azdeepaz

[azdeepaz]

INB182 Lecture 2 - The Art of Designerly Thinking

Lecture 2 saw the definition of design begin to come into focus. Questions such as 'What is Design?' and 'What is the design process?' came into play with the lecturer asking us to research several different designers. 

Jonathan Ive

Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive, KBE (born 27 February 1967) is an English designer and the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He also provides leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) software teams across the company. He is the lead designer of many of Apple's products, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad and iPad Mini. (Extract from Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive] 15/03/2013)

  Phillipe Starck

French product designer. His designs range from toothbrushes to houses to furniture. he started his own design firm in 1968 after being educated at the Ecole Camondo in Paris. His firm specialised in inflatable objects.

  Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In this book, Malcolm examines several various factors that may contribute to success. He theorizes that in order to become and expert in any given field of study, one must spend approximately 10,000 hours on it.

  William Gibson

Fiction writer who coined the term cyberspace in his short story 'Burning Chrome', William also predicted the rise of reality television and the popularity of the internet prior to it being popular. He is considered by many to be the father of the cyberpunk genre. God bless him.

    "Hikaru dorodango are balls of mud, molded by hand into perfect spheres, dried, and polished to an unbelievable luster. The process is simple, but the result makes it seem like alchemy." (Dorodango.com)

Rob Pardo

Now Chief Creative Officer of Blizzard, Rob was the lead designer for several projects at Blizzard Entertainment. He was the Lead Designer for World Of Warcraft expansion The Burning Crusade, which can (arguably) be considered one of my favorite games. 

I think that covers everything we were asked to research. Researching these people has opened my eyes to how much i DONT know about the gaming industry. I have gone from an dedicated gamer to a wide-eyed rookie picking up my first copy of "Super Metroid". I LOVE it!

[azdeepaz]

INB182 Lecture 1

--------------5th March 2013------------

Task 1 of the week was to reflect on the image below. 

Kliban's comic strip demonstrates two magic tricks that can supposedly be performed with ordinary tap water. While not possible in reality, the use of visual stimuli to invoke the viewers imagination is the magic trick that captured my attention. This is a clear demonstration of how different media (in this case Visual) can be used to inspire thought and reflection from an audience. What fun we could have if these tricks were actually achievable? Is there some way we can pull them off? These are but two of the thoughts that immediately leap to mind for me when I first saw "Two Amusing Water Tricks".

For the second task of the week, we were asked to examine a piece of interactive media ('game' if you will) called Dear Esther.

Dear Esther, while having some components of a game, lacked the interaction or challenge that is required for me to classify it as such. Its minimalism approach to entertainment lead me to see it as more of an interactive story book than something I would call a game.

The main objective is to successfully navigate an island and experience the story. The lack of interaction, control and decision making pull Dear Esther away from the game genre and leave it to float somewhere between the Movie and Storytelling genre's.

Throughout the INB182 Lecture we were asked to consider how our individual experiences may skew our perception of things. My perception of what does or does not constitute a game clearly influences my above statement. However, what constitutes a game? Who decides this is a game and this is not?

An interesting point I have been considering is when does an individuals perception become something more? When does it become the general opinion? How many people does it need to be shared by before it is officially accepted? For example, is there an board or committee somewhere that sits down and determines "This is a game. That is a story". Does it depend on budget? Design goals? Intended audience or actual usage? I look forward to exploring these ideas further throughout the coming weeks.

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[azdeepaz]

Design Journal Blog

I have been tasked to reflect on my thoughts about the content of my INB182 Introducing Design lecture each week. This blog will follow the journey through the first unit of my Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment degree. Enjoy!