Degree Project [update]

So after a very successful meeting with my friend/mentor Ryan Skjervem, who is very passionate and involved with orphan care in southern sudan, I now have the information necessary to create some very strong scenarios. We discussed the elements that set the orphan care model there apart from other common models. He gave me a run through of the general processes that are required for building an orphan care campus in southern sudan. This included everything from the necessary interaction/arrangements with the local tribes and government, to the buildings that would need to be erected in order to accept orphans and local children into the care and schooling. I have this list, along with a few potential achievements/goals that the user can strive to achieve or be rewarded at random.

We also discussed the method of funding for the game. We both decided against the model of public gameplay. Problems with decision making among multiple users seemed ill-advised. But the idea of the system working off of purchases made at partnering businesses seems solid. The user would make purchases at a business, the app would detect that they were there and the appropriate amount would be added in in-game cash. The cash would then be used to progress through the above building scenario. Donations could also be taken from friends or given directly to HRTN whom I'm basing this model on.

spatial process

for the elements that remain flat from the front, we've just been constructing vector drawings of them to annotate, such as the parking and main entrance signs.

as for the traveling shapes, and the interior signs and directionals, we've been constructing examples of how they work in google sketchup to make sure the forms make dimensional sense, rather than trying to guess and draw them from one angle. again, these are just examples of how these elements will move, rather than molds that they will all mimic. 

an example of a directional hub to tell you which color to follow:

an example of a shape emerging from and re-entering the ground.

an exterior building identifier for vanderslice

an interior wall-mounted directional piece

a bathroom location indicator

Degree Project [week3]

Degree Project1 by Michael Armstrong

So after my feedback from my presentation, I've run into some stumbling blocks when it comes to the language that I'm using. So I'd like to move forward with the following in mind and on record. THIS IS A GAME. A CHARITABLE, INFORMATIVE, SOCIALLY INTERACTIVE GAME. 

Now that I've got that off my chest let me address some other issues that I've received kickback on. It has become apparent to me that with the language I've used so far has lead people to believe that what I'll be making will be a game in which the user has direct influence on specific real life children.

This will not be the case. Given the sensitivity to the subject, there must never be negative consequences in the game. While lack of participation will obviously hinder progression. The orphanage and the decisions made within are all virtual, while still being REPRESENTATIVE of a real life orphanage. This way the user remains educated (and with knowledge comes the ability to act) without feeling as though they have they're thumb on the pulse of an actual child. The influence that the user will feel on the real world must remain positive and come from a joyful outlook. With that all being said, my focus for right now will be to create some very in depth scenarios that I can push back against. This will define for myself once and for all how this system will work, so that I can move forward with the function, form, and fine tuning. Once I derive scenarios I will move quickly into sketch and wireframing stage.

My schedule has changed little, with the exception of a hope of completing in time to make a promotional video for the game.

Week3-

Have audience research as done as possible.

Have the scope of problem defined with what I want my audience to learn established.

Have solutions and potential artifacts defined.

Have context (platform,location)

Begin creating detailed scenarios

Week4-

Begin wire-framing

Collecting visual landscape

Have first round wire-framing done

Week5-

Check wireframes against peers and research as well as contacts.

Refine wire-frames.

Begin skinning wires.

Week6-

Should have 1/2 to 3/4 of comps completed and ready for midterm.

Week7-

Refine-begin producing video

Week8-focus on video

Week9-

Refine

Have all content in video/render ready

Be wrapping up and collecting assets for presentation.

Begin collecting  for poster

Week10-13

Be done.

Presentation Phase.

Show ready by week 12 preferably.

Spatial Update

Our conceptual focus is still on the metaphor of following your own path, illustrating the diversity of experiences on campus through the different colors that guide you to each building. 

Where last we left off, the guide-shapes were undefined in terms of shape and material. We had the sense that they would be somehow three dimensional and hollow… We've refined this idea, and decided that the guide-shapes should instead be constructed from 1/4 inch cold press steel, painted in bright colors, with a consistent width of 12 inches. These long sheets would be folded, bent, and wrapped around the environment and seemingly burrow into surfaces only to reappear further along the route, joining with other colors or splitting off to lead you to your destination, as established at well-labeled moments of crossroads. 

Our style guide retains Futura medium condensed for the KCAI logotype but eliminates the crooked "A" to streamline the text. Our main typeface for navigation and description is now Apex book, with Apex bold emphasis. 

Neutral information and space, such as street signs, perimeter, and parking, would contain similar shapes that are painted white so as not to confuse the color-coding of the campus buildings. 

The building identifiers themselves would take the appearance of the "end" of the guide-shape, sticking up out of the ground, with a label cut out.

Signage inside a building would be made from the same material and the same color as the guide-shapes outside, folded into smaller individual signs to denote directions, bathrooms, and rooms.

Week 2 [research/solutions]

Audience-

The people I want to reach out to are loosely, those in their 30-40s, college educated, and work full time jobs.

I would like to take them from a place of knowing at least a small sum about child advocacy and orphanages, to a place where they are knowledgeable and ready to act/advocate within their influence.

Objective-

What I want them to know and project is, what are the basic needs within an orphanage, how can someone get involved, how will their involvement be affecting the lives of individual children and the orphanage itself.

Subquestions-

In what places will people most effectively encounter the information/experience?

What do they need to learn to act?

In what way can they act that will keep them involved and engaged in the issue?

The context-

I want to move the experience out of the private eye and into the public arena.

Places that people often encounter or will encounter as well as spend money at.

If those that make up my audience are already in the position to spend money perhaps the transition between going from knowing to acting will be a smooth one. This could either be out of proximity to the experience or through integration into the retail purchase process.

Goals-

The system should inform, promote expansion, and show a difference being made.

Here is my tentatively solid schedule for the next 3 weeks.

Week3-

Have audience research as done as possible.

Have the scope of problem defined with what I want my audience to learn established.

Have solutions and potential artifacts defined.

Have context (platform,location)

Week4-

Begin wire-framing

Collecting visual landscape

Have first round wire-framing done

Week5-

Check wireframes against peers and research as well as contacts.

Refine wire-frames.

Begin skinning wires.

Week6-

Should have 1/2 to 3/4 of comps completed and ready for midterm.

Week7-

Refine

Week8-

Week9-

Refine

Be wrapping up and collecting assets for presentation.

Week10-13

Be done.

Presentation Phase.

Show ready by week 12 preferably.

Early Spatial Experience Concept

The kcai website says, "do things your way," and "you travel off the beaten path." for our concept, we tried to work with this idea of finding your way, as well as highlighting the diversity that kcai prizes. 

Firstly, here is a location plan of where we determined a need for wayfinding/boundary-setting, with several levels of hierarchy and purpose.

As for the visual concept itself, we're envisioning a system of colorful and angled shapes that guide visitors to their destinations while referencing the outline of the core graphic element. Each destination would have its own color designation, and these shapes would emerge from the ground or from architecture along the path to confirm that you're on the right track. An interesting visual complexity will emerge along main through-ways where, like downtown highways, several paths use the same route. In these places, there should be an interplay between the colors, so that it's easy to tell when your path either joins with or separates from others.

Moments of crossroads, such as entrances, should clearly elucidate each color and in what direction you should start walking to follow its path. We imagine these navigational guides to be harmonious with the traveling shapes, whether they take the form of the traveling shapes emerging, labeled, from the ground, or if they look more like a signpost with smaller color-coded elements to represent them.

Materials we've imagined so far for these elements include clear colored plexiglass, opaque colored plastic, or painted metal.

Plans for the Future.

After I graduate from the Graphic Design department and walk away with that diploma in May, I plan on transitioning smoothly into a job at a local motion graphics firm (or relatable field). At this point in my life I don't have aspirations to achieve any sort of creative director position so this is second in priority to simply broadening my repertoire and strengthening my portfolio. Once I achieve a position I would hope to stay steady there for at least five years before I would even consider moving on unless the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. I believe this looks better on a resume to not have jumped from job to job. As far as getting a job that fits these specifications, there are certain things that I believe I'll have to do both now and come May. In the mean time it would be prudent to begin contacting agencies now and keeping relationships with those that I already have. This may include but is not limited to, going to as many invited company outings as possible, shotgunning my portfolio/resume/graduation date, taking part in two sided informational interviews with companies I'm interested in. It might also be a good idea to inquire as to what other agencies I might be fit for in these interviews. This could show two possible things, one that I'm being proactive, and two, that I'm proactively looking into potential competing agencies. In April I'll likely become more agressive, (if not graciously aloof) when making moves towards certain agencies. I'd almost compare my strategy of finding work to that of buying a car. You want to be respectful and yet firm, all the while making them want to give you a good deal and be ready to pay cash on the spot. Flipping through the stack of bills never hurts either. In this case the deal is a job, and the stack of bills is a willingness to excel in their company as well as a portfolio to respectfully flaunt. It never hurts however for everyone to know who all of the other dealers are.