Hellicar & Lewis on interaction design, systems and digital technology

Hellicar & Lewis is the partnership between Pete Hellicar and Joel Gethin Lewis. The duo believe their different backgrounds allow them to successfully collaborate in designing systems that allow for user feedback.
We like to make systems. We like to make things that when someone interacts with them, they make their own story – Hellicar & Lewis.
In their talk at Design Indaba Conference 2012, Hellicar & Lewis speak about telling the truth, changing contexts, failing, creating systems and sharing results.
We like to fail. We like to fail hard and fast, says Joel Gethin Lewis.
One of the projects they discuss is their successful collaboration with Coca-Cola: a series of 24-hour music events called 24hr Session. "The idea was to make an environment whereby the musicians could perform and make a song in 24 hours, but we'd augment that world with social response from the internet... but let's put that social response in the space," says Lewis.
From social networks to social good, the pair also speak about the rewarding work they do with children on the autistic spectrum.
The thing that intrigued both of us is that you could write software that has a biological effect, and that seemed like magic, says Lewis.
Hence the name of the project, ReacTickles Magic. The project basically entails a system of software that allows children to interact physically with shapes and colours projected on a wall, in a way that is organic and expolorative rather than predetermined or fixed.
In tune with the way the pair think about design and technology, the software for this project is free for download and open-source. The source code is available for download on the Hellicar&Lewis GitHub site.