Design Project 1 - Ideas

For design project 1, our group started off just by talking to each other and getting to know each other better as we thought this would be a good way to bond as a team. After doing this we decided that we would start putting ideas down for our structure using the A-Z activity where we think of words that have to do with the topic (Lightness).

(One page of words)

A - Alluring Angel, Alive, Aura, Aliens

B - Bright, Birth, Bold, Brilliance, Bling, Balloon

C - Clear, Calm, Courage, Crazy, Celestial, Creative, Charming, Cloud, Crystal

D - Daylight, Darkness, Dreaming, Diamonds, Dramatic

E - Electric, Energy, Emotion, Evolution, Earth, Ember, Eclipse, Explosion

F - Fantastical, Fanatic, Fun, Freedom, Frivolous

G - Glint, Growth, Glittering, Glowing, Glory, Geometry, Glass

H - Heaven, High, Happy, Heat, Harmony, Hocus Pocus

I - Imagination, Ice, Illuminate, Intelligence

J - Joyful, Joy, Jesus, Justice

K - Kite, Knowledge

L - Lion, Light, Luminous, Lantern, Light-bulb, Lighter

M - Mystic, Magic, Mysterious

N - Nurse, Nostalgic, New age, Natural

O - Organize, Oasis, Optimistic

P - Pretty, Precious, Prism, Perfection, Pure, Poverty, Puzzle, Purity, Plasma

Q - Question, Quizzical, Quagmire, Queen

R - Rouge, Rage, Romance, Rigorous, Rave, Rainbow, Rhythm, Radioactive

S - Sparkle, Stage, Star, Solar, Stream, Shadow

T - Triumphant, Torrential, Teaching, Technology

U - Unite, Ultimate

V - Victorious

W - Whimsical, Wisdom

X - Xray

Y - Yin Yang

Z - Zirconium, Zealous

We found this activity to allow us to think in broader terms with the concept of lightness.

Wet and Dry

When I thought of the contrast between wet and dry, two things came to mind: a literal wet and dry, which is shown in the picture as rain and the dry spot under the umbrella; and an emotional wet and dry shown by the tears of the girl and the love of the guy. I feel that wetness is akin to sadness because when it rains it is dark and grey. However; one could also view rain as refreshing and renewing life. My interpretation of it though is that it brings sadness while sunlight brings happiness as I usually find myself smiling and laughing for no reason if I'm looking up at a cloudless blue sky.

Point of View Activity

In this activity we were asked to draw a bench 4 times. The top left is a normal drawing, the top right is a top down view, the bottom left is an 'exploded' view and the bottom right is taking a pattern from the object. This activity really helped me to see objects from different perspectives and in different light. For example, the exploded view made me think analytically about the object and how it was put together while the pattern view made me take a closer look at the object and take a design idea from it.

Single Line Faces

Another exercise we did was to draw someones face without looking at the page while using a continuous line.

What this exercise has shown me is that there are many different ways of creating an image and communicating through visuals. Even though the drawings are very abstract and messy, you can still see a face in them. I enjoy looking at them because they show that even though I'm not very good at drawing, I can still do something abstract, which is great because I love abstract designs.

Pig Activity

One activity we did was to draw a pig.

Our drawing was then analyzed to see if our personalities matched the way we draw. According to my pig drawing, I am a realist, I'm secure, traditional, friendly, careful and analytical.

I would have to agree in saying that I'm a realist, I see things as they are most of the time and I also find myself pragmatic. I also see myself as friendly and careful as I do like to meet new people and I always watch my step and think of consequences of actions. The analysis also says that I am very analytical, which I also find to be true. I tend to observe and find meaning in actions.

So far the pig drawing has 'told' my personality quite well, however I don't see myself as secure as I'm very shy and always feel that my work is of low standards. I also have stage fright. I also don't feel I am traditional. I tend to be more open to ideas and actions than most people are, and my way of thinking tends to differ from the norm as well.

All in all I feel that this pig drawing is just a coincidence rather than something that digs deep into our psyche.

Lecture 10: SCOOT Design Process

Hearing about SCOOT, a mixed reality game that combines the real world and experiences into a game, allowed me to view design process in a new way as it was the first time I had seen a real process of design completely on an industry level.

The design process that SCOOT followed shows me how important it is to research before you begin, as well as how the client, end user and project values are all critical to the success of the design. There was something I found interesting in the design process though, and that was how long it took the team to recycle a world that they had already created, as for me this would have been one of the first things I had thought of as in design I've always been told to let the user do the work to interpret what the design is about. Doing this earlier would have also saved a lot of work and effort for the team.

It was interesting, however, to see how the team came up with ideas and also how much paperwork and design ideas there were before they came up with an actual design. I also found it interesting to note how the group that made SCOOT kept updating their game to work with newer technologies and community interfaces.

(Combining Reality and Virtual World)

One thing I liked about SCOOT was that it incorporated games into the real world, allowing players to explore the area and learn while having fun and helping game characters. This really showed me what is possible and that thinking outside the box can lead to very interesting and different concepts.

Lecture 9: Methods of Design

As design is a process, it therefore must follow a method. There are, however, many different methods that designers can take to reach their goal. Some design methods that I like to use are:

Fast Visualization: This is where you draw visuals quickly and draw ideas down which will allow your mind to be stimulated resulting in new thoughts. The reason I enjoy doing this is because I love to doodle and it really helps to get what I'm thinking down as I find it difficult to explain myself with words.

Observation: This is where watching how an object works, how people use it, what it makes people feel comes in handy. Observing in such a way allows you to see how others view a design and what can be improved and what problems it has when being interacted with.

(Dam observed from Beavers)

(Beaver Dam)

Scenarios: Scenarios are where you place your design in different situations where interactions are different. This leads to see how your design will work in situations and what can be improved in such situations. These situations could be hypothetical or occur rarely.

These design methods all try to find patterns and ways to improve a design. Sometimes they may even lead to a new design/concept entirely.