Welcome to the game of life

We start another week and with this week I start off badly being sick. Because I was recovering from being ill, I only got my brain to process some of the gems of information that were being tossed at me. For the sake of a new perspective the class was told to sit at the opposite sides of the table than the usual way of facing the blackboard. Being hopped up on Advil and Robitussin the light of the windows kept making my eye wonder and lose concentration. Games were the center of discussion at the beginning of class. Games like design have some of the same aspects. They tell a story and give of expression. Not only that but it also has a theme. An example would be the game of Risk who's theme is war and the game of sorry is revenge. In the design world we are making stories and we want to communicate those stories. Although, like games some designs don't tell any story but do serve a purpose. For example a Band-Aid box. It just tells you that its a box full of Band-Aid brand band-aids. But all the images, ads in magazines and television, and other forms of advertising connected to that box come to you in an instant. Why? Because those did tell a story and it stuck to your brain, even if it went to your subconscious. Thanks to that, your mind is telling you that you should buy that box instead of the other cheaper no name brand.

After that we started to look at images that described the seven deadly sins. Well that was kind of boring so I kinda let the Robitussin take over and let my mind drift. Although, one thing I did learn was that you should do your best to bring good work even if it is just collecting images that describe a sin.

Gather 'round the campfire kids. It's story time.

We had an interesting activity in class on Monday. We had to come up with a story with two items that each person in the group had placed in the table. I liked this activity because I can come up with a story with more ease than others. I'm not a pro at it but I like it and its fun. The group I belonged to and I created quite a fantastic story. So much so that I was already thinking of how it would look, what the main character was going to look like, how would the action sequences go, and how would the final battle be. But I found out today that a good story is not all you need in the storytelling game. When someone tells the story there has to be a type of expression. As graphic designers we are telling some type of story through our designs. I never really thought of both storytelling and designing as related to each other in any way. In my mind they were both totally separate. Now realizing that design is really telling a story in a visual form brings things more into clarity. A story without words is how I got it. It's difficult for me to make a story out of design because it kinda get murky in my mind and thoughts get 'criss-crossed' and I lose track of what is going on. Thinking about it I see that sometimes I lose the expression when it comes to design. I would look at what I have done and think that's not what I wanted to see/feel.

Waterfall Writing

ID

Inspiration is nice and all but with out identifying what constraints that a project has, then the design of that project is most likely to end up straying from what the purpose of the design was. Inherent constraints are constraints that are needed to keep the essential characteristic of the design. Imposed constraints are characteristics of a design that is desired but not needed. I tend yo use quite a few imposed constraints and ignore the inherent ones, which is not good cause most of the time I have to redesign all that I did. What I don't like is that constraints can happen at any time. Say you need a project done by a certain time, and all of a sudden the client wants it sooner. But it is the designers responsibility to finish the project, which is another constrain that is inherent to any project. There are also other constraints that a designer should look at before starting a project. End-user constraints are heavy things to consider because it can affect your career severely. One must think of the social views that are in effect at the present and do one of the things that I've been told to do so many times, research extensively!! Functionality and from should be other things to consider. What I think would be best is to merge the two without one taking over the other, but of course that is something that is very difficult to do. One thing that should be considered also is safety. If you are designing something in the outdoors then consider the effect that your project will have with people and the environment. You don't want lawsuits heading your way. Not only that but it will look bad on you if you just do things in a reckless manner. Production can be another severe constraint. Most of the time there are always constraints of what materials you can use. But this should not hinder your want to explore and create new ideas. And of course there are Designer constraints. One of the things a designer must do I have already mentioned and that is research. If you go on just designing guessing about the audience you will end up looking like a fool. Time management is another thing that designers have to consider. Splitting up time to do the various things you have to do is always a good idea. I'd go as far as to say that it is required to become a good designer. Also budgets are also a big constraint on a designer. How much money will decide as to what you can and cannot do in a project. And there might be something that you did not plan on spending but it is required so its always a good thing to think ahead and research how much things will cost.

Hulk Smash. Hulk Get Hurt.

Shifting meaning was what the class was assigned to do. The way we were supposed to do it was to choose an image and change the meaning with a word or phrase. It sounds simple, right? As the students that put up their project up will tell you, it wasn't! I didn't get to put my project up, so I can't say if I did good. By what others were putting up, I think I did okay but not that great.

What I got from it was that I, as a designer, not only do I have to get the viewers attention, I have to follow through. When I say follow through, I mean I have to get the message that I am trying say across. It is pointless to have someones attention to not tell them anything. We deconstructed an advertisement that was put up. There was an argument among two classmates about if the ad placed was cartoon-like or not. someone else stated that it took on a more classical look. Moreover, what Jimmy was trying to show us was that ad's and designs have a complex set of meanings embedded in it. It took the class a long time to reach the point Jimmy wanted to show. Jimmy was saying that this image was designed to connect with the painting done by Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam." Personally I think that it would have been a lot faster if the image that we were being shown (A muscular well represented green hand with a ban-aid.), was put sideways.

Twisted Kingdom Come

It's funny how a class discussion of design can come from someones escapades of their weekend. We discussed what made Disney stories what they are. They are very careful on what it is they display in their movies. They reject anything that might seem to sexual. The most you'll see of that, is a hug or a peck on either the cheek or the mouth but a peck nonetheless. I've always noticed that most of their movies have a recurrent theme of love. This theme is something that reaches out to EVERYONE. I don't care if you're an emo kid or have some sort of I don't need to love thing, everyone in this planet wants to love and be loved in return. Also, Disney has the very nature of children in one of their most known slogans: "When you wish upon a star." If you hear say or read this phrase there is virtually no way that you cannot be thinking of Disney. That phrase will just take you back to those days when yo were a child and reminisce of those days.

On another note, What makes a good story? In class a list was made in the same way that we did our mind maps only without the lines and connections. Here are some: setting, voices, theme, interaction, sex, fantasy, morals and symbolism, viewpoints, relationships, rising action, etc. I think that a story can have all of these things and more but if it's not executed effectively then its going to fail. Whoever reads or sees the story unfold will not have any care for the story or characters.

We also saw a couple of movies [TED talks] from two authors: Amy Tan, and Elizabeth Gilbert. Amy Tan seemed kinda boring to me. So my brain kinda tuned out through some parts. But one of the things that hit me hard was the question that she had asked. "Why do we accept knowledge and assumptions from other people?" All I could say was, "you're right!" I thought about it and well, to be honest, I did it because that is how I grew up. All traditions and rules and beliefs were passed down to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote Eat, Pray, Love. I had no idea who she was or that she even existed. What I received from her was that I should not let a great past work eat me up. It's fear of not being able to top your latest creation. But Jimmy served the question "what are you afraid of?" That got me thinking. What I am afraid of is not being a good designer or even an artist. The only way I'll get through that is if I keep going and not give up. She also raised the question of how do we keep doing what we do? In her perspective, she said that we needed a muse in order for us to keep going. Find anything that makes you feel like creating weather it be an elf in your walls, or a deity.

Mind map this...

In class I had to do a mind map of an idea or thought. Mind mapping is a useful thing to do to get out all those ideas floating in the brain. With this we can have all the ideas possible out on the table and pick out the ones we want to pursue. To me it seems like a free form brainstorm. Unlike brainstorming, you are free to bring about the most ridiculous of ideas. It's been helping me out in other projects that I'm currently doing.