In November 2013 I decided to move to Seattle and join Microsoft.
After three fantastic years as Creative Director at B-Reel, first in London and then in New York, it was time to say goodbye to start this new  adventure.
Today I’m Central Creative Director at the incubation team part of Microsoft’s Device and Studios, working on an exciting project.

I joined B-Reel in London in 2010. We had a very strong team capable of doing some amazing work. Together we won so many awards and fought many battles. We designed many experiences and crazy experiments, physical installations, and HRTF based experiences. I moved to New York in 2012 to start a new department in B-Reel called Products. There we incubated our own ideas and pushed for an internal R&D process.

Thanks to B-Reel and all the great folks there – some of the most talented people I’ve ever met!
It’s been an honor to be part of B-Reel’s family and I’ll always be grateful <3

http://laforzadicambiare.it/mlf/riccardo-lamericano/

When I was student in high school I used to do websites on a side to make some money and keep on learning.
I was studying electronics but my passion was programming and design – also the title Webmaster was too cool at the time to be ignored…
Anyhow, those days I used to design and program in Flash. I was looking at thefwa.com as a magic place full of wonders.

The dream was to work for one of those companies that were producing those amazing works and maybe one day win an FWA too.

Few years have passed now. Since 3 I’m part of B-Reel, which today is by far the most awarded company on the FWA.
If I look back, I see how much hard work and passion it took me to get here. I’ve been extremely lucky to meet the right people and be in the right place at the right time. I had the honor to work at some of those companies that produce amazing stuff such as UNIT9, Helpful Strangers, Specialmoves and B-Reel.
Working in those fantastic teams I met great talents and won many of those FWA Awards.
Today I’m particularly proud because Rob Ford, founder of FWA, interviewed me for the site:
http://www.thefwa.com/interview/riccardo-giraldi

Now my big face is there too. Together with those of people that back in the years I considered as extremely inspiring personalities and are now good friends.
Little things that make me happy.

In November 2012 I’ve been invited as speaker at KIKK Festival - a brilliant conference with some of the best talents around.
Organized in a beautiful town in Belgium called Namur, it has been a fantastic experience in an extremely well organized and social context – many of the people I met there are good friends now.

Now the video of my talk is available online on Youtube and has been published on The FWA Web TV.
It’s quite a long video : )

In few days I’ll be at FITC Toronto 2013 as speaker and panelist. I’m looking forward to be there and meet the other speakers, catch up with some good friends, and see some very promising presentations. This is only my second time in Toronto, so I’m looking forward to discovering more about the city. I’ll also get a car to drive around and meet an awesome client in Detroit. It’s going to be good!

Talk:  Experimenting at the Edge of Digital: Robots, Technology and Natural Interactions

Panel: Media Convergence with Kerry Morrison, Riccardo Giraldi, Irene Pereyra, Ana Serrano

Both the talk and the panel will be on Tuesday. You can check the schedule here.

And here is an exclusive interview from FITC!
http://fitc.ca/article/speaker-profile-riccardo-giraldi/

Hurray! After being awarded as Site of the Day, Escape Flight has also been awarded Site of the Month on Awwwards!
http://www.awwwards.com/site-of-the-month-march-2013-escape-flight.html

Thanks all for your support!

In February I talked at an event organized by Glug in London called “The Collaboration Economy“.
B-Reel, together with Google Creative Lab, Tellart, Universal Studio Design, Map and Bibliothéque,  presented what collaboration means to them as well as their contribution to Web Lab.

All the videos from the event are availabe at http://www.glugevents.com/blogg/?page_id=3047

Today 99u has published a new interview about Experimenting and Innovation – how we do at B-Reel and how you can do it within your company.

“Sparks and Experiments: The Right Way to Manage and Execute Side Projects”

Check it out:
http://99u.com/articles/14314/sparks-and-experiments-the-right-way-to-manage-and-execute-side-projects

In March 2013 we were proud and excited to launch our latest, very own B-Reel product. It’s called Escape Flight — a website that has been specifically designed to inspire people in the big cities, who are looking for a last-minute weekend getaway.
Sometimes, after a long busy week, all you want is to get away for the weekend to somewhere nice and sunny. But it can be hard to find the right solution in the online flight search jungle: Where should I go? What is the most convenient place? What events are happening? You can spend hours clicking through flight search websites and compare hundreds of different flight options without finding a good solution. Frustrating, isn’t it?

I came up with the idea of Escape Flight, a one-stop provider that focuses on making your weekend getaway a no-brainer.

We have cherry-picked more than 100 great destinations all over Europe, from Barcelona to Pistoia (a hidden gem in Tuscany), Amsterdam to Setúbal (a picturesque fishing town not far from Lisbon). Every day, we find the most convenient direct flights to those destinations, but we only choose those leaving on Friday after work and returning on Sunday, so you don’t have to worry too much about planning the details. In addition, we also check for the weather to make sure you don’t end up in the middle of a snow storm.

All you have to do is to set your preferences, and then our algorithm will do the rest: We combine timings, price, weather and your preferences in a super-computer, and filter only the good bits.

Instead of overwhelming you with hundreds of available flights and destinations, Escape Flight presents only a few getaway suggestions to make it easy and convenient to escape the big city without the hassle.

Whether the goal is to soak up some sun, try culinary treats, visit a music festival, or something else, you’ll find some inspiration on Escape Flight. If you see something you like, then your escape flight is only one click away.

http://www.b-reel.com/projects/digital/case/401/escape-flight/

Update: The website is now offline! It’s been a great experience that has changed forever the way we think about travel online!

Last week I had the pleasure to speak at “The Collaboration Economy’”, an event organized by Glug in London with the help of B-Reel.
The event was based around  Web Lab and the companies that collaborate to make that (massive) project happen.
During the first half of the night, each speaker talked about his company and what collaboration means to them. The second half was instead focused on Web Lab –  a collaborative project for Google that brings the magic of the web to life through 5 Chrome Experiments. Each speaker focused on some of the challenges they faced during the production, and how collaboration and integration has been key to produce such an innovative experience.

I’ll post a link to the video of the event as soon as it’s online – stay tuned.
Here  the videos of the event: http://www.riccardogiraldi.com/glug-the-collaboration-economy.html