Last wednesday, class was very short. Jimmy talked for a few minutes about things and then told us that we could leave. I stayed in the class for a while and wrote out some ideas for my video, and then ended up leaving to go visit the anthropology office. I liked having the free time, but wish that I would have known ahead of time that class was going to be so short.
So today we started off with a game. It was alright, but got a little annoying after playing for a long time. The gist of the game was saying "This is a what, a what? A what. Oh a what!, and then continuing on and asking each previous person, a what? When the person you were telling asked what it was. Its a little confusing at first, and gets even harder when you include two objects instead of just one. In fact, we could not successfully finish the game with two objects.
This week, I finally reached the last chapter in our book, about production. A designer has to be available at the stage of production in case any last minute problems arise. Production requires working with a production team. The chapter talks about the different values that a designer should have while working with them, such as respect, listening to opinions, motivating the team, diplomacy and good communication. I think that these are all great, and people should always try to get along as best as they can at work. The book also talks about being able to get feedback. I always love to get positive feedback about my work, but usually it is the negative feedback that is more useful. It points out the problems in my work so that I can go back and fix it, and make it the best that it can be. The book points out that a designer should not be pressured into making changes that they are not happy with.
In class on wednesday, Jimmy started off by splitting the class into two groups, of the women against the men. He wrote a pattern on the board, which was
In class yesterday, we watched Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. It was a very strange movie, and I personally didn't like it very much. I recognized the first story about the legend of the foxes, and found it to be interesting. The movie was a series of eight stories that were supposed to be different dreams. None of the stories really had a set ending, and left off at odd points, much like dreams do. We were supposed to think about how inspiration, creation, conceptualization and ideation relate to dreams and sleep. I have personally had several dreams that have led to ideas to stories and to drawings. Often times though, I won't remember the dream unless it was really vivid or memorable. I might remember it right when I wake up, but forget it as a little bit of time passes. I have always considered the possibility of keeping a notepad next to my bed to write down ideas, but never have. A lot of times while we sleep, we think of things that would be impossible in real life, and are generally more creative. We are free to think of anything while we sleep.
The next chapter in our book contains information about communication. This is something that Jimmy has talked to us several times about, since we need to be able to communicate well in our careers. The section begins with the book breaking down communication into three parts, encoding, the message itself, and decoding. I think that it would be helpful to keep these parts in mind, while constructing a project. It also says that as a designer, we have to tell our client what they need, which could be different from what they want. This was a point that was brought up by Seth Johnson, at the beginning of the quarter. There are several people that a designer has to work with, and consider them as an audience. There is the client, the corporation, manufacturing, and associates. A designer will not always have to work with all of them, but it is important to consider each one as they apply to the project.
Thursday night, our class attended a talk by the designer John Coy. It was supposed to begin at 7, but did not start until almost 8 because of technical difficulties, that continued thorough the presentation. It was a little distracting from his speaking. It was an enjoyable presentation though, and I heard a few things that I have heard several times before, and a few new things that I had not. One of the main points that stood out to me was to find what we are good at, and work at it. This is something that I have heard before, and he reiterated it in a large portion of his presentation. It seems that this is a point that I really need to take into consideration before I start my professional career, and figure out what is unique to me. Another thing that he said that I have heard many times before, is to explore an assignment for myself and not just do the project. I have been working at that lately, and really trying to get into assignments that I did not like at first. So far, it has been partially working. I have been really trying to learn from everything.
Creative briefs are an important part of our future careers, so we spent the entire class learning about them. A few tips we were given were to communicate clearly and to be brief in them. We should be able to write a great objective in three sentences. Some things that should be included are target audience, objective, competitors, differentiates, design considerations, deliverables, time budget, etc... We also talked about ROI (representamen, interpretent and object). I learned a lot of useful information that will be very helpful in the future. We also learned about what we should be charging for our work, which is something that I have always wondered about. Altogether, it was a very useful class.
This most recent chapter in the book is about definition and modeling. It starts off with saying, "Reality is tricky." We have to deal with constraints and compromises in order to get things done. Because of this, we might not always be happy with our final project. This happens to me sometimes, when I run out of time and have to quickly finish a project. I am most likely not satisfied with it, because I know that It could have been better. The book gives a hierarchy of design's needs. Level 1 is functionality, which I think is probably the most important. Level 2 is reliability, which is also important. Level 3 is usability, Level 4 is proficiency, and Level 5 is creativity. These are all important parts of design, because an object is useless if it is not functioning or usable. Creativity is important because it leads to innovative thinking and new ideas.
The next part of the chapter talks about breaking up the anatomy of the idea. An artist has to be able to eliminate un-needed parts, and make different parts better. This is something that I have to work on, because I often include things that clutter the design. Designers have to also be able to look at detail, and decide which is functional, and which is for aesthetic purposes. The next section talks about the actual creation of a model. Models should be seen as sketching exercises, for the designer to explore with different ideas. I think that it is a really good idea to view modeling like that, rather than as something that can't be changed easily. A model helps clients to see ideas clearly, and includes them in the design process. Showing ideas clearly is something that is important, and something that I would like to learn how to do better. One problem that is important to think about with models is making sure that they scale well in real life. A few things to consider when making models is deciding whether to make them 2D or 3D, and if they should be done virtually or an actual physical model. Choosing a scale for the model is also important, and so is choosing materials. Real materials might not be practical to use, so finding different materials to use helps, and some research might have to be done. The last thing to consider is time management, which I think is probably the biggest thing to remember. Time management is something that I always struggle with, no matter how much I plan in advance. At the end of all of this, it is also important to re-inspire yourself, and to remember why you liked the idea in the first place.
The perspective section in this chapter is about Ian Cunningham, who is a design director. He talks about how getting excited over your job as a designer is really important. He also talks about how as a consultant, he might spend 6 months researching and designing something, only to have it not designed or have it possibly produced later on. He guides projects, more than actually doing them since he is a design manager. I think out of all the perspective sections so far, I have found his to be the least-interesting. It did not interest me like the other ones had.
We spent a lot of time in class yesterday going over presentation in terms of our work, and our body language. I had personally taken the time to try out a few different layouts on my board, and used the one that fit all the information I had the best. My main concern had been for the game idea itself though, and not the board. A lot of people had left the stickers on the back of their board's, and I know from now on to print a label to put on the back of mine, instead of just writing my name on the back. We should also make sure our papers are glued on flat, with no corners sticking up. I would have thought that making sure they were all flat was common sense. After this, a few of us presented our projects to the class, and we had to watch for body language. I was pretty nervous when I went up there, but I enjoyed explaining my project. Apparently, my hands gave it away that I was nervous. I'll have to remember that the next time I'm presenting. For the next class, we have to create a creative brief for our game, and one for the short film, The Power of 10. I have no idea where to start in writing one, so I really hope that they come out alright.
Yesterdays class was mainly about portfolios and our game designs. Over the weekend, we each had to come up with nine game designs. Mine were alright, but I had a hard time coming up with nine good ones, so some of them were no so great. Jimmy told us a few things at the beginning of class that would help us be successful in the future. We should be able to apply our designs to a breadth of applications, such as on tv, on print, etc... We should also have works in our portfolio that show our personal passion, not just works from classes. It shows that we have initiative and self motivation. We should also have a mastery of our tools. We need to be able to design for the technology, and be able to work with people who can do things that we do not know how to do. I think that these are all very good ideas, and I plan on working on a personal project over the summer. After this, we all shared our game ideas. Some people had ok ideas, and some people had some not-so-great ones. It will be interesting to see the different fully-developed games that everyone brings in.
