The Information Appliance project will be due at 5 pm on May 3. You need to put your assignment into the DGC 2170 folder on the "O" drive on the 9th floor of FSC. I would like to have your SWF and your FLA files together.
I will be available for assistance from Tuesday of next week. Please send me a message so that we can set up a time to work out any problems you may be having with your project.
Remember, you want to produce the best possible product so that you can include it in your portfolio.
...
22 April 2010
13 April 2010
MTR Examples with Comments
I have posted most of the MTR examples from the O drive on the web. You can click the link in the title above or go to http://www.coms.hkbu.edu.hk/williams/demos/mtrExamples/index.html
The advantage of this is that there are comments with each of the Information Applications. There are positive and negative comments with each application so that you can see what is good and not so good about each of them. This should be very helpful as you plan your own information application.
Tomorrow we will look at some of these and I will also show you the basic action script you will need to make your information appliances work.
...
The advantage of this is that there are comments with each of the Information Applications. There are positive and negative comments with each application so that you can see what is good and not so good about each of them. This should be very helpful as you plan your own information application.
Tomorrow we will look at some of these and I will also show you the basic action script you will need to make your information appliances work.
...
12 March 2010
The Impact of Chinese Architecture & Disneyland on Design
Here are the key points that you need to take away from the lecture on the three key architectural artifacts of the Ming Dynasty: The Forbidden City, Tian Tan, and the Ming Tombs (13 Emperors).
Here are the positive lessons to take away:
1. Decoration can be beautiful, functional & supportive of the content & function of an experience
2. An experience can be organized to reinforce the content & functions that occur within it
3. An experience is more useful & meaningful when it is highly-focused in terms of function & content
4. An experience can be bounded for entry & exit to connect the elements & spaces into a unified whole
5. Designing an experience is simplified with a specified audience as the targeted users
6. Color, icons, shapes and text can be used for element identification & overall understanding of the experience
7. Strict application of imposed constraints in a experience design can lead to happy accidents, serendipity
8. Layering of design elements can draw attention, create anticipation and draw users deeper into an experience
9. Strong visual composition draws & focuses attention on the parts of an experience that matter the most
10. Attention to the details in a design engages users & draws them deeper into the experience
11. Connecting the experience with a story gives users a way to understand the spaces, relationships & functions
Here are the Negative Lessons we can take away:
1. Constant repetition of visual & experiential motifs across multiple experiences undermines their symbolic power
2. Constant repetition of visual & experiential motifs across multiple experiences becomes tedious & boring
3. Conformity without contrast will fail to direct, redirect & focus attention
4. Absolute symmetry will fail to direct, redirect & focus attention
5. Utter reliance on a dominant visual axis will fail to direct, redirect & focus visual attention
6. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for innovation
7. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for interpretation
8. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for creativity
And then after looking at the modern application of the principles in Disneyland, where there is a great deal more variety but there are clear connections to these 15th Century experiences, here is what we can apply to the creation of interactive media experiences in the digital domain:
1. Use decoration to support the content & function of an experience
2. Organize the experience to reinforce the content & functions that occur within it
3. Focus an experience design in terms of function & content
4. Limit the experience within specific boundaries & create a transition from the outside to the inside
5. Target your experience design to a specified audience
6. Use color, icons, shapes and text for element identification & overall understanding of the experience
7. Be creative within given constraints whether they are client-given, cultural or historical
8. Layer design elements to draw users deeper into the experience
9. Use strong visual composition to draw and focus attention on the pieces of the experience that matter the most
10. Give attention to the details in an experience design
11. Connect the experience to a story that relates to the content & attracts the targeted users
These are principles that you can apply in all of your experience design.
Next week we will look at some more interactive animations, see examples of information appliances, work on some loader movies and learn more about designer the interface between users and content in the digital domain.
Here are the positive lessons to take away:
1. Decoration can be beautiful, functional & supportive of the content & function of an experience
2. An experience can be organized to reinforce the content & functions that occur within it
3. An experience is more useful & meaningful when it is highly-focused in terms of function & content
4. An experience can be bounded for entry & exit to connect the elements & spaces into a unified whole
5. Designing an experience is simplified with a specified audience as the targeted users
6. Color, icons, shapes and text can be used for element identification & overall understanding of the experience
7. Strict application of imposed constraints in a experience design can lead to happy accidents, serendipity
8. Layering of design elements can draw attention, create anticipation and draw users deeper into an experience
9. Strong visual composition draws & focuses attention on the parts of an experience that matter the most
10. Attention to the details in a design engages users & draws them deeper into the experience
11. Connecting the experience with a story gives users a way to understand the spaces, relationships & functions
Here are the Negative Lessons we can take away:
1. Constant repetition of visual & experiential motifs across multiple experiences undermines their symbolic power
2. Constant repetition of visual & experiential motifs across multiple experiences becomes tedious & boring
3. Conformity without contrast will fail to direct, redirect & focus attention
4. Absolute symmetry will fail to direct, redirect & focus attention
5. Utter reliance on a dominant visual axis will fail to direct, redirect & focus visual attention
6. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for innovation
7. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for interpretation
8. Rigid enforcement of symbolic & structural constraints limits the opportunities for creativity
And then after looking at the modern application of the principles in Disneyland, where there is a great deal more variety but there are clear connections to these 15th Century experiences, here is what we can apply to the creation of interactive media experiences in the digital domain:
1. Use decoration to support the content & function of an experience
2. Organize the experience to reinforce the content & functions that occur within it
3. Focus an experience design in terms of function & content
4. Limit the experience within specific boundaries & create a transition from the outside to the inside
5. Target your experience design to a specified audience
6. Use color, icons, shapes and text for element identification & overall understanding of the experience
7. Be creative within given constraints whether they are client-given, cultural or historical
8. Layer design elements to draw users deeper into the experience
9. Use strong visual composition to draw and focus attention on the pieces of the experience that matter the most
10. Give attention to the details in an experience design
11. Connect the experience to a story that relates to the content & attracts the targeted users
These are principles that you can apply in all of your experience design.
Next week we will look at some more interactive animations, see examples of information appliances, work on some loader movies and learn more about designer the interface between users and content in the digital domain.
25 February 2010
Syllabus Changes
Everyone should check out the class syllabus to see what changes have been made to improve your opportunities to work with Flash and your opportunities to create portfolio quality work. We will only be producing two final Flash projects rather than two. This means that your attendance and exercises have increased in overall value in the course as well as your blog entries. You need to develop your blog thoughtfully and comprehensively. The interactive animation and the information appliance assignments will each be worth a larger portion of the grade as well. I will go over these changes on Monday.
These changes will improve your opportunities to learn and improve the quality of these two completed projects. They will also give us more time to fine tune and improve the projects you have already created.
Here is a link back to the class syllabus page!
...
These changes will improve your opportunities to learn and improve the quality of these two completed projects. They will also give us more time to fine tune and improve the projects you have already created.
Here is a link back to the class syllabus page!
...
24 February 2010
The Housing Authority Exhibition Centre
Thanks everyone who came along to Housing Authority Exhibition Centre. As I said, it is a great way to learn more about the history of Hong Kong and her people and it is one of the only physical spaces in the world that reflects all the possibilities of a Flash application or a web site. They have elements that include almost every known form of media and with the addition of the new interactive table they even have a bit of a mini-game. (Wouldn't it be great to create a game for four to eight people on that space!) That is a completely new element and they have tightened up many of the design elements within the space.
The nine people who did not go really missed an interesting and inspiring exhibition of information. ( I am sure that you were working hard on finishing your assignment so I cannot wait to see the results)
I did not bring the hand-outs but we will discuss Location, Alphabet, Time, Category and Hierarchy in our next class. With the huge model of Hong Kong in the middle of the center there appears to be a strong emphasis on location, but that serves mostly as decoration as it does not integrate with the rest of the information in the space. The real organizing principle is time as it dictates the sequence of the information panels, the building models, the flats from the past and the kitchen and bathroom displays. The opening video gives a nice overview of the Housing Authority and the physical space gives the history and current state of the organization. The new interactive elements certainly got the most attention which seems to say there needs to be more opportunities for interaction in other parts of the centre. I will show you some pictures from the centre in the past so you can see some of the possible changes. Then we will talk about LATCH and do an information organizing exercise next week.
Thanks to Phoenix, Katherine, Zoyo, Mounir and Jason for adding the Science Museum to the trip. In comparison to the HA the Science Museum was really disorganized. It is a larger space and there are more displays but even in the very clearly themed exhibits there is a lack of organization, i.e. the body exhibit was spread all around the ground floor and it didn't seem to have much of a connecting thread even though the various information areas had the same color, type and layout. You jumped from the eye to the mouth to Chinese medicine and then gestalt perception principles. This space is screaming for more storytelling and organization. Here are the questions I am left with from the Science Museum: Why is the Luofeng dinosaur in the middle of the human body area? Why is the mirror display, which is reasonably well organized, designed using traditional chinese images? Why does that beautiful ship model sit in that huge pool of water on the second floor under the Cathay Pacific DC-3 aircraft? I know it's about transportation but what does the boat actually do or mean? Anyway, the Science Museum left me a bit disappointed but anyone can learn about the need for organization, the need for a clear connection between the space design and the content design, and the fact that independent cool exhibits and/or experiences do not make a great learning or entertainment experience.
The Housing Authority Exhibition Centre has the advantage of complete focus on one topic while the Science Museum is trying to cover a wide range of topics for a very broad audience.
We will talk more next Wednesday...
The nine people who did not go really missed an interesting and inspiring exhibition of information. ( I am sure that you were working hard on finishing your assignment so I cannot wait to see the results)
I did not bring the hand-outs but we will discuss Location, Alphabet, Time, Category and Hierarchy in our next class. With the huge model of Hong Kong in the middle of the center there appears to be a strong emphasis on location, but that serves mostly as decoration as it does not integrate with the rest of the information in the space. The real organizing principle is time as it dictates the sequence of the information panels, the building models, the flats from the past and the kitchen and bathroom displays. The opening video gives a nice overview of the Housing Authority and the physical space gives the history and current state of the organization. The new interactive elements certainly got the most attention which seems to say there needs to be more opportunities for interaction in other parts of the centre. I will show you some pictures from the centre in the past so you can see some of the possible changes. Then we will talk about LATCH and do an information organizing exercise next week.
Thanks to Phoenix, Katherine, Zoyo, Mounir and Jason for adding the Science Museum to the trip. In comparison to the HA the Science Museum was really disorganized. It is a larger space and there are more displays but even in the very clearly themed exhibits there is a lack of organization, i.e. the body exhibit was spread all around the ground floor and it didn't seem to have much of a connecting thread even though the various information areas had the same color, type and layout. You jumped from the eye to the mouth to Chinese medicine and then gestalt perception principles. This space is screaming for more storytelling and organization. Here are the questions I am left with from the Science Museum: Why is the Luofeng dinosaur in the middle of the human body area? Why is the mirror display, which is reasonably well organized, designed using traditional chinese images? Why does that beautiful ship model sit in that huge pool of water on the second floor under the Cathay Pacific DC-3 aircraft? I know it's about transportation but what does the boat actually do or mean? Anyway, the Science Museum left me a bit disappointed but anyone can learn about the need for organization, the need for a clear connection between the space design and the content design, and the fact that independent cool exhibits and/or experiences do not make a great learning or entertainment experience.
The Housing Authority Exhibition Centre has the advantage of complete focus on one topic while the Science Museum is trying to cover a wide range of topics for a very broad audience.
We will talk more next Wednesday...
23 February 2010
Field Trip Tomorrow
We will be traveling to the Housing Authority Exhibition Centre tomorrow but we will not take a coordinated trip on the bus.
We will all meet at 10:45 a.m. outside of the Museum in Ho Man Tin.
Here is the link to find the directions to the exhibition centre: http://www.housingauthority.gov.hk
We will then travel in whatever ways are possible to the Science Museum in East TST.
We will get into the museum for free but it will not open until 1:00 p.m.
This means that some of you will need to get back to the BU campus for your afternoon class(es).
I will be going to the Science Museum where we can talk more about organizing information spaces, physically and virtually, but you are not required to come to this part of the field trip if you have a class that you need to attend.
I will also bring a handout for you to give you more information about organizing information according to LATCH:
location
alphabet
time
category, or
hierarchy
Not taking an organized bus we will have more freedom to make our necessary appointments after visiting the exhibition centre. I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow in Ho Man Tin.
...
We will all meet at 10:45 a.m. outside of the Museum in Ho Man Tin.
Here is the link to find the directions to the exhibition centre: http://www.housingauthority.gov.hk
We will then travel in whatever ways are possible to the Science Museum in East TST.
We will get into the museum for free but it will not open until 1:00 p.m.
This means that some of you will need to get back to the BU campus for your afternoon class(es).
I will be going to the Science Museum where we can talk more about organizing information spaces, physically and virtually, but you are not required to come to this part of the field trip if you have a class that you need to attend.
I will also bring a handout for you to give you more information about organizing information according to LATCH:
location
alphabet
time
category, or
hierarchy
Not taking an organized bus we will have more freedom to make our necessary appointments after visiting the exhibition centre. I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow in Ho Man Tin.
...
10 February 2010
The New Framework is available
I have corrected the errors in the coding and it will now work regardless of what button is used first.
You can download it by clicking on the title of this blog entry, use this link, or go to the class syllabus.
This will provide you with the framework you need to create your interactive animation. You just need to add your own logo and other creative elements.
I will be in 901 tomorrow morning at 10:30 am to provide any help you might need. I will not be able to help you on Friday because we have Honours Project progress reports all day. I will be available on the Tuesday after CNY and just before the due date of the interactive animation. Please put your FLA files into the DGC 2170 folder on the O: drive.
Happy New Year!
You can download it by clicking on the title of this blog entry, use this link, or go to the class syllabus.
This will provide you with the framework you need to create your interactive animation. You just need to add your own logo and other creative elements.
I will be in 901 tomorrow morning at 10:30 am to provide any help you might need. I will not be able to help you on Friday because we have Honours Project progress reports all day. I will be available on the Tuesday after CNY and just before the due date of the interactive animation. Please put your FLA files into the DGC 2170 folder on the O: drive.
Happy New Year!
09 February 2010
Current Status on Subscribing and Posting
Here is a list of the people who have subscribed to this blog:
Terri
Tina
Zoyo
Yu
Cami
Annie
Maggie
Hugo
Eva T
Terence
Stephy
Mounir
Phoenix
Eva D
Ivy
Here is a list of people who have started their own blog for this class:
Hugo
Terri
Zoyo? not sure which one is for this class but there are a couple to look at
Yu
Annie
Stephy
Phoenix
Eva D
Here is a list of people who have started making entries:
Phoenix
Eva D
I have signed up a subscriber to the class blogs I can find.
If you are not on any of these lists please subscribe and start your own blog so that I can see what kinds of great interactive media you are finding as you spend time on the web. Finding interesting experiences will inspire your work and your desire to learn more about Flash and ActionScript. You can even blog about great learning sites you have found.
See you in the morning...
Terri
Tina
Zoyo
Yu
Cami
Annie
Maggie
Hugo
Eva T
Terence
Stephy
Mounir
Phoenix
Eva D
Ivy
Here is a list of people who have started their own blog for this class:
Hugo
Terri
Zoyo? not sure which one is for this class but there are a couple to look at
Yu
Annie
Stephy
Phoenix
Eva D
Here is a list of people who have started making entries:
Phoenix
Eva D
I have signed up a subscriber to the class blogs I can find.
If you are not on any of these lists please subscribe and start your own blog so that I can see what kinds of great interactive media you are finding as you spend time on the web. Finding interesting experiences will inspire your work and your desire to learn more about Flash and ActionScript. You can even blog about great learning sites you have found.
See you in the morning...
9 Feb 2010 - 2:45 pm I am in the computer lab right now!
I suppose I should be tweeting this instead of blogging it. I am in the lab right now and I am available to help you with any problems you may be having with Flash or the Interactive Animation assignment.
Tomorrow we will look at Information Structures and then we will work with Audio in Flash. We will manipulate some sounds in SoundBooth, making a track or two, loops and some feedback sounds. We will then attach these sounds to a Flash movie and figure out how to control them.
IF YOU WANT TO WORK WITH YOUR OWN MUSIC or SFX then bring them along in MP3, MP4, wav, aiff formats. Otherwise you will be working with a couple that I have.
Until tomorrow...
Tomorrow we will look at Information Structures and then we will work with Audio in Flash. We will manipulate some sounds in SoundBooth, making a track or two, loops and some feedback sounds. We will then attach these sounds to a Flash movie and figure out how to control them.
IF YOU WANT TO WORK WITH YOUR OWN MUSIC or SFX then bring them along in MP3, MP4, wav, aiff formats. Otherwise you will be working with a couple that I have.
Until tomorrow...
03 February 2010
3 February 2010 - Interactive Animation with Play All Button
If you have downloaded the Interactive Animation with Play All Button file, please download it again.
I did not need to make different instances of the play arrow. I just needed to give it different ActionScript commands at different times in the timeline. So, I put the play all button into the original Buttons layer and slightly changed the ActionScript. The new version works well and it is less confusing because there is only one play all arrow in the timeline.
I look forward to seeing people at Tutorials. I can walk you through the program and help you get familiar with how and why it works the way it does. If you have some of your own content plugged into the programming that will also be a very helpful first step for you. I will also be glad to help you with additional questions you might have about animation in flash and working with the movie clips to accomplish the goals of the assignment.
Download the new framework and you can start building your first assignment.
I did not need to make different instances of the play arrow. I just needed to give it different ActionScript commands at different times in the timeline. So, I put the play all button into the original Buttons layer and slightly changed the ActionScript. The new version works well and it is less confusing because there is only one play all arrow in the timeline.
I look forward to seeing people at Tutorials. I can walk you through the program and help you get familiar with how and why it works the way it does. If you have some of your own content plugged into the programming that will also be a very helpful first step for you. I will also be glad to help you with additional questions you might have about animation in flash and working with the movie clips to accomplish the goals of the assignment.
Download the new framework and you can start building your first assignment.
02 February 2010
Tuesday Tutorial 2 Feb
I will be available for tutorial this afternoon from 2:00 pm. If I am not in the lab then I will be in my office, please come check with me there.
28 January 2010
CHANGE in Due Date for Interactive Animation
In order to give everyone a reasonable amount of time to get up to speed on Flash and to get in several more classes and tutorials, the due date for the Interactive Animation will be changed to 24 February. This is the class after Chinese New Year when we will be going on an important field trip. However, your projects will be due in the class folder on that day.
This also means that you will be adding audio to your project and a play button that plays through all three animations.
We will also have an additional tutorial session on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 pm.
REMEMBER: You will be doing usability testing with your favorite website in the coming class period and you should check the Usability Lecture Notes to get a good feel for what will happen and what is important in usability.
27 January 2010
27 January 2010
The votes are in and the overwhelming votes for extra tutorial time is for Thursday morning and Tuesday afternoon. I will accommodate the Thursday morning people tomorrow at 10:30 in FSC 901, the Animation Lab. We have Flash CS3 in that lab and it is hooked to all of the servers and your passwords will work so there should be no problem.
I will also do a tutorial on Tuesday Afternoon after 2:00. Since this first assignment is coming up and there are a large number of people who need assistance I will also do Tuesday morning at 10:00.
I know this leaves a couple of people out and I am sorry for that.
So for next week you will turn in your interactive animation on the O: drive in the dgc2170 folder at the beginning of class.
You will also bring the address of a web site that you want to test for Usability. Each of you will be a tester and a respondent in this process so you can get some familiarity with usability testing specifically and interactive product testing in general. I will make the usability protocol available on line before the class session.
We will also be talking about the structure of information and how you use that to develop the underlying architecture of information applications.
See some of you tomorrow morning at 10:30.
Please respond to me with your intention to come to one of the tutorial sessions, either through comment to this blog or via email.
until then...
I will also do a tutorial on Tuesday Afternoon after 2:00. Since this first assignment is coming up and there are a large number of people who need assistance I will also do Tuesday morning at 10:00.
I know this leaves a couple of people out and I am sorry for that.
So for next week you will turn in your interactive animation on the O: drive in the dgc2170 folder at the beginning of class.
You will also bring the address of a web site that you want to test for Usability. Each of you will be a tester and a respondent in this process so you can get some familiarity with usability testing specifically and interactive product testing in general. I will make the usability protocol available on line before the class session.
We will also be talking about the structure of information and how you use that to develop the underlying architecture of information applications.
See some of you tomorrow morning at 10:30.
Please respond to me with your intention to come to one of the tutorial sessions, either through comment to this blog or via email.
until then...
23 January 2010
20 January 2010
There is going to be a change.
Having the entire class build programs from scratch is not going to get us very far in AS 3 or Flash and it will not allow us to have any discussion on the conceptual elements of Information Design and Interactive Media. While everyone is highly motivated to learn how to operate in Flash, the differences in skill levels and the number of people in the class make working from scratch impossible. This would be true even if there were only 20 people in the class.
Starting this week I will be providing you with pre-created flash applications that you can download from the web. You will be able to look at the program during class and anytime after. During class I will walk everyone through the programming and the exercise will consist of you using the the programming and devices and adding your own media elements.
This should make class time more informative, progressive and effective and allow everyone to work at their own skill level. It will also allow the more advanced users to assist the less advanced users.
I am looking forward to this change and the improvements it will bring to class. The due dates remain intact.
Having the entire class build programs from scratch is not going to get us very far in AS 3 or Flash and it will not allow us to have any discussion on the conceptual elements of Information Design and Interactive Media. While everyone is highly motivated to learn how to operate in Flash, the differences in skill levels and the number of people in the class make working from scratch impossible. This would be true even if there were only 20 people in the class.
Starting this week I will be providing you with pre-created flash applications that you can download from the web. You will be able to look at the program during class and anytime after. During class I will walk everyone through the programming and the exercise will consist of you using the the programming and devices and adding your own media elements.
This should make class time more informative, progressive and effective and allow everyone to work at their own skill level. It will also allow the more advanced users to assist the less advanced users.
I am looking forward to this change and the improvements it will bring to class. The due dates remain intact.
13 January 2010
The First Post for 2010
This is the Blog for Interactive Media. Most of you have experience with this process so you know what this is about. It is about making pointers to really cool stuff on the web related to interactive media and thinking about what makes information and interaction design interesting.
Good luck and I know everyone is going to do well.
Until the Next time...
Good luck and I know everyone is going to do well.
Until the Next time...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
