Week 2 - Questing for Design

I drew this in reflection of the lecturers story about having to do a design repeatedly, even though there was nothing wrong with the first design.

Initial Impressions

Once again, there were no tutorials/group-work this week, so everything is all about the lecture. I saw the aim of this weeks lecture to be an introduction to 'design methodology'. That is, we looked at the series of steps in the design process that, in taking them, would more likely yield a better final design. Design itself is an art, but all art is enhanced by knowing, and making use of, the relevant techniques. The path to a good design can be a bit of an adventure, so discussions were basically about the best way to conduct your quest for a Holy Grail (I mean 'Awesome Design').

Lecture 2

First things first, we were asked to look up various things/people, so I'll start with those:

• Visual Thesaurus - The lecturer seemed disappointed that no one mentioned this in the first weeks journal posting. To be honest, considering I have a nice thesaurus sitting on my book shelf already, I didn't think the slight advantage of a visual layout is worth a subscription fee for the site. I just considered this part of thinking of things visually, which I can do just as well using my ordinary thesaurus. But it's something I'll have an awareness of for perhaps future need.
• Herbert Simons - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_A._Simon) Considering that much of what Professor Simons did applies either directly or indirectly to what we are studying, I can see why he is a figure of importance. Of particular immediate relevance are his 'Three Stages of Rational Thinking', which are 1)Intelligence, 2)Design, and 3)Choice. So design is a key part of rational thinking.
• Bill Joy - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Joy) Developer of the original UNIX operating system. Considering that I myself primarily bought a Mac because the Mac OS is based on UNIX, my respect is imbedded with my choices.
• Jonathan Ive - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive) I do have both an iPhone and Macbook, and I'm sure that part of the Apples success is due to the design work of this gentleman. He of course leads a team and may not be the author of every single successful design element. Yet that just gives him more credit as a leader as well as a designer.
• Phillipe Starck - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Starck) I remember him as being someone that another student revered. While I acknowledge that he is a successful industrial designer, his work does not inspire me personally.
• William Gibson - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson) Another student's personal icon. A novelist/writer, he is a designer in a similar sense to Jules Verne, in that he writes about, and even predicts the future. Although he may be considered the father of the 'cyberpunk' genre, my personal technological images of the future are derived from other sources.
• Dorodango - (http://www.dorodango.com/create.html) I think that the whole reason we were given this as a link is to reflect upon how the design process is like a dorodango. You start out with something crude, and then keep refining it until you have something polished and beautiful, even if it started out as just mud.
• Outlier - I must of misheard something, I do not see the relevance of what I looked up. I'll have to check with other students when I see them. After checking with another student, he let me know i was Outliers: The Story of Success (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)). When I first looked it up, I had seen only that an outlier was something outside the norm in statistics. But now that makes sense for the title of the book. My 'not knowing', will make me remember it more.

Now the lecturer stated that we should know the names of people who inspire us, and seek out sources of information that apply to the field we are studying for. In my own case at least, I have felt that having the vast resources of the internet at hand has lessened the need to know facts and figures. I focus mostly just being 'aware' of knowledge, and knowing it's potential application. I watch TV programs like "Good Game", watch various 'design' documentaries, read forums and do systematic online searches to maintain a good knowledge base. For example, I watched a documentary years ago that could be somewhat relevant to our first group project, about the design, construction, logistics and installation of the Big Blue Bear (http://www.denver.org/what-to-do/museum-art/lawrence-argent-blue-bear). The knowledge is in my mind even if the designers name and location were not. Yet I acknowledge that for better communication with peers, and to not seem as responsive as a bowl of fruit in lectures, I should perhaps rely a little less on Google.

Who/what inspires me? Some few follow:

• Jenova Chen (http://thatgamecompany.com/company/people/jenova-chen/) - What Jenova Chen and the others in ThatGameCompany are doing is what I would like to do. He, and they, are making the kind of games that I admire most. The company philosophy is something that matches my own aims. When I first heard that the first group project we would be doing for this subject was called 'Flow', my memories of playing the game Flow immediately came to mind. That was a game that Jenova Chen was responsible for. The companies most recent game, Journey, is one that I already mentioned last time.
• Antonio Gaudi - (http://arizonasunshine.hubpages.com/hub/Organic-Architecture-of-Antoni-Gaudi) For organic architecture, I've long admired the works he had created. If ever I go to Spain, I'll certainly want to see his 'unfinished' cathedral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia).
• Anime in general - Just as others are inspired by literature, I've been greatly inspired by anime for both it's art style and the interesting subject matter that it brings up in it's more notable works. The anime Ghost in the Shell (1995) was an inspiration for the movie The Matrix (1999). Internet social issues were explored in Lain (1998). Dennou Coil (2007) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennō_Coil), depicts a world where virtual reality is meshed with the real world. I could quite easily imagine this occurring in my lifetime, and I'm not as young as some doing this design subject. This particular science fiction helped reinforce my motivation to study 'Games and Interactive Entertainment'. I would see such a merging of worlds as the next big info-tech step, in a realistic and non-physically invasive way. I would be satisfied just making great games, and making some kind of living doing so. Yet I also see much more potential than that.

Other Points in the Second Lecture

Divergence/Convergence Giant.
Think about it, then bash away :)

It was stressed that the practice of design in a professional sense is for the benefit of other people, and is often conducted as part of a team. The design process must tackle the double headed giant of 'Divergence' and 'Convergence'. This is where designers generate multiple ideas, and then follow them through, systematically refining down to the best single design. I see this as being like a pick-your-own-adventure game book. There are many branching choices, many leading to death (I mean disappointment). Some paths may lead nowhere, but sometimes do provide pivotal information or special powers (I mean inspirational design ideas). But usually, there are only a few paths leading to a satisfying ending and quest completed. Design may follow a general path of Briefing, Research, Ideation, Development, Documentation, Testing, Making and then Evaluating. Of course, there can be many loops throughout that general path. Another simpler looping cycle would be Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

It was discussed that ideas could be generated by 'brainstorming', so as to 'populate the design space' with possibilities. This is essentially 'Divergence' as mentioned above. There was one more picture in the lecture slides that was not commented on in the lecture. I will not speculate about it.

The first group project was introduced, and we were told we had to design something that visually represented 'Flow'. However, I will leave reflections about the group project until next week. I'll have to be far more succinct next time with both group work and lectures to report, and my pictures will be project related. But I'll finish with this picture we were given in relation to the first project, as I wondered about it's meaning :D

This picture was provided in lectures. I've added my own comments in blue.