Interactive mosaics: Goodbye Flash. Hello HTML5.

We’re thrilled to announce that our interactive mosaics have made a transition from Adobe Flash to HTML5. Without digging to deep into it, our interactive mosaics are now being built using html code rather than contained within a Flash player. This give us a great advantage when building online interactive mosaics. You can read more about the differences between Flash and HTML5 here.

Check out some of our most popular interactive mosaics built with HTML5 for the full mosaic experience: IMAX®, Atlanta Falcons ‘Rise Up’, Meow Mosaic, Pup Mosaic

Continue reading →

Shape Mosaics: The next big thing

***1/6/2015 UPDATE***
You can now place your Shape Mosaic order through our website!

Photo mosaics are a passion of ours. We work hard at pushing the mosaic concept to new heights every day. That’s why we’re super excited to introduce a new kind of photo mosaic to our gallery: Shape Mosaics. Rather than building a mosaic based on the color and detail within the source image, these mosaics build a specific solid shape out of your cell images. Perfect for brand logos, silhouettes, and solid shapes.

Continue reading →

Magee Womens Hospital 100th Anniversary Photo Mosaic

For a donation of just $25 to the Magee-Womens Foundation, participants of Magee’s 100th anniversary celebration were able to include a photograph of themselves, their child, or another special person in their life in the Magee 100 Mosaic. Thousands of submitted photos helped to create this 14ft x 7ft Magee 100 Mosaic — a beautiful piece of artwork that hangs in the main lobby of the hospital.

Each donation was used to support the Patient Care Fund at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC. The Patient Care Fund provides many necessary items for patients and their families while being cared for at Magee.

Continue reading →

‘A Day in the Life’ of Diabetes Photo Mosaic

An online interactive photo mosaic is the perfect way to bring people together for a good cause. Three years ago, we teamed up with the American Diabetes Association to create a fan-driven photo mosaic. The goal was to show the world what a day in the life of diabetes is really like. The photos came pouring in and the results were truly inspirational. With social sharing and audience engagement being a key factor, the ADA online photo mosaic has played an important role in diabetes awareness these past few years.

Continue reading →

The Use of Garbage: Photo Mosaics from Junkmail

Advertisements, calendars, photos, greeting cards, and other mail we receive every day can be white noise to our eyes. I found an artist, New York’s Sandhi Schimmel, who took all that junk and turned it into treasure. She collaged unneeded mail to create breathtaking mosaic portraits of women. Her brilliant use of color give these flat images great depth and detail. This is exactly what I love about photo mosaics,

Sandhi Schimmel’s junkmail photo mosaics

Continue reading →

Choosing a Photo Mosaic Source Image

One of the most important components of a photo mosaic is the source image. A source image is the bigger picture that the smaller photos (called “cells”) will create. Any photo can be used as a source image, but not just any photo will the completed photo mosaic that WOW factor. The real question is how well the photo will survive the mosaic transformation. For this post, I’ll be focusing on portrait photos. Landscapes, logos, and other non-human subjects will be addressed in future posts, so stay tuned!

When using a photo of people as your source image, it’s important to consider facial recognition. In order for facial shapes and details to survive the photo mosaic transformation, you’ll want the faces to encompass a fairly large portion of the image, measuring at least 1/3 of the width and height of the entire photo. This will allow a great amount of detail and clarity to come through in the photo mosaic. Here are a couple examples of photos that should produce good facial recognition:

Continue reading →

The “First Cheerios” Photo Mosaic

Cheerios has been a household name for years. So, when they contacted us about creating a fan-driven online photo mosaic, we were more than thrilled! Using a modified version of our interactive mosaic platform*, Cheerios asks parents across Canada to share photos of that special moment when their child enjoys their “First Cheerios.” Parents can upload photos directly from their Facebook album or local PC in a simple Facebook tab.

The “First Cheerios” online photo mosaic

Not only are photos featured in the mosaic, but the user also receives a $1.00 off coupon after their submission is complete. Photos are shared through Facebook by the click of a button. Our dynamic “pop-out” animation showcases individual photos at random, bringing them out of the photo mosaic for a detailed view with their photo caption.

Continue reading →