vivstudiesinteractivemedia

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Blog post #10: A Reflection on the Experience

I thought I’d use my last blog post to reflect on the journey of trying to bring an app to life (even to the extent that we did). I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it - as a writer-director, I had no idea how out of my depth I would be on the interactive media course. However, with the safe environment created by the lecturers as well as the other students on the course, I felt really supported in all of my ideas. It was also nice to turn off the super-academic side of my brain that is required to write essays and start playing up the marketing side of it - what is marketing if not finding ways to get people excited about a project/product? With Graffiti-ED, because I was trying to get you all excited about it, I got excited myself! 

It was also incredibly useful to talk about the projects (both individual and group) to each other in breakout rooms - it’s been hard for everyone to communicate  and get motivated for schoolwork during the pandemic and sharing about the trials and tribulations about the project(s) really helped in that regard! 

Another thing I liked was getting to properly design the project proposals and presentations. Yet another aspect of the creative experience that is lost in essay-writing - it seems to be frowned-upon when I make my text pink or add in a photo (...or a gif of Mickey Mouse jumping up and saying ‘hot dog’) into an academic essay, but in Interactive Media that is encouraged! 

Anyway, not to get too cheesy, I’m very grateful to everyone who participated in the module - lecturers and students alike - and would like to wish everyone good luck for any future interactive media endeavours! 

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Blog post #9: What is a ‘learning objective’ anyway? 

Since one of the pieces of feedback for my pitch was to include learning objectives in the project proposal to make the objective of Graffiti-ED more clear to the teachers, I had to make sure I understood what a learning objective actually is. I went through a bunch of different resources online. This article from the University of Arkansas made it really clear what these learning objectives actually are and how to write them effectively. 

I went with learning outcomes such as: 

“Apply: Students will be able to apply basic concepts they learned in class to solve the problems the Graffiti-ED owl throws at them.

Analyze: Students will be able to analyze the clues for the locations of the new owls, after finding and completing the task of the owl at hand.

Evaluate:  In the lectures after the scavenger hunt, students will be able to evaluate the information the owls presented to them and discuss it.” 

In later stages of the Graffiti-ED project, with the support of the Estonian Teacher’s Union, I’d hope to make these learning objectives even more varied, clearer and attractive to the schools, but for now I’m happy with how they turned out. 

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Blog post #8: Reflecting on the Pitch

The pitch was really helpful for me to get the project more clear in my head. I stumbled a bit at the start because of my (albeit too self-depricating) humour, in saying that I'm a bit nervous for the pitch - what was intended as a light comment to break the tension came off as me being unsure of myself/the idea, which was definitely not intended. I'm happy the panel brought it up though, as now I can opt out of saying that as an 'icebreaker' in later pitches.

What was also helpful were the panelists' references for events that reminded them of the central idea of Graffiti-ED. I was particularily surprised by the mention of Tartu TAVA - a wonderful art/light festival in Estonia's 2nd biggest city. That, coupled with the encouragement that the students don't even necessarily have to scan the owl and that the application could grow into other cities in Estonia/Europe made me confident that though the idea itself is very simple - an educational/artistic scavenger hunt for teens on their mobile phones - it could be something way bigger with time. I've gone with the original location and scanning function in my proposal for now, but have added a 'Future of Graffiti-ED' portion to it to jot down some of my ideas for where the app could go.

I was happy to hear that my budget of 150 000 euros was realistic. I also made sure to include a budget breakdown in my project proposal to explain further the choices I opted for in the nitty gritty details of the app.

Overall, I'm happy with how the pitch went, the panelists were lovely and provided me with so many valuable insights into the project - thank you!

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Blog post #7: Budgeting Graffiti-ED

In the process of building my project proposal, the thing I kept getting stuck on was the budget breakdown. Though I do have experience as a producer (which tends to involve some spreadsheets), the cost of designing and developing a mobile app was completely new for me. Thankfully I stumbled upon businessofapps.com, which had an article on just that subject with data from 2021, easy-to-understand graphs and many resources to go to for further help. Using that, and a website called Sidekick Digital, I was able to put together a budget breakdown I could feel confident in posting for this assignment. 

One thing that struck me in terms of scale of budget was the costs of design - the topic of “making your app look sleek” came up again and again in research. To someone who knows very little about IT, the actual look of the app doesn’t strike me as one of the heavyweights in terms of the costs, but alas. 

What I did expect was going to drive the costs up was the Augmented Reality portion of the app - I tried my best to explain in the project proposal why I thought using it would be a good idea. It’s all about trying to keep the attention of the teens on the application/scavenger hunt at hand - I think a graffitied owl popping out of the wall and greeting them could do just that. 

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Blog post #6: A Quick Note on Outdoor Learning post Covid-19

It only takes a quick google to find countless articles of how little kids have been getting outside during the pandemic, even less so to do any educational activities. I believe there will be a surge in the next couple of years in demand for group activities for students outdoors, hopefully something that Graffiti-ED’s scavenger hunts could fit nicely.  

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Blog Post #5: A Bit About Zappar 

I was looking on Zappar’s website to think about the ways that Graffiti-ED and Zappar could collaborate when I came across their blog. They’ve outlined some of their best projects in AR technology in 2020 and it was really nice to see a range of different companies presented. I’d like to start something similar to what Zappar did with Citrus World and Disney. On their blog, Zappar describes the experience with “We worked with Citrus World and Disney to implement connected packaging technology on their juice cartons to create a targeted experience that is fun to engage with and can be easily shared. Once the user scans the front panel of the carton, they can watch iconic Disney characters come to life as they jump off the packaging in playful animations.” 

I’d like to have the owl of Graffiti-ED come to life in a similar way. (That being said, Disney is obviously doing this for marketing purposes, with a financial goal in mind - Graffiti-ED, being a primarily educational app, has a different intention.) 

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Blog Post #4: A Tiny (Slightly French) Detour

Upon researching the street art scene of the Creative City I came up with this particular piece that I felt called to blog about. It’s a story I learnt about in my time as a tour guide that makes me chuckle a little to this day. 

So, this piece is by a French-Portugese man called Hopare, he painted it onto the wall of a restaurant in Telliskivi Creative City a couple of years ago as a part of a street art festival. The story goes that the day before the festival started, he was suffering from a case of block - completely stuck in finding inspiration for his newest piece. Pacing the streets of Tallinn, less than 24 hours before he was supposed to paint this huge mural, not knowing what to do...Enter a woman! He (apparently) stops her in her tracks and (politely) begs to take a photo of her, as he is so taken aback by her beauty. He then asks whether he can use the photo as a part of an art project, she gives her consent and they go on their merry ways. The day after, Hopare paints this huge mural from the photo he took the day before of a lady on the street... Noone to this day knows who this lady actually was or whether she has seen her face blown up to the size of the side of a building. 

All I’m saying is that there is definitely some sort of romantic storyline, possibly with mystery elements, brewing here. I do apologize on this post not being super Graffiti-ED oriented, but my inner screenwriter needed to make an appearance sometime. 

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Blog post #3: Developments 

I have now found a more concrete shape for this app of mine, which feels really wonderful to say. We have a location, a specific use, a more defined demografic and a use that is bigger than just entertainment (though there’s nothing wrong with that either).

The app’s name - Graffiti-ED - is, of course, a play on words; essentially putting together ‘graffitied’ and ‘education’. My thinking was that since strong branding is important for anything new entering the App Store and Google Play marketplaces, I’d need to have a name that defines the type of app right off the bat. I think I’ve accomplished that here, as it is an application that combines graffiti culture with educating teens. I also decided to go for an owl as its symbol (the artwork for which is attached to this post.) I commisioned my friend from Estonia to make this for me - I think he captured the spirit of Graffiti-ED quite well. He’s @ bootlegpanda on instagram, if anyone reading this would like to check him out.

I’m also happy to have a more defined market - I’m marketing to teachers, that will want to play the game as a part of an outing, with their middle school students. For the pitch coming up soon, I’ll detail a specific trajectory they can take within Telliskivi (the safe, but hip and graffiti-heavy) neighborhood of Tallinn where the game will be taking place.

That’s it for now! :)

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Blog post #2: Inspiration

This week, I’ve been doing research on how exactly to accomplish my course project and came across this article on the street art project I mentioned in class last week - a great summary of what it was trying to accomplish and the scope of it. :) 

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Blog post #1: My Experience in Monet2Klimt 

My most memorable interactive media experience to date was in the Monet2Klimt exhibition in Tallinn, Estonia. In essence, they took 140 well-known works of painters Oscar-Claude Monet, Vincent Willem van Gogh, and Gustav Klimt and projected them onto the walls of a huge hall in the Old town. The paintings floated in and out of the room seamlessly (and in the order they were chronologically painted in), aided by a soundtrack of classical music. 

I saw this exhibition in 2018 and I still think about it to this day. Art history was something that was taught to me in high school in a purely sedentary way - the works of these great artists were talked about briefly and shown on a dodgy projector (on which there was always a slightly green tint...as I said, dodgy.) Even then, I really gravitated to the emotion in these paintings and was super happy when I heard about the art exhibition opening.

So, it was pretty magical to walk into the hall, already knowing a little bit about these artists and paintings, but then getting to interact with them on a whole new level. It was genuinely like I could walk straight into the painting - little details were highlighted here and there that I hadn't noticed before and the way it was all structured took on a life of its own.