Graphic Design: Image Experiment with Adobe Xd

This post is about a task I did for university. This was part of a visual design module and the objective for this task was to experiment with the Adobe Xd software, by using a selection of images to create a layout design. We had a 4×4 modular grid to help structure our designs.

I wanted to tell a story through my design, and so I chose a theme. The theme is about the different stages in our lives. There were numerous images to choose from but I decided to go with images that contained people. By doing this, I could vividly display the different stages of life.

Above: Modular Grid (4×4)

Once I selected the images, the next decision was to figure out how I was going to express the theme. Should it be in chronological order? Should it be sporadic? I decided to go with chronological order, which meant starting from the beginning of life to the end of a person’s life.

Above: Images that I selected.

The first thing I did was to create a 200px by 200px square and place it in the first grid area in the top right hand corner. Then I placed an image of the baby on top of it by copying it and then using the “paste appearance” option. This is a great feature which permits the user to paste an image to fit in a shape. I effectively repeated the same step for the other sections of the grid layout.

So, I effectively created a series of images from life to death. From youth to old age. I also wanted to add images that expressed certain emotions and feelings such as joy and great pleasure which can be seen in the image of a man and his guitar. Fear which can be seen in the image in the bottom left hand corner. I like the second to last image in particular. They are reaching towards the end of their lives, but instead of worrying or having fear, you can see a sense of joy and happiness as they look back to what they managed to do in their lives. Together, they have reached the end.

Above: Two layout designs. For the second layout design, I added coloured squares and placed them on top of the images. The colours go from warm temperatures to cold. This is another way of communicating changes or growth.

Children’s Media and Serious Play: Week 3

For the module: “Children’s Media and Serious Play”
In week 3 this is what I got up to:

The seventeenth day of the 10th month of 2012 was week 3 of our module “Children’s Media…”. The overview was on the topic of games mechanic and engines. What exactly is a games mechanic and what type of games engines are there?

We learnt that a games mechanic is split into a few things which are: Games have rules, a series of rules create procedures. We did a little hands on exercise of identifying some popular games and there mechanics. Evan Raskob, our tutor, gave us an example of a game that had Super Mario and tetris mixed into one, I thought it was very interesting how they gelled together to create a compelling experience. Although the game was rather slow to scroll right to allow the player to advance. We slowly realized that there was so much more to games design than simply creating the design/look but every little detail counts; from how you move to how you die etc.

Game engines were next to think about after the break. We were shown different perspectives and demos including scroller platformer, FPS, top scroller 2.5D etc.

After or before the second break we had to get into our groups and talk with our peers and discuss about our games: what the topic is, audience and learning goals. We talked about our game to the other group and they seemed to think it was a good idea. About how our game is a spelling game for 3-5 year old’s, and how they would operate it.

The last part of the session was for us to talk solely in our groups and really start to think about the modes, game objectives and really start to put pen to paper to start testing it.

Since that day we haven’t actually met with each other nor communicated much. I did communicate with one member of the team. He claimed he is comfortable to use the program Flash for the game engine. So we decided that we are to use the program flash as it would suit our game mechanics.

I managed to get feedback on our game via the website student room. I posted our game design idea a couple of days ago and received very useful feedback indeed from fellow students.

One of the comments read “Reward the player for winning e.g. lots of fancy effects of fireworks etc when they complete a section. This helps players feel like they achieved more than they actually have.” Another stated “…you could implement highscores easily…this would convince the player to come back to play multiple times…”.

Both answers had more to it, but I wanted to pick out key words. They both seemed to be feeling something was lacking, although the idea itself was fine, it wasn’t fabulous. I must admit, when I play-tested it to my younger brother, although he said he enjoyed it, I felt something was missing i.e. something to keep them playing longer and wanting to come back for more. I think the idea of high-scores/scores in general is very good with maybe the possibility of adding some animations to keep it stimulating could be a great effect. I mean, I think back to when I played the “helicopter game” and the reason why it was so addictive was because it had high scores and each time you died you wanted to achieve better next time as you believed you could do so.

What I want to further find out is the different roles in a games design team. I am not too sure about what the role titles are in a game design team in the real world which I hope to find out via the tutor, as I want to work on my role in the team.

So hopefully for this week we can finalize the details and get cracking with the design and implementation of the online game we want our players to experience.

Back to University

Tomorrow it is, University. In my second year and it’s already been 3 weeks. Week 4 starts tomorrow for me. Having transferred university I must say I am enjoying myself very much in the new institution. The experience is a whole lot better. The course, modules and tutors are better. The atmosphere and environment feels more creative, I only have to walk to the building site to witness this.

The open spaces instead of closed classrooms, the introduction of laptop bursaries and student discounts for the macbook pro latest versions instead of PC’s plus the many available free softwares (Adobe creative suite, Autodesk, Microsoft etc) all make for a more freer compelling student experience. My old university, we had to pay for our software’s if we wanted it at home and they were out of date most of the time for the ones at uni, but over here it’s hello up to date technology.

Everything feels new, pure and well thought through to create a place for students to feel comfortable. University should be and is all about the students. So dedication to giving what the students need is the main priority. That’s how I feel at the moment, I feel cared for. One other thing is the tutor we have, Evan Easkob, is really cool. From the city of New York City he has the experience and the industry knowledge which is a big help for us in our pursuit to gain the skills and knowledge to break into the industry.

So, looking forward to heading back to uni tomorrow for week 4.