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DESIGN ASSIGNMENTS:
INTERFACES AS LANGUAGE, INTERFACES AS MAPS, METAPHORS, LEARNING STYLES
PISTOL PACKIN' PSA
Metaphors are one of the most powerful tools we have for communicating.
Understanding how metaphors work and how to use them in interactive pieces
is an essential skill for media designers.
Objective
Learn how to use metaphors in your design thinking.
You've been hired to make a 15 second spot as part of an anti-National Rifle Association ad campaign. The client wants the spot to have the flavor of a music video, and has chosen the Beatles' song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" as the music. Your job is to turn the words of the metaphor into visuals that tell the story. (You may, if you wish, choose another metaphor. For example, "Black Is Beautiful".)
- Start by articulating the overall message the piece should convey (in real life, you'd ask the client). Ask yourself what you want the viewer to think or learn from the piece. Imagine that you are asking a viewer what the spot meant to them. What do you want them to say?
- Use the following table to explain how the metaphor is going to convey the message. Start by brainstorming the properties of B into the second column. Do the same for A.
- Brainstorm on image and audio ideas for representing the properties of B that are being transferred to A. Add to the table.
- Invent context for the commercial. Start with the background. What part of the message can be put into the background? How? Consider sounds as well as images.
- Create a sequence of sketches, a storyboard, that shows the action and sequence of images in your spot.
IN THE BALANCE
Using interactivity to teach simple physics to kids.
Objective
Learn to design interaction that allows the user interact with everything
they might possibly want to. Learn to use images, visual language and
symbols that are appropriate and fun for a given audience. Learn to design
with "completeness" in mind.
Imagine that you've been asked to create an interactive demonstration on how levers work for a second-grade (7 year old) audience.
Typical children's physics textbooks use diagrams, like the one below, to illustrate levers. Your client wants an interactive demonstration that's more fun. Storyboard a simple proposal for this problem. Be sure to think about completeness.
