re-imaging the portfolio. “Although essential to design culture, the current methods of creating and sharing design portfolios and presentations still ultimately rely on fixed notions of time, media and outdated technologies of sharing,” says Anna Kenoff, Co-Creator.  The design world lacks the tools needed to understand how our work is consumed and experienced by those we most want to reach.  The project ultimately asked, what would happen if you could merge processes of presentation, critique and collaboration into a single elastic platform?

In February 2011 a group of five architects, and academics began the experiment with a small collection of collaborators. Software in the form of an app slowly evolved, and in the months following the group quickly expanded to include 50 plus designers as well as members of other visual disciplines such as photographers, artists, and television. Feedback from every user
influenced the process, goals, and definition of the project.  “The Morpholio Project is first, and foremost an experiment in distributed intelligence,” says Co-Creator, Mark Collins.  “By leveraging the “wisdom of crowds” every designer can see and understand how his or her work is experienced by others”.

Today, The Morpholio Project consists of nearly 200 contributors, now called our Advisory Council, representing a wide range of studios, and universities worldwide including both students and professors from Columbia, Harvard, London’s Architectural Association, and The School of Visual Arts.  In addition, we have recently received the support of Herman Miller, Dyson, and Lutron as sponsors.  The software evolves with each new member.

The Morpholio project has ambitious goals. We hope that together with our community we can globalize critique, create a horizontal platform for collaboration and truly reimagine the portfolio as a design utility. Today we are opening the project to the public.  Morpholio Beta 1.0 is now available for download in Apple’s App Store, and accessible via MyMorpholio.com.

Morpholio Beta 1.0:  Present + Collaborate + Critique
The iPhone and iPad app, along with the MyMorpholio website, provides a unique space in which to collect, share, and discuss your work.

Present
This software begins by transforming the users portfolio into a constantly versioning and customizable collection of images that is more reflective of the way we work today. Capable of communicating with multiple devices, it organizes image collections in a comprehensible and accessible format that makes sharing and presenting work seamless and infinitely flexible.

Collaborate
Morpholio “Pinup,” allows collections to be posted for invited viewing and response. In “Pinup” you make your work public and searchable by all Morpholio users. You also have the option to send immediate invites to a targeted audience, and continuously update the images they see as you get feedback, and develop ideas. The “Co-creators” feature allows you to share and exchange image collections with anyone you choose, as well as give them access to selected images. Share image collections with your project team, consultants, or collaborators.

Critique
Morpholio “Crit” allows collections to be posted for private viewing and response. In “Crit” you can post work and invite other users to critique your work.  Invited viewers can easily comment on any image by overlaying text, and will soon be able to use other feedback methods that are currently in development. Set up a critique for your studio, consultants, office, friends or project team.

Morpholio also captures and records other forms of valuable feedback for users. It is currently tracking the amount and type of viewing time, or the “Eye Time” an image receives. This feature collects and constantly updates the most frequently visited, most zoomed, and longest viewed images. “Eye Time” can always be turned on to see how much, and what kind of attention an image is getting, either on this device or on the public network. It tells you how others respond to your work, what drives interest, and where you can improve. Forthcoming features, currently in development, will provide various unique ways of obtaining instant feedback from the many eyes and minds of the Morpholio community.

As this project is still in Beta, graphics and functionality will continue to evolve. We appreciate your patience with any software issues you may encounter and always invite your feedback. Please write to us at [email protected].

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