We here at WP Engine Labs love WordPress with a passion, and, while WordPress runs more than 20% of the internet, many people still haven’t heard of it. So we wondered. . . what would it mean to bring WordPress into the physical world in a meaningful way. How could people see and experience it at scale that could enrich their lives in some small fashion?
With the Holidays just around the corner, WP Engine Labs is pleased to announce GIF the Halls — a futuristic way to say happy holidays to your friends and family by projecting a huge, personalized greeting card on the side of buildings in downtown San Francisco.
GIF the Halls is a free and creative alternative to the traditional greeting card. Anyone can visit http://www.gifthehalls.com to create their own customized greeting card: just log in, pick your favorite design, add a personalized message, and submit!
From December 20th through the 24th, we will be projecting them on the side of buildings in downtown San Francisco, publicly viewable for passersby to see. The projections will be recorded as an animated GIF, and then sent to the card’s creator to share online. It requires a bit of patience while your card is in the queue, but after a few days you’ll receive an email with your card and the city of San Francisco alive around it.
GIF the Halls mock up
Each holiday-themed design is unique, and has been crafted specifically for this project by an up-and-coming digital artist from the Bay Area and beyond.
GIF the Halls demonstrates the power and flexibility of WordPress, the open-source web platform. We believe that tools like WordPress have the power to bring people together, whether its from sharing thoughts in an intimate blog post or by projecting a 100-foot-tall, animated greeting card in downtown San Francisco. Hundreds of thousands of people will walk by these works of art displayed throughout the holiday season and be touched by WordPress in some unknown way.
Many people don’t know that WordPress can be used to send projector feeds, control camera recording systems, provide auto moderation through mechanical turk, and even prepare the queue of cards matched with each recording.
So join us, write a card, show your love, and lets all continue to make WordPress an amazing ecosystem.
GIF the Halls is a project by WP Engine Labs with technical support from 10up. Our digital artists were curated by Gray Area Foundation and our fantastic locations in downtown SF were made possible with help from the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District.
Tomas Puig is the head of Labs for WP Engine. His career started at NASA Ames Research Center where he worked on computer security and web development. Tomas then worked in the digital ad agency industry with firms LEVEL, COG1, Rosetta, and Propane—notable clients included Facebook, New Relic, Kaiser, Cisco, and Google. Projects under his direction have won 4 Gold National ADDYs and several Cannes CLIOs. Tomas loves video games, Legos, and playing with his dog Éowyn.
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