laylaglobalproject

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 8

W/C Monday 29th April -

In this week it was really about finalising and planning for the final hand in. We gathered some final visuals that lace realised she needed for the map, as well as adding to the spatial and the final powerpoint. We also had Niamh continuing with the multiplayer mechanism and lace began finalising the movement of each of the characters.

I worked on the extra few visuals that Lace needed, I did a birds-eye view of the playground so that on the map the perspective was more accurate. I used a combination of games that people had commonly mentioned in the questionnaire. Some of these being hula hooping, ball games and hopscotch. I again used photoshop for the larger features of the illustration and then transferred this simple drawing into procreate and using the iPad, filled in the smaller details, like the games and the textures. I found that procreate allows for finer details as there is a wider range of paintbrush tools that you can use, such as regular paintbrush shapes, spray paints, chalk effects, and even more natural shaped brushes like leaf shapes, and grass prints. I used the circle accuracy to make hole hoops to lay on the floor and the chalk brushes to paint on the hopscotch, this was a personal choice as I remember using chalk on the ground to created hopscotch tracks when I was younger. I added textures to the ground with the spray paint brushes to give the floor a rougher, gravel like texture and I trimmed the outside of the play area with grass and textured greenery. I liked this visual best out of all of the drawing so far, I can definitely say that my confidence in using digital software to produce hand drawings has increased. It is something I was really unfamiliar with before started this course as I came from a more traditional fine art background, so it is nice that I can see certain skills improving, especially with creative technologies.

I also needed to do visuals for the actual school building and the library, Liz ended up doing the main school building, using the school of art outline that Niamh had previously created. She used lots of colour which created a really nice and positive kind of energy to the design. I created quite a simple building design, taking inspiration from the school of art building in Birmingham,, I wanted it to look quite traditional with the cartoon like art style that, I think, keeps th game quite fun and playful. The building that I had created we decided could be the library, it made sense that this building was more traditional, I think, as it seems a more studious. I again used a mixture of Adobe Photoshop and procreate for this task. I was able to do most of it on photoshop as this allowed for some cleaner lines and shapes, whereas sometime with procreate, because it is like drawing freehand, it can look slightly rough. I instead just used procreate for smaller sketch lines that added some texture and depth to the drawings, as well as the greenery around the buildings. This again is where the larger variety of brush types becomes useful.

The final visual I made this week was the games section. I had obviously made the playground concept art to begin with which then developed further into the birds-eye view drawing with more detail. I then had to create a home page for the actual game play. We had created a poll on the figma for the kind of game that we should have in the playground. It had to be multiplayer so that we could have each of us play it against another player. We listed a few of the games that people mention in the questionnaire and left the poll on the figma for quite a few weeks prior, so that we could get as many answers as possible and therefore more accurate feedback. The game that we decided on was noughts and crosses. This is a two player game that we would have run while on the "playground" part of the map. We were working it in so that it could be played with two players at the same time. The whole world acting as a portal to one another via the game structure. There is many opportunities for contact through the game, and we though that this actual two player game feature would be a perfect fit for both the brief but also the theme of the game.

This week we also discussed spatial with the students in Kyiv. We each have our own portal which is like our virtual gallery space, and so we just wanted to introduce them to it and discuss how it works and the kinds of things that we are going to uploading in there. Me and Niamh spoke from our group, just discussing what we think we will upload. I think it'd be nice for the Ukrainian students if we can upload the work that they sent to us too se they can see that we have used their design ideas and visuals. We though that the structure for our portal would be, inspiration art, concept art, development and then potentially a video tour of the game playing in the spatial portal, with a communal link to the actual game itself.

As well as introducing them to spatial, we also mentioned possible run throughs of the game and when we were hoping we could actually trial it. Now all of the artwork had been done for cut scenes, the map and the locations, it was just a case of coding the movement mechanisms, transitions and the multiplayer function. We asked when the students would be free and if they'd be interested, to which we got a few responses via the telegram group chat, with a few Ukrainian students that said they'd be happy to take part in the first dry run of the game.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 7

W/C Monday 22nd April

This week we continued with the checklist and getting things done, so that they can be uploaded to the Figma and on to the final presentation. I noticed on the figma that one of the students had replied with a few visuals. Some we had seen previously, like the outfit ideas for the avatars, but more recently about the logo of the 'school'. They had made these logo designs in response to my post with the potential names for the school and logo suggestion. She had also responded to the suggested names that I came up with and said she liked the play on word name 'Birmyiv'. We hadn't yet had much feedback on the name, however, it was a small task that we had on the checklist and so we decided on the name 'Birmyiv'. It's always nice when we get creative responses from the other students. It is not only helpful but reassuring to know that we are really collaborating. We also had a few more visuals sent via the telegram. One of the students had created rough drafts of animated cut scenes between the game. We chose to have the avatars taken into the game via a 'train', as Birmingham is renowned for it's "New Street Station", and Kyiv's metro system is one of the 'oldest in Europe'. We sent more visuals, as Eileen (one of the students we were collaborating with) was keen to see the kinds of art styles we had used so far. We sent across some of our visuals for inspiration and for her to use.

This week we were also introduced to spatial. This was an online platform that we were told we could upload our work. It appeared like an online gallery with different portals in which each group would upload their own work. We were first show it by Katerina on the big screen. She uploaded the link to the figma and so we all joined in the communal space as randomised avatars. We could then each make an account so that we could each upload work and use the platform properly. This allowed us then to create our portals and assess the look of our individual portal. The spaces inside were all quite large with allocated places for the work to be uploaded. After we had the introduction we all checked that it was working on our devices, and set up our portal. Me and Niamh began to discuss the kind of things we thought would be important to include, we considered the following:

Profiles of us (get to know the group)

Inspiration images

Concept art

Final designs

Video of the game world

Link to the finished game

This week we also had the last essay session with Fred. In this session I brought the rough draft that I had so far so that he could read and assess it as well as prompt me for any questions that I had for him. Upon reflection I discovered that one of my paragraphs had combined the sections quite frequently. I thought that to keep them separate made more sense as then I could be more thorough about the individual topics. It was often the audience and the socio geographic challenges that I confused. Though the challenges obviously impact the audience so it is relevant, we agreed it'd be better to first discuss the audience and then the challenges. By combining the two sections I realised I had left out key information about the audience. I had forgotten to address their wants and needs from the project. This was key and something that I had previously not mentioned and so it was important that I really made sure it was included. It also helped with a lot of my referencing. Over the past two in this course I have really discovered the need understand your audience and consider them when designing. It really resonated with me when discovering "Mathieu Lehanneur: Tomorrow is Another Day" this completely compassionate piece shows such a respectful and sympathetic approach to design. I really liked this notion of compassionate design, and I feel as though this mindset is that of someone who design to make a difference. Even if that difference is simply making a persons day a little bit better. This then reminded me of Rawsthorn's words when she quotes Nagy and 'his belief in design's power to build a better world.'. I think it is this kind of concept that I have really faced and learned over the past two years.

I continued to re read and go over some of the Rawsthorn texts that we had read throughout the project. I thought that this kind of concept would be most appropriate to reference in this particular, and a sympathetic gaze was needed from the beginning of this project due to the current affairs in Ukraine. I then started to annotate the texts just pulling out some of the quotes that I particularly relate to, and ones that I think compliment what I have to say in the essay. I compiled a list of a few references so that when continuing with the essay I already had a few references that I could just naturally filter in throughout.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 6

W/C Monday 15th April

This week we were following on from our previous to do lists and the jobs we had designated. I was again taking care of a lot of the concept art while lace and Niamh carried on with the coding. I know one of the biggest struggles with the coding so far had been finding the right sources to help with the coding. Because the various computers that were being used each had different versions of the software, it made the search for tutorials and guidance that bit more difficult. I did find a website however that had a selection box to which you could change the version to the one that we were working on. This selection tool meant you could search for the version we needed and continue with the more specific help. This and lots of YouTube tutorials seemed effective for those in charge of the coding of the game. It was nice seeing the progression within the sessions, lace had been working on the movement of the characters, while Niamh worked on the login in page and multiplayer aspect of the game. My tasks for this week were to gather all of the primary research into one visual so that we could share it to the figma, as well as creating some concept art for the playground and library location. We unfortunately discovered that the cafeteria setting may have been a slight overestimation as to what we could accomplish. We also were slightly more unsure as to what it'd represent. We thought it could be another informative location teaching about different cuisines, however, we already had the library setting which was there for the learning side of the game, which does better represent a station of information. So we stuck to having the playground, as this was where we could each come together and play games with each other, the library, where you could learn facts about both Ukraine and the Uk, and the studio space, the area that the avatars could all reside and communicate in.

I got to work on the playground setting I used procreate and photoshop for this design, using the colours schemes i had previously researched and collected, I used bright colours, and drew some nostalgic "playground games" that people had suggested in the questionnaire feedback, to create a fun and familiar kind of area. It again was fairly simple as it was potentially going to be pixelated, and therefore have a significantly lower resolution in which many details won't be visible.

I started on the library background visual too. For this one I created the basic background of the wall, floor and book case and then filled in the smaller details on procreate. The thought behind the library setting was that you could click on one of the books in the case and it'd read information about Ukraine/Uk. This is where the feedback from the Ukrainians really became useful as we were using direct quotations from themselves.

In this week I also collated all of our primary research results into one PDF so that we could share the feedback and statistics onto the Figma. I also wanted a way to import the results/most important results into our final presentation, so that we could show the reasoning to a lot of our choices throughout the project. I compiled them into one document with photoshop and uploaded this to the figma, and the I started to put the results into the powerpoint template that Lace had set up. While I was going to upload the PDF ii made, I thought it better to spread the results out further so that during the presentation you can clearly see the question and the response. I played these out two to a page and uploaded all of them. I thought that if there's any important ones , they'd be the ones we select and discuss in the presentation, but for evidencing research purposes, it may be best to include the majority of the primary information. I continued with the presentation this week, Placing imagery of our MMORPG inspiration, as well as the visuals inspiration from Kyiv/Ukranian culture and secondary images (from the Ukrainian students). I kept the powerpoint very simple so far, only adding visual aids to support and prompt us during the presentation. I was glad to have started the presentation with plenty of time to work on it and finish it fully, as it meant we could just upload the progress as it is completed, and also that it isn't all left completely last minute and everyone has time to share their work.

I also started to roughly draft my essay this week. I used a lot of the work that we had done so far with the CLiCK team and Fred, to start drafting and bullet pointing my work. Over these past few sessions I managed to collate some very useful resources that helped break down the essay into its sections and the kinds of things to include in the sections, for example:

An introduction - An overview of what it is that I was going to discuss in the essay.

Section 1 - My individual pitch, how I created it and how my experience so far took me to that pitch.

Section 2 - The Group project, important decisions made, how we worked as a group, the body of work that we managed to create.

Section 3 - The Client, Audience and community in which we are designing for, how it was matched to their wants and needs (here is where I'd talk mostly of my questionnaire and how it helped us)

Section 4 - Socio-geographic challenged anyhow we addressed and over came them such as: the potential language barrier, time differences, current affairs in Ukraine etc.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 5

W/C Monday 8th April

Unfortunately I wasn't present in the studio on Monday due to illness I was back in the studio on Wednesday and ready to continue with the project.

In this week we started by having a group round up and set up our plan for the next few weeks. At this stage it was mostly just using our primary research to create and collate visuals for the game, as well as working on the coding for the game itself. We created a to do list for the upcoming weeks to ensure we were progressing with the appropriate tasks.

This consisted of:

colour scheme

name of the school

visuals for the rooms

background imagery

character design

avatar costumes

multiplayer aspect of the game

I got started on the colour scheme of the game. I used a mixture of the primary research on colours that were all relevant to our primary education, as well as typical colours used in the various locations that we were including in our game. I discovered the following :

Library: usually libraries are decorated with earthy tones and warm shades, these are usually considered comforting and relaxing. I thought it appropriate to used darker more muted versions of the primary colours inspired by the questionnaire feedback.

Playground: Typically, playgrounds use lots of "bright colours". These are said to "stimulate the brain" and "increase energy" through the higher contrast colour schemes.

Studio: "cooler tones" are often used in primary school classrooms with "bursts of colour", these bursts of colour again subtly "stimulating the brain" and encouraging "energy and creativity".

Cafeteria: "Earthy tones" are most commonly used in cafeteria type locations. They are usually considered "warm and welcoming". Often "muted shades" of green and browns such as; sage, olive, beige, and umber.

I then created a visual just breaking down the various colour schemes that I had researched and considered. I then uploaded this to the figma, this was just to ensure everyone was updated and could share their opinions on any work that we created to ensure that we were all aware and on board. And that any opinions were welcome and would be incorporated.

I also started to consider possible names for the school. I wanted to pull inspiration from both of the countries and what we had so far discovered about them. I created a mind map with nods to a possible logo for the school too, as most of my ideas incorporated the national flower or animal of each country, and others simple play on the words, merging and combining Birmingham and Kyiv together. This was also to be uploaded to the figma so we could gather input from the students in Kyiv and see which of the options they liked, or even prompt them to come up with any ideas, or visuals.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 4

In todays session I wanted to start creating rough visuals so that we could confirm how we wanted to game to look. I took inspiration from other MMORPG style games, looking at the character creation sections and map designs. We definitely wanted there to be an element of character creation as we thought, even if there were some students that weren't enthusiastic about the gaming side of the project, the freedom of character design and creation could be an element that'd be exciting for all.

These were just a few of the images I used for reference when designing. Our maps weren't going to be as big as those shown above however, and we were instead using pixel art as Lace had said, from research, that this may be easier for them, but the basis of each would be similar. I started to roughly draft our map and the types of locations that we agreed would be appropriate to incorporate.

These were my initial sketches, I used procreate and started off very simple then started to add it extra details, such as the hill background to add some depth to the design as well as some shrubbery. I used sketches of the national Ukrainian sunflower and the English Tudor rose. These felt relevant but also helped to make the surrounding look nicer and add to the idyllic campus setting that we were aiming to create. I added some labels to the final design so that anyone that looked at them on the figma understood the reasoning and for the designs and how the map would function. Ideally clicking on the location and then being transported to the building and exploring what it holds. The playground we thought would contain a game that you'd play with another player. The library containing information on Ukrainian culture/Kyiv and Birmingham/British culture.

We began to discuss the kind of facts that we would include in the library and so added a post to the Figma asking the Ukrainian to send in any facts about Ukraine, and more specifically Kyiv. We also added posts that prompted creative responses. We decided that the characters would be two that you chose from and you can then customise their outfits, and so we prompted the students to respond with any imagery that may be useful in designing these outfits. The characters we decided on would either be a lion, the national animal of the Uk, and a nightingale bird, the national animal of Ukraine. The animal characters felt better as it was a nod to the inspiring countries, but also added to the fantasy elements of the game.

Below are some of the facts sent from one of the students

The Kiev metro is one of the oldest in Europe.

“Shchedryk” or “Carol of the Bells” the famous Ukrainian song that is known all over the world.

The longest pedestrian bridge in Europe is in Kiev, with a length of 429 metres.

One of the favourite dishes of Ukrainians is borscht, which is traditionally eaten with black bread, lard and chesnik (garlic)

Petrikovsky painting is a Ukrainian decorative and ornamental folk painting, which was formed in the Dnepropetrovsk region in the village of Petrikovka, from where the name of this art form comes.

I started to look into the costumes for the characters. The dressing/customization stations and the kinds of outfits that we wanted. This was an important element of the game for us as we had seen that from the results of the questionnaire so far, 100% of the students asked said that they'd 'be more inclined to play a game in which you can design/personalise your own character?'. We asked the Ukranian students about traditional clothing and uniforms that they wore as children. The majority response was that 'primary' colours were part of all our uniforms. The uniform visuals that the students sent through also showed quite a resemblance to the British uniforms. I again began to draft visuals of the 'dressing' element of the game, this was a useful way of ensuring that as a group we were all on the same page about the look of the game.

The image above shows how we communicated with the students in Kyiv via figma. Simply uploading optional tasks that they can chose to interact with. Though this worked and we received some useful visuals from them, we wanted a more immediate form of contact with direct students that we had conversed with via figma. This is when Niamh uploaded the poll to see how the students wanted to communicate. This happened to be via telegram, and so Niamh set up a telegram for us all to join and communicate more efficiently.

These were the kinds of visuals that I created for the avatar dressing station, I used photoshop to create these visuals as i though this would allow a cleaner look, as oppose to ketchup which I'd use for a more rough sketch. I included a small podium on which the character that the gamer selected would stand. And different variations of uniforms, created in the colours that we found were most common in primary uniforms in both the Uk and Kyiv. I tried to pixelate the image, I hadn't previously done this and so I used the adobe website and searched how to create this pixelated effect. I used the mosaic pixelation, and varied the scale of pixelation. Unfortunately the higher on the scale the lower the resolution of the image. I was glad that I had a go and discovered the method to pixelate an image. Even if it wasn't a completely coherent image.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 3

W/C Monday 11th March

In today's session we reconvened with the group. The whole group did discussions of the two reading texts for the week. These were extracts from 'Design as an Attitude' by Alice Rawsthorn. The texts discussed concepts constructed by Moholy Nagy that 'Design [was] an attitude'. This was a really interesting text and it was quite refreshing reading about someone that was so passionate about the art and design field. I knew when reading that this text would be one I would certainly like to quote and capture his high regard for design as a subject and 'attitude'. It is something that would definitely justify my thoughts throughout some projects in what I'd like to achieve in my designs. I have discovered a stronger desire to design with positive implications on the audience in which I am designing for. It has spurred me to ensure that I really know my audience, and even while designing, gain an understanding that they are likely to enjoy the outcome.

Today we made a few important decisions. We decided that we were going to make a 2D playable MMORPG style game. This unfortunately meant that two members of the group left as they were set on working realistically in 3D potentially with VR. We were aware that the Kyiv students didn't have access to VR headsets and so we were sure that we wanted to work in 2D instead. This left four of us which became quite a nice dynamic. We shared our different strengths so that we could decipher roles within the group. I made it clear that my knowledge of game making and coding was little, but I am keen to construct narratives and concepts and will definitely be involved with those aspects of the project and we agreed that this will serve a balance within the group. Lace and Niamh said they were keen to take part in the coding side of the project too so it felt like we had established quite a nice balance.

We then went on to debate and decide on the theme an narrative of the game. We were so far set on an element of escapism and ideality, potentially hyper realistic to enhance an air of positivity and fantasy. Me and Niamh started to create a mind map while Lace and Liz did some further research. This is when I suggested the communal studio idea that I had in my original pitch. We developed this concept further to a school campus idea. We thought that as we are all at a higher level of education, this was a commonality between us and the Kyiv students. We thought that we could create a caricature school campus-like environment with a more primary school like undertone to highlight a more playful environment as we thought this may be a more fun and positive experience for everyone. The 2D animation style further enhancing this element of fun as it is more fantastical. We discussed potential locations on this campus and considered a playground where multiple players can come together to play games, a library where we could project facts about Ukrainian and British culture and a communal studio space for us all to reside in and potentially communicate.

After confirming this theme we decided to create a questionnaire. Liz began to make one so that we could get direct feedback from our audience (both Ukrainian and UK students). This was the first draft of the questionnaire that we sent to our class initially so that we could ensure it was clear enough for us to understand and therefore the Ukrainian students. There was some ambiguity from the first run of the questionnaire and so I started to make a new one with suggestive, hinted responses and yes/no questions, just so that all students involved had an idea of the kind of answers that we were looking for. This was important to us as we wanted to ensure that we were making something that would firstly interest our target audience, but also, so the theme was presented correctly. We wanted to get a stronger understanding of the Ukrainian schooling system and elements of their childhood so that we could capture this sense of nostalgia appropriately from the Ukrainian perspective and not just the British. I then shared the questionnaire with the class first so that I could get feedback on the clarity of the questionnaire. All involved said that it was much more straightforward this time round and so we were ready to send it to all. We wanted to ensure that it was accessible and doable for all the students as this is where we really started to feel as though we were collaborating with the Ukrainian students. So far it had been quite difficult to collaborate with specific individuals as we didn't want to demand anything from them. By doing the questionnaire it was a way of gathering and incorporating their opinion, without overstepping.

I then started to look further into MMORPG style games. It was interesting as even after just discussing them within the group and our experience playing them while growing up, it turned into a whole class discussion. Most of the class turned to reminiscing about our experiences playing such games and all of the different versions. This in itself was quite reassuring as it reaffirmed that it is something that the majority enjoyed at some point, and that they definitely held a nostalgic memory for most. I started to look at the many that people had suggested:

Moshi Monsters

Club Penguin

Binweevils

Movie star planet

I looked at various features such as the; layout, character designs, colour schemes, locations and animation styles. This was interesting as they had their own niche elements but all had these bright colours and playful characters.

Below is the visual I made to summarise the common features in the games. This example was of club penguin but in each game there were very similar features. I uploaded this to the sigma so that everyone could see the kind of styles that we were aiming for and better understand our idea.

In the afternoon we had another call with Kyiv. In this call we just rounded up the progress so far, discussing our theme and where we were at with our idea so far. We were also sure to highlight the questionnaire on the figma and prompted the students to complete it. We had also uploaded a few questions that were to be responded with visually. We were keen to get primary images from schools in Kyiv and gain a stronger underrating for their environments so that we could really capture this playful nostalgic environment. This was also an attempt at softly collaborating as these visuals will be really useful in the design process, and it ensures that we are using imagery and opinions provided by the Ukrainian students.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 2

Monday 4th March

Today was the pitch presentation day. I unfortunately couldn't be there for the morning of this session, however, I sent my pitch presentation in so that it could be read through. My final idea was the communal server choice, creating a virtual classroom. I liked the idea of creating a space for us all to exist in, in an avatar form. We'd each design a character version of ourselves and exist in this virtual world, communicating via emojis and setting status updates. I felt that this would be an effective way of communicating as it feels as though it is like a universal language in a way. Lots of the Ukrainian students have began using the emoticons available on figma which was part of the reason I felt that it'd be an appropriate feature in the game.

Once I arrived in the studio the groups had been formed. I was a part of the game group. There was a few of us that had similar ideas, in that they were all game based. We formed as a group and started discussing our ideas. I said that an important part of my idea was that I wanted it to be set in an 'ideal' world. Whether that be a fantasy virtual world or an ideal virtual reality. I thought that it'd be interesting if we could somehow create a world that combines the best bits of Birmingham and Kyiv. This was a popular opinion within the group. This idea of escapism by creating an ideal world was common and, we felt, appropriate. It was important that the work celebrated Ukraine and its history in a sense. Knowing what they're going through as a country, we thought that this notion of escapism and ideality would be suitable and emphasise an element of positivity in what is probably an extremely difficult time.

We made a small to do list in which we were to all begin researching into game design and anything that may be relevant to creating this world. I wanted to gain a stronger understanding of the architecture and culture of Ukraine and ultimately Kyiv, so I volunteered to make mood boards of each of the cities. This was so that we had clear visuals of the kind of environment and architecture in Kyiv. I also wanted to make one for Birmingham so that we could highlight the 'best bits'.

In the afternoon we had a visitor Sophie Hedderwick. She came in and ran a workshop with us. She spoke through her past work followed by her current practice. She had been working with costume and designing costumes fitted with LED's. She used Arduino's to power the fitted LEDs and even experimented with different biomaterials. The workshop she designed for us involved us threading our own LED lights into fabric. We used a coated conductive thread to sew the lights into a piece of fabric. I really enjoyed this workshop and working with the LEDs. It was quite tricky work as the thread going into the LED and then battery couldn't overlap. But we managed to make it work and so our LEDs managed to light up successfully!

Wednesday 6th March

In today's session we were just in for the morning due to the taster day taking place in the afternoon.

Research: We continued our research and sharing our ideas for the game. I had constructed my first moodboard and incorporated different factors like:

the Mother Kyiv statue

the national flower, which is the Sunflower

the Country Flag

Architecture

Green spaces in Kyiv

This created quite a nice visual. I was aware I was using images that were the best parts of Kyiv but I feel as though this would help us as a group highlight the beauty of the country, and inspire the construction of our 'ideal' game environment.

The moodboard that I created for Birmingham consisted of similar factors like:

famous Architecture- the Bullring, the Cube, the central Library and some of our University buildings (School of art and the Curzon building)

famous monuments- the Bull

the National Flower - the Tudor Rose

I chose this specific imagery because I know from more personal experience that these buildings and monuments are what Birmingham is known best for, and that these kinds of visuals would probably be most useful for the Ukrainian students to get a good understanding of the kind of environment that is Birmingham.

I included the public library located in the centre of Birmingham. This library, I know, is definitely a popular site, attracting around 2 million back in 2015. The architecture of the library is also very impressive. Designed by the Dutch studio Mecanoo, they pay tributes to historic fragments of Birmingham's history. An example being, the interlinking metal rings that cover the, gold, silver and glass exterior of the building. These were included as a nod to Birmingham's historic jewellery quarter.

I thought it was important to include the School of Art building. This giving an insight to the Ukrainian students and also showing the kind of listed buildings that Birmingham is filled with. Having been around and open since 1885 it has a strong history in the arts and arts in Birmingham specifically.

I was sure to incorporate the bull statue too. This statue was made by the late Laurence Broderick. It is one of the largest bronze animal sculptures in the country, stretching to a large 4.5 meters long, weighing 6.5 tons. It was made to capture the spirit of Birmingham, as a 'gateway emblem for Birmingham throughout history". It had even been ranked alongside the Statue of Liberty and Michelangelo's statue of David! It, again, is definitely a popular tourist attraction in Birmingham. There always seems to be a person or a few having photographs taken with the Bull located outside of the, just as popular, Bullring shopping centre.

Essay Work With Fred:

We also had a visitor in the studio Today. Fred came in to do essay help with us. It is obviously very early in the project and so there isn't much substance to the actual content as of yet, but it was still quite helpful to discuss the breakdown of the essay itself. He addressed the class as a whole as there was only a few of us in the session. We went through the breakdown and I edited the file alongside his discussion and our questions. I was quite shocked at how many questions I had at such an early stage. Usually I'd assume that an essay that sums up the project wouldn't encourage questions in such an early stage of the project.

I wanted to be sure to really use these sessions with Fred, however, as my individual writing grade often fluctuates. It'd be nice to see an improvement, especially when going into the final year.

[laylaglobalproject]

Week 1 - Project Launch

Monday 25th February -

Today was the launch of the global project. We were given the new brief which was:

"This module focuses on real-world challenge-based learning, through a globally located live brief, set by an external client, user, community, audience or institution. Building on skills developed in the previous modules throughout Level 5, the scope is now bigger again, with a global perspective, and an emphasis on understanding different cultures, knowledge and working practices. You will collaboratively question and explore a live brief, while iteratively moving through the Thought, Materials and Digital Labs as needed as your project grows and develops. Throughout the module, you will regularly bring your work together to share, display, discuss, and critique.

The inclusion of a reflective essay asking you to discuss a position for yourself globally, in relation to your work and interests, will act as a transition into level 6, in preparation for your final year of self-directed study and the future direction you wish to take. "

Later in the presentation there was a more direct version of the brief which provided some more clarity as to what was actively being asked:

"The Brief - A Portal Between Two Universities

Communicating across the Continent

This collaborative creative project aims to create a body of work and a possible real time event. This project takes inspiration from PORTAL, by Benedict’s Gylys, which acts as a reminder that:

‘We are all inseparably connected’ "

I gathered, we were to create some form of 'portal' connecting us and the students in Kiev, while being conscious of the socio-geographical challenges and solutions, audience and community, and the environment. We were given the example 'PORTAL' which was a good example of the kind of outcome that we could produce. Anything that connects us to the students in Kiev. This example showed a physically built portal in the streets of Lithuania, and Poland and it shows a live view image of the street at the time, only the Lithuanian street is streamed on the Polish portal and vice versa.

We were then spoken through the learning objectives and how we will be assessed:

Learning Objective 1: 25% Individually assessed

research and development evidenced in a process log

relating to the needs of the client, audience, community and planet.

Learning Objective 2: 25% Individually assessed

research and development evidenced in a process log

regarding socio-geographical challenges/solutions for sustainable development.

Learning Objective 3: 25% Group assessed

Research and development and final output evidenced in process log

Learning Objective 4: Individually assessed

Individual 2000 word essay

develop a position for ourselves globally in relation to the inquiry

We went on to discuss the reading texts that we will venture into throughout the project. After this we were told that it was Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, that we were going to be collaborating with. We started to consider themes that we could focus on to later develop our projects. The ones that we were given were:

communication/language

population

weather

maps/geography

time zone

studios

creative work

food

These were just a few ideas that we were told about and discussed. We can work with different themes if we chose but these were a few that we ventured into early on to begin to spark our ideas. We looked into examples of each that had already been done. Like carrier pigeons as a form of communication and morse code as a language/communication example. My favourite example that we looked at, however, was the "Tomorrow is another day, weather experience" by Mathieu Lehanneur. It was an installation made for a Palliative care unit. It offered patients an opportunity to see tomorrow's sky as it streamed live weather updates for the next day and displayed them through this window like feature for the patients. I liked most the meaning behind this installation. I think it was especially heartwarming and I like the idea of designing with such a nice sentiment. I think that this project is a perfect example of where the audience, community and the socio-geographic issues/questions have been dealt with in such a professional and compassionate way. He claims to have used the weather as it is such a frequent conversation between people, and rather than steer away from the fact that the patients aren't in control or aware of their time, he gives them this awareness of the future. Patients in such an environment you wouldn't expect to have but he allows this conversation and this knowledge.

‘I also liked being a step ahead of death itself: perhaps I will not be there tomorrow,  but I know what tomorrow will look like!‘

This sentiment resonated with me particularly as I think it was such a positive effect of the installation. He deals with the environment in such an admirable and positive way. It is this kind of designing that I think shows a higher level of professionalism. There is such an understanding and awareness of his audience, setting and community and it is evident in the outcome and the effect that it has.

We discussed the next steps for the project which were to join the Figma page. This is a communal workspace that we shared with the students in Kiev, so that we could all upload our work to a space that was accessible for all. It was a very very similar programme to Miro and so was easy to get the hand of and begin uploading to. After joining the Figma we began research for the rest of the morning until we had a teams call with students and tutors in Kiev. We were to select a theme and start researching and configuring research to influence and aid our design ideas. This was so that we could all come up with individual pitches for the following Monday morning. We were to pitch to the class our idea so that we could find similarities in ideas and then begin to split off into groups and develop these ideas further, alongside the students in Kyiv.

In the evening of the session we had our first Teams call with the Students in Kyiv. This call was mostly just an introductory meeting to each other and to see the other students. We spoke about the project and heard a little from a teacher in Kyiv who seemed very excited to begin the project. We informed them of our course and then individually the students from Kyiv introduced themselves which was really nice to hear. I was really impressed with their English and they even said it was a good opportunity for them to practice which was nice! After the introductions we spoke about the next steps of the project, which were of course to come up with individual pitches which will then navigate us into groups based on the similarities between the ideas. We mentioned that the communal Figma page will be used throughout the project so that we can all see each other's ideas and comment throughout the entire process.

We created spaces on the Figma to introduce us, with images of ourselves and a small bio to tell them a little about each of us. The Ukrainian students did the same and it was nice to see this social page form, for me it helped to realise that we were really in contact and collaborating with this students, despite them being in another country. It also helped as anything then posted by a student was labelled and we could physically see the person that was uploading the content.

Wednesday 28th February -

Today I felt was the time to really consider what I wanted to achieve via my 'portal'. I tried to break down various similarities and differences between the students in Kyiv and ourselves. The biggest ones I came up with ranged from,

similar educative backgrounds

different cultures

different architecture/environments

similar interests

universities/courses.

I began my research into Kyiv and its culture. I was considering the differences and the similarities between Kyiv and Birmingham as I thought this may be an easy was to compare the two and see any significant themes. One area I did begin to look into was the architecture. This was slightly difficult as I wanted to ensure the architecture I looked at in Kyiv had little to no soviet relations. It was imperative that even in my research I stayed sensitive of the current affairs. I discovered the 'monumental' statue, 'Mother Kyiv'. This statue was built to commemorate the victory of World War Two. Its vast scale was made to resemble a sense of power as it stands at a large 102 meters (including the podium on which it stands). The parliament of Ukraine began a decommunisation of Ukraine in April 2015 and ultimately outlawed Soviet and communist symbols, street names, and monuments. World War Two monuments were, however, protected from this law until February 2018 where the debate began to replace the Soviet State emblem on the statue with the Ukrainian Trident Coat of Arms. According to 'DIAM' on the 13th of July 2023 the work to remove the Soviet emblem began. I was particularly drawn to this monument not just because it is located in Kyiv but because of this history and what it now represents. It seems something that the people of Ukraine can be proud of as it has been, in a way, reclaimed.

Birmingham is also known for a lot of its architecture. From the traditional, listed buildings to the much more modern buildings like the library and the bullring. This was an interesting area as it allowed me to really consider the buildings that I am surrounded by and often overlook. Even to look at our building, first opened as an art school in September 1885. It is the oldest School of Art in the UK. This was an interesting comparison point and allowed for a lot of useful research. It is interesting to learn about the different features of each city and how they are influenced. From the reclaiming of once soviet statues to the gothic revival architecture of Birmingham, the cultural differences shine through.

After a fair amount of reading and research in the morning I tried to focus on possible physical outcomes. I considered different ways of interacting, and just made a note of anything that inspired me after hearing the brief. I created a mindmap of these ideas as it was a rough draft on possible ideas that I can later branch off of and develop.

These ideas consisted of:

handprints

drawing

creating a VR world

emojis

mirror images

interactive projections

lighting changes

These were all just very initial thoughts that I made a note of. My design process begins with rough ideas and then development to create more thought out and evolved ideas. This is what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing. I started to flesh out some of these thoughts. Some of the more developed ideas were:

A window between Kyiv and Birmingham - we can each design and project visuals through the window and stream them in each others studio, maybe uploading them through a shared website.

An interactive game between the two groups, potentially a murder mystery.

A live streamed chat via our own website.

Create a monument combining aspects of both Ukrainian and British culture, specific to Birmingham and Kyiv. We can then project it or use AR to display it in each other's studios.

A communal server of some sort that we can all access and enter together.

I began to create a mind-map of these ideas to visualise and see them alongside each other. This usually helps see any possible crossovers of ideas that could be combined into one or developed together. I also thought this may be a useful visual to display in my pitch presentation to see if there's anything that may inspire/coincide with others.