Joeri
July 19th, 2008, 10:03 AM
(I hope this is the right place to post something like this)
Hallo fellow designers,
For our graduation project, David Smit and I are creating two franchises around the amazing book the Big Friendly Giant by R. Dahl for different target audiences. We do this by using and developing our own user-centered design method in a cross medial context. We are currently busy creating separate products for the franchises. As mentioned our working method is an important part in this, so it would be nice if we could get some feedback on that from you guys.
http://bfg.hku.nl/published%20images/wip2.gif
Where did all this came from? Often video games become full franchises themselves. Designing with a franchise in mind improves the quality and coherence of the products associated with that franchise. We do this by using a design process that actively incorporates user involvement, to create designed communications that more effectively meet user needs and expectations. Another thing that we encountered while designing visuals is that it is hard to communicate design decisions to other designers without relying on an art director. We hope by creating a style guide design decisions are easier to communicate. There is an activity that David started were you can design something in our styles and give us feedback on that. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131588)
A little more info on the model we use to create the franchise. We used our own experience and methods used in interaction design, industrial design and graphic design.
http://bfg.hku.nl/published%20images/model.gif
Every project starts with a briefing. In our case it describes topic of the franchise, and the users. This is the phase where you formalize assumptions and make a start on the design.
The next phase is researching the context of the franchise and is all about information gathering and reflecting on the brief. What’s it about? For who is it? What has been done before? What are the limits of the assignment? We used various research methods from literature review to ethnographic research. When certain aspects of the brief contradict the research data the brief must be adjusted.
When research is done, this is modeled into requirements list concerning the product limitations that are used as well as well as topic specific limitations. User research is modeled into persona’s (Cooper). These fictional user archetypes based on facts, describe user behavior and goals. This allows other members of the team to relate to the user as if it were a real person. The model phase clarifies research data.
Now that the user is understood it is time to start the design and test of the franchise identity. In our case this is primarily visual. The visual language and concept are designed and result into a style guide. This is then tested on the user. If the user cannot relate to the style then more research or design must be done.
Once the franchise identity is validated, specific products can be designed. It should be noted that visual design is always supporting a higher goal. In video game design this is game play, in graphic design communication etc.
After designing, the products are build and tested. And when finished shipped.
There are some remarks concerning our way of working. As David and I are the only working on this together the model only applies to the visual development. It would have been better if we designed in a multidisciplinary team. We work from the idea that a brand has a constant visual appearance (like the Simpsons).
I hope this clarifies a lot and raised some interest into the matter. I always find it disappointing that these forums generally only concern the end result, while designing is about more than just making pretty pictures.
So what do you guys think about it? Critique and comment as you like. When I finish my thesis I will share it here. We also have a blog if you want to see our visual development. http://bfg.hku.nl
and a finally finished thread (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131590)
-joeri
(by the way I am doing my master in game design& development in case you wondered…)
Hallo fellow designers,
For our graduation project, David Smit and I are creating two franchises around the amazing book the Big Friendly Giant by R. Dahl for different target audiences. We do this by using and developing our own user-centered design method in a cross medial context. We are currently busy creating separate products for the franchises. As mentioned our working method is an important part in this, so it would be nice if we could get some feedback on that from you guys.
http://bfg.hku.nl/published%20images/wip2.gif
Where did all this came from? Often video games become full franchises themselves. Designing with a franchise in mind improves the quality and coherence of the products associated with that franchise. We do this by using a design process that actively incorporates user involvement, to create designed communications that more effectively meet user needs and expectations. Another thing that we encountered while designing visuals is that it is hard to communicate design decisions to other designers without relying on an art director. We hope by creating a style guide design decisions are easier to communicate. There is an activity that David started were you can design something in our styles and give us feedback on that. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131588)
A little more info on the model we use to create the franchise. We used our own experience and methods used in interaction design, industrial design and graphic design.
http://bfg.hku.nl/published%20images/model.gif
Every project starts with a briefing. In our case it describes topic of the franchise, and the users. This is the phase where you formalize assumptions and make a start on the design.
The next phase is researching the context of the franchise and is all about information gathering and reflecting on the brief. What’s it about? For who is it? What has been done before? What are the limits of the assignment? We used various research methods from literature review to ethnographic research. When certain aspects of the brief contradict the research data the brief must be adjusted.
When research is done, this is modeled into requirements list concerning the product limitations that are used as well as well as topic specific limitations. User research is modeled into persona’s (Cooper). These fictional user archetypes based on facts, describe user behavior and goals. This allows other members of the team to relate to the user as if it were a real person. The model phase clarifies research data.
Now that the user is understood it is time to start the design and test of the franchise identity. In our case this is primarily visual. The visual language and concept are designed and result into a style guide. This is then tested on the user. If the user cannot relate to the style then more research or design must be done.
Once the franchise identity is validated, specific products can be designed. It should be noted that visual design is always supporting a higher goal. In video game design this is game play, in graphic design communication etc.
After designing, the products are build and tested. And when finished shipped.
There are some remarks concerning our way of working. As David and I are the only working on this together the model only applies to the visual development. It would have been better if we designed in a multidisciplinary team. We work from the idea that a brand has a constant visual appearance (like the Simpsons).
I hope this clarifies a lot and raised some interest into the matter. I always find it disappointing that these forums generally only concern the end result, while designing is about more than just making pretty pictures.
So what do you guys think about it? Critique and comment as you like. When I finish my thesis I will share it here. We also have a blog if you want to see our visual development. http://bfg.hku.nl
and a finally finished thread (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131590)
-joeri
(by the way I am doing my master in game design& development in case you wondered…)