post-modern design allows for sampling
learning objectives
After reading this chapter you should be able to mention some basic rules of digital content creation, discuss what criteria your portfolio should meet, describe how you would approach the design of a logo, explain the notion of user-centered design, and characterize the issues that play a role in dveloping multimedia for theatre.
The overall goal of the visual design course is to establish some basic aesthetic awareness, by providing suitable exercises and assignments. In addition, the student is supposed to become familiar with the craft of design, which necessarily, but not exclusively, involves the use of tools and techniques.
track(s) -- perspective
products
portfolio -- design as a product
rules
"Learning how to not fool ourselves is, I'm sorry to say, something that we haven't specifically included in any particular course that I know of. We just hope you've caught it by osmosis."
Richard Feynman
the media equation
We regularly exploit the media equation for enjoyment by the willing suspension of our critical faculties. Theatre is the projection of a story through the window of a stage, and typically the audience gets immersed in the story as if it was real.
engineering
"engineering is the art of moulding materials we do not wholly understand ... in such a way that the community at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."
A. R. Dykes.
The best thing is to empower yourself. But before you can do that, you need to understand what you are doing -- which is a surprisingly novel thing to do.
steps
browse, explore;
chew it over;
incubation, let it rest;
illumination (YES);
verification,does it work?
general rules
postmodern design
... postmodern design is of a highly reflective nature ... appropriating design of the past ... in other words, sampling is allowed but no plagianarism
game design
seduction
Abstract, Adaptation, Adventure, Artificial Life, Board Games, Capturing, Card Games, Catching, Chase, Collecting, Combat, Demo, Diagnostic, Dodging, Driving, Educational, Escape, Fighting, Flying, Gambling, Interactive Movie, Management Simulation, Maze, Obstacle Course, Pencil-and-Paper Games, Pinball, Platform, Programming Games, Puzzle, Quiz, Racing, Role-Playing, Rhythm and Dance, Shoot Em Up, Simulation, Sports, Strategy, Table-Top Games, Target, Text Adventure, Training Simulation, and Utility.
levels of design
The goal of the ICT games project is to develop immersive, interactive, real time training simulations to help the Army create a new generation of decision-making and leadership-development tools.
usability (ISO DIS 9241-11)
... the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve particular goals in particular environments ...
emotional involvement
form and content
Very often people assume that "form" as a concept is the opposite of something called "content". This assumption implies that a poem or a musical piece or a film is like a jug. An external shape, the jug, contains something that could just as easily be held in a cup or pail. Under this assumption, form becomes less important than whatever it is presumed to contain.
We do not accept this assumption. If form is the total system, which the viewer attributes to the film, there is no inside or outside. Every component functions as part of the overall pattern that is perceived. Thus we shall treat as formal elements many things that some people consider content. From our standpoint, subject matter and abstract ideas all enter into the total system of the artwork ( .... )
experimental validation
validation scenario(s)
Stone and Feather
The author conducts a simple thought experiment investigating the existence and scope of 'computational art': the utilization of the computer in the visual arts and music. In the experiment he sets the task of constructing an artifact that is capable of producing works of art. Since it appears that the artifact needs at least the capability of imagination, he queries the nature of images and imagery and argues that imagination is strongly intentional. Next he introduces the concept of notational systems, since they seem to govern the artistic activity of (not exclusively) machines. Confronted with the question of whether we are able to develop a computational analogue for taste, he finds that notational systems prove to be necessary for mediating the method of production of an artwork and the appraisal of its artistic value. Furthermore, the author shows that there are certain epistemological limits to the creativity of an imaginative device. Although the outcome of this hypothetical construction task clearly denies the possibility of an autonomously creative artifact, there seems to be no reason to worry about the opportunities for computational art: the computer appears to be a unique tool in exploring the possibilities of artistic production, guided by artists.
google(s)
phases of awareness
concepts
technology
As a project, you may develop a dialog engine
for non-linear interactive story telling
or a collage generator, that produces
artworks from a collection of images.
