Minor Project
14.04.2020 - 24.07.2020 (Week 1 - Week 15)
Zoe Wong Zen Yee (0336770)
Minor Project
Instruction
Week 1
For the first week, we were briefed about the module by our lecturer, Mr. Mike, and organize our groupings. For my group, we chose to work on a project with Petrosains. Other than that, we were given an exercise with the following questions, and were to answer them.
1. Please describe what is Design Innovation based on the article "What is Design Innovation? by Alex Obenauer". Please cite some examples to elaborate your observations.
Based on the article "What is Design Innovation?" by Alex Obenauer, design innovation means products that go through a rigorous, empathetic, and iterative design process and end up having a fundamentally innovative concept and, or design that wholly innovates on the way the user interacts with the product, and often therefore, the content of their lives.
One of the example other than those stated in the article would be wireless headphones. Headphones has been a key part of our lives since the first Walkman debuted, but it always come with a leash - the cord that connects your earbud to your device. Pretty sure a lot of the users have had experienced with tangled earphones. The development of wireless tech has cultivated into headphones that enables it to connect to your appliances via Bluetooth technology.
On the other hand, the revolution of smartphones from the classic good ol' Nokia 3310 to the iPhone X we have nowadays is also a good example on design innovation. Apple introduced the touchscreen smartphone which started to the variety of smartphones we have in the market today.
One of the example other than those stated in the article would be wireless headphones. Headphones has been a key part of our lives since the first Walkman debuted, but it always come with a leash - the cord that connects your earbud to your device. Pretty sure a lot of the users have had experienced with tangled earphones. The development of wireless tech has cultivated into headphones that enables it to connect to your appliances via Bluetooth technology.
On the other hand, the revolution of smartphones from the classic good ol' Nokia 3310 to the iPhone X we have nowadays is also a good example on design innovation. Apple introduced the touchscreen smartphone which started to the variety of smartphones we have in the market today.
2. 2.Please watch this documentary about Design Disruptors and write a short essay about what are Design Disruptors with cited examples. Video 1 | Video 2
Design Disruptors, in my opinion are designers that are willing to break the common rules of how a certain thing functions, which then created a certain wave of revolutionary change to their respective industries. These designers is able to think out of the box, not just to generate profit, but also to be able solve problems for their user.
From the documentary, those designers take on challenges to create a change for the better. User experience is one of the important aspects that they take note of. In this context, anyone can become a designer despite their educational background. As stated in the documentary, the role of a designer always changes. It changes relatively as how business changes, as well as the development of technologies. In this era, one can be a designer as long as you're able to generate creative ideas.
Designers need to be a great problem solver. Especially product designer, they work closely with technologies and business constraints, to bring those ideas to life. The one reminder that designers need to constantly remind themselves is that they're not designing for themselves. but for other people. Once a designer takes a design as their own pride, then it will be hard to be improved. In my opinion, the only time you can gain pride as a designer is when the thing you're designing gets positive feedback from its end users. You're happy because the end user is happy.
All in all, to be able to watch this documentary broaden my insight as how design functions. One designer doesn't just design for its aesthetics, but functions and user experience as well. This isn't limited to certain designers, but as a whole.
Design Disruptors, in my opinion are designers that are willing to break the common rules of how a certain thing functions, which then created a certain wave of revolutionary change to their respective industries. These designers is able to think out of the box, not just to generate profit, but also to be able solve problems for their user.
From the documentary, those designers take on challenges to create a change for the better. User experience is one of the important aspects that they take note of. In this context, anyone can become a designer despite their educational background. As stated in the documentary, the role of a designer always changes. It changes relatively as how business changes, as well as the development of technologies. In this era, one can be a designer as long as you're able to generate creative ideas.
Designers need to be a great problem solver. Especially product designer, they work closely with technologies and business constraints, to bring those ideas to life. The one reminder that designers need to constantly remind themselves is that they're not designing for themselves. but for other people. Once a designer takes a design as their own pride, then it will be hard to be improved. In my opinion, the only time you can gain pride as a designer is when the thing you're designing gets positive feedback from its end users. You're happy because the end user is happy.
All in all, to be able to watch this documentary broaden my insight as how design functions. One designer doesn't just design for its aesthetics, but functions and user experience as well. This isn't limited to certain designers, but as a whole.
Petrosains Virtual Science Center - Future Energy
Week 2 - Week 4
For our project, we were to work on the 'Future Energy' gallery, which circulates mostly around the topic of solar energy and hydroelectric energy. Prior to receiving the contents, we first started out by doing some research ourselves. I actually found an educational side scrolling game, which eventually became our main game reference for one of the output that is created by the end of this module. The link to the game we refer to is this.
We were also briefed about the project by Petrosains during week 2. The project brief is as shown below.
2 weeks later (took them long enough), we finally received the contents from Petrosains. the contents received is as below:
Week 5 - Week 15
After we got the contents, we then start working on the ideation, art direction, as well as the presentation slide for the proposal presentation with the client that occurred during week 6.We work on our ideation as well as the rest of our progress in our group's miro board.
Our first proposal presentation slide that is shown during week 6 is as below:
After much amendments and consultation, the prototype for the 2D game is as the screen record shown below:
For all visual that is done can be found on our miro board. The files on the other hand, can be found in our Google Drive.
Feedback and Reflection
Week 1
We manage to contact and get to know the computing students that we’re working with. We were told to identify our team’s strengths and weaknesses so that we know what our limitations and skill gaps are. Other than that, we were told to have some research on Petroscience as well as interactive activities on the web that are related to STEM.
Need to aim for a mock presentation of the interactive learning apps that will be built for the week 6 presentation.
Flow of Production:
A story has been developed to combine both the projects of Solar Energy and Hydroelectricity. The interactive story flow is also designed and is pragmatic to be completed by the end of the semester. The focus for both implementations are screen-based, hosted as virtual kiosks or screens in the Virtual Science Centre. However, considerations are made to use the virtuals space as the expanded implementation by utilizing 3D models that could be interacted with. The screen-based design is currently aimed for the 2D-Platformer game design but this idea would need to be verified by the computing side in terms of their capability to produce it.
Reflection:
After we received our long awaited contents, we proceeded to brainstorm for the art direction of the 2D game. In order to complete everything in time for the presentation that is going to be held next week, I distributed the tasks among the design team to work on the various visuals. We also divided the task with the computing team in preparing the presentation. While we’re working on the art direction, we also changed the storyboard of the 2D game to a more interesting story. The time to work on this is really tight as we have other modules to work on at the same time, and all are equally time consuming. As the information in the contents given to us is quite little, and the topic that we’re working on is not even broad in the first place (its like something that can be fitted in 1-2 pages in a science textbook), and the experiments given to us didn’t state whats the conclusion from their experiment, its quite a challenge cracking our heads in how to elaborate the 2D game.
Week 2
We were briefed with more information related to our project by Petroscience. Out of the several areas given for us to work on, my group is tasked to work on Future Energy, in which it’s topic includes Solar Energy and Hydroelectric Energy. We were then to wait for more contents of our topic to be given to us by Petroscience. In the meantime, we were to do our research on what we can do. Mr Mike also shared with us a list of links that we can look into. I manage to find some educational interactive games from a museum website, which is quite interesting. As for the project, I am still quite lost on what needs to be done and the tasks for both schools.Week 3
I am extremely anxious that we still have yet to receive our content, especially with that the Computer Science keeps asking for it just adding the pressure on top of it. Even though Mr Mike said that we should be able to receive it in a few days, but no content was received throughout the week. I kept checking my email (even the spam mail) to make sure I didn’t miss any emails.Week 4
Feedback:Need to aim for a mock presentation of the interactive learning apps that will be built for the week 6 presentation.
Flow of Production:
- Decide the type of game or interactive learning application (must be supported by moodboards) Design the flowchart (Information Architecture - IA)
- Design the UI/Wireframes
- Design the intended final visual of key interfaces (Art Direction)
- Design a few key interactive activities that shows the strongest features of your games or interactive apps
Reflection:
We finally received the contents from Petroscience. We then proceed to have a meeting with the Computer Science students to further discuss what needs to be done. There was clearly a huge misunderstanding between both schools which made our previous chat messages in our group chat that confused all of us. We managed to clear up most of the misunderstandings from the meetings we conducted within our group. Other than that, we divide ourselves into two groups to work on each topic, which is solar energy and hydroelectric energy. We then give out our ideation during the second meeting we had and proceed to work on a rough storyline and flowchart for an interactive educational game. I feel like we have to work in full speed to be in time for the presentation.
Week 5
Feedback:A story has been developed to combine both the projects of Solar Energy and Hydroelectricity. The interactive story flow is also designed and is pragmatic to be completed by the end of the semester. The focus for both implementations are screen-based, hosted as virtual kiosks or screens in the Virtual Science Centre. However, considerations are made to use the virtuals space as the expanded implementation by utilizing 3D models that could be interacted with. The screen-based design is currently aimed for the 2D-Platformer game design but this idea would need to be verified by the computing side in terms of their capability to produce it.
Reflection:
After we received our long awaited contents, we proceeded to brainstorm for the art direction of the 2D game. In order to complete everything in time for the presentation that is going to be held next week, I distributed the tasks among the design team to work on the various visuals. We also divided the task with the computing team in preparing the presentation. While we’re working on the art direction, we also changed the storyboard of the 2D game to a more interesting story. The time to work on this is really tight as we have other modules to work on at the same time, and all are equally time consuming. As the information in the contents given to us is quite little, and the topic that we’re working on is not even broad in the first place (its like something that can be fitted in 1-2 pages in a science textbook), and the experiments given to us didn’t state whats the conclusion from their experiment, its quite a challenge cracking our heads in how to elaborate the 2D game.
Week 6
Feedback:
The new combined interactive animations of solar panels and the hydroelectricity station us lopsided in favor of the solar panels. The story needs to be of equal emphasis for both topics. Therefore, a short extension at the ending is required to lengthen and focus on how the hydroelectricity station generates power for the town. The story’s setting is also tweaked to start with the one robot that works to power up the rest of the robot workers in the hydro plant that is in need of repairs. Users will use solar panels to generate power to bring the other robots to live one at a time through interactive navigations. When all the robots are back to life, they help gather the parts that are needed to repair the hydro station. When all parts are found, the sun has already set and there’s no more solar power to get the hypro station started again. As the robots repaired the hydro station with the missing parts, the user will be shown how electricity produced front the hydro stations is used to power up the town.
The medieval water wheel will need to be replaced by more relevant and modern renewable energy equipment and could extend beyond water and solar sources such as wind. The virtual space should also match the visual styling of the actual gallery.
Reflection:
Its really nerve-wrecking during the presentation, because even though we distribute the task between presenter and people preparing the slides, Me and Yu Hui still have to do a lot of amendments and redesign the slide to make it more presentable (which is quite disappointing as there’s also someone from the design team assigned to work on the slide, yet she didn’t help in designing the layout of the slide at all). However, I’m glad that the clients love our art direction and the style we’re going for for our 2D game. As for the 3D space, we’re allowed to explore more than the contents given, which is more towards the topic of renewable energy. I’m also glad that the design for our presentation is liked by Mr Mike.
Week 7
Feedback:
The animation story has not been rewritten to completion. The scope of interactive options for the prototype has not been confirmed yet. The Gantt Chart has been prepared but no one has been assigned yet to all the tasks. Also, this chart will change depending on the prototype’s interactive options. Therefore, it is crucial to confirm the prototype’s interactive options immediately. The art style is still being considered between pixel art and vector art that is stylized.
Reflection:
Its week 7, and Petrosains invited a maximum of 2 representatives from each Petrosains group to visit their gallery first hand. Despite only receiving the information the night prior, me and Julius proceed to the visit anyways hoping to gain more visual information for our 3d space, as we’re quite lost of what could be placed in the space. However, the whole visit for my group is really disappointing. The gallery that my group is working on is so small, that we pass by it without us noticing it. Not to mention, Petrosains didn’t open the information panels for us to input information that could be used, and all the information panels for the Future Energy gallery are done via screen panels. The bad way of saying it, is that basically we wasted one practical session for another module and time for nothing. And I still can’t believe I have to travel to KL despite the pandemic.
I also distributed the task among all members in the Gantt Chart based on their interest. And since environment design isn’t being favored, I decide to take that task.
Reflection:
Its week 7, and Petrosains invited a maximum of 2 representatives from each Petrosains group to visit their gallery first hand. Despite only receiving the information the night prior, me and Julius proceed to the visit anyways hoping to gain more visual information for our 3d space, as we’re quite lost of what could be placed in the space. However, the whole visit for my group is really disappointing. The gallery that my group is working on is so small, that we pass by it without us noticing it. Not to mention, Petrosains didn’t open the information panels for us to input information that could be used, and all the information panels for the Future Energy gallery are done via screen panels. The bad way of saying it, is that basically we wasted one practical session for another module and time for nothing. And I still can’t believe I have to travel to KL despite the pandemic.
I also distributed the task among all members in the Gantt Chart based on their interest. And since environment design isn’t being favored, I decide to take that task.
Week 8
Feedback:
UI or screen designs need to be shown next which includes all the HUD and UI elements. Since only 1 of the levels will be fully interactive, the remaining 3 levels would need to be animated as simulation/mockups. All of the relevant vector assets with pixelated edges need to be prepared for the Level 1 game development in Unity. Use the reference below as a guide for production preparation.
Interactive Animation for Unity 2D games production workflow reference: (https://www.behance.net/gallery/80697867/ZapperSnapper-game-Unity-Games-Design) (https://hanifrrashidupdesign.blogspot.com/2018/08/games-design.html)
As for the 3 other levels which are simulated animations/mockups, production will be via animation pipeline. Latest confirmation from the Computing Team states that they will not be producing any interactive features for the Unity 3D space but just player-approach activation of pop-up text screens. The full interactive features will only be done next semester in Capstone 2.
Reflection:
After consultation, I proceed to finalize some of the screen design based on the level designed for one of the levels. Since the computing team is going to work on the prototype for level one of the 2d game, I also proceed to prepare the sprite sheets and assets that need to be used for them to work on. To be honest, its really time wrecking to the point where I have to put some of my other working modules on hold to finish this.
Interactive Animation for Unity 2D games production workflow reference: (https://www.behance.net/gallery/80697867/ZapperSnapper-game-Unity-Games-Design) (https://hanifrrashidupdesign.blogspot.com/2018/08/games-design.html)
As for the 3 other levels which are simulated animations/mockups, production will be via animation pipeline. Latest confirmation from the Computing Team states that they will not be producing any interactive features for the Unity 3D space but just player-approach activation of pop-up text screens. The full interactive features will only be done next semester in Capstone 2.
Reflection:
After consultation, I proceed to finalize some of the screen design based on the level designed for one of the levels. Since the computing team is going to work on the prototype for level one of the 2d game, I also proceed to prepare the sprite sheets and assets that need to be used for them to work on. To be honest, its really time wrecking to the point where I have to put some of my other working modules on hold to finish this.
Week 9
After the consultation with Mr Mike, he told us that the background has to be darkened in order to make the foreground stand out. After looking through some retro side scrolling game art, I proceed to work on it. After amending it, I then start preparing the sprite sheet for the computing team for what needed fo the prototype for level one of the 2D game. As this is my first time preparing the sprite sheet to be imported into a game engine, I have so many questions on how to execute it, to which luckily Mr Kannan talked and explained about it during one of the session in Game Art, and of course by bombarding Joseph and Mr Google. Other than that, its quite frustrating that one member of the computing team keeps asking about our progression, to which isn’t suppose to be their concern at all.
I felt like we’re on track and just need to speed up our work in hopes to finish everything before the presentation.
Week 10
Week 11
Feedback:
Need to produce the landing home screen for the interactive component. Should emphasize the teaching and information sharing purpose for the 10-18 year olds about renewable energy. Need to maintain the same art direction for all the screen designs.
Reflection:
We started working on the infographics for both the 3D space as well as the 2D game. I started off by making summarized notes for all renewable energies, in order to ease the burden for everyone to understand the contents and to work on it easily. With every final projects kicking in, it's hard to balance every subject, and some group projects isn’t making it any more bearable.
Week 12
I guess most of the visuals is almost completed, and proceed for animation. I also proceed to work on the infographics for solar energy thats going to be used for both the 2D games and the 3D space.
Reflection:
As Mr Mike only commented that we need to amend the screen design, aka the environment design this week, despite having a lot of other final project on my plate, I still proceed to amend the color scheme for all of the screen design, as well as the sprite sheet that is to be given to the computing team for their prototype.
I felt more frustrated and panic when the computing team come and ask me (again) about our progress on the animation. I thought they need it for their presentation next week for their panelist when they asked, which turns out they’re just asking about it. I’m actually quite pissed because despite them being computing students, they even asked us how to install Unity and other questions that could be answered if asked with Mr Google. Their miscommunication among their 3 man group isn’t making it any better.
Week 13
Feedback:
To get the prototype from IT team on Tuesday. The information panel screen should be designed and shown next Friday for review and the animation should start from Level 4 since the likelihood of it being interactive is quite slim.
Reflection:
As Mr Mike only commented that we need to amend the screen design, aka the environment design this week, despite having a lot of other final project on my plate, I still proceed to amend the color scheme for all of the screen design, as well as the sprite sheet that is to be given to the computing team for their prototype.
I felt more frustrated and panic when the computing team come and ask me (again) about our progress on the animation. I thought they need it for their presentation next week for their panelist when they asked, which turns out they’re just asking about it. I’m actually quite pissed because despite them being computing students, they even asked us how to install Unity and other questions that could be answered if asked with Mr Google. Their miscommunication among their 3 man group isn’t making it any better.
Week 14
Feedback:
The animation progression looks fine but the timing for the text might be too fast for the audience.Computing team has not completed the level 1 interactive prototype as agreed and have not confirmed when. Deadline is Sunday for this level 1 prototype. The rest of the levels will be animation simulations. The Unity 3D space models need to be sent over by today the latest for compilation.
Reflection:
I believe all of the animation as well as the prototype for the 2D game is finished. I’m glad one module is done and I can proceed to fully focus on my other modules. While there’s a whole lot of miscommunication for the scope of how this module works, I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely fun, but its quite fruitful at least. It actually gives me an insight of how clients work, and despite them being quite a popular brand themselves, this doesn’t mean that they’re any much efficient or as professional as we thought they should be. On the other hand, rejection after rejection, last minute changes, those sure are one great experience. The date for the presentation has yet to be confirmed and I hope they can inform us soon instead of last minute because there’s other modules that we need to catch up a lot with.
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