Teegan Bishop

INB182 - Introducing Design Reflective Journal - QUT

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Portfolio two reflection

Portfolio two was an easier task due to the fact that the concept was less fluid than the last one. The future is prominent in most's minds and we are always wondering what technology will bring us. For example, flying cars and teleportation. Therefore, this task was simpler due to the fact that we already had many perceptions on how the future should look like.

I feel that the group worked not as well as last time. At least last time four of them showed up to a meeting. Last time I ended up doing the Prezi presentation, the script and a desk critique by myself. This time, I did the whole presentation. This group was never destined to work, but I sure tried to make it work. You can't beat a dead horse.

I really enjoyed this task. I enjoyed creating it and brainstorming ideas. I feel that brainstorming is my strongest point and that it comes naturally to me. Although, I did enjoy the last task more, just simply because it was more challenging and I love to make my life more difficult. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed INB182 as a subject. I have enjoyed the discussions and I have enjoyed how it has nurtured my team work skills.

Thank you to Professor Michael, Glen and Adam for this amazing learning experience.

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I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

— MAYA ANGELOU

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Some concepts that are ambiguous and were discussed in the lecture audio.

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Lecture Ten! Let's pull at their strings!

Unfortunately Professor Docherty was sick and unable to take the lecture and so he has kindly uploaded an audio track for us to listen to whilst looking at the slides. It is a shame that he was absent as this lecture would have been an amazing one to attend. From the audio, Professor Docherty reiterated over what we have covered in the unit and spoke briefly about the design journal. Throughout this audio, he brought us again back to the design process picture. This picture is of a squiggly line, which eventually becomes straight. He depicted this line as an example of how design is and also how our learning is. It is confusing at first, but after constantly running around in circles, taking two steps back and one forward, there is clarity. This motivated me greatly.

He also spoke of the steps in the design process. Well, you can’t really call it a process, as it is a non-linear and iterative process. One sentence he said really stuck with my mind and I fully believe that it is true. It was ‘design thinking is the ability to take the design context and fit the solution’. Professor Docherty then showed us some design concepts that really connected with society as they pulled the strings of our core values and beliefs. All of these designs were ambiguous and were thought provoking. They posed questions such as ‘why would someone want to use it?’ and ‘why is it here?’. Take the Prayer phone for an example. Michael told us that people would line up just to use this phone, even though it did not work. So why would they line up?

Also, the dawn chorus really struck me. I find birds to be extremely intelligent creatures and the thought of teaching them phrases of your favourite song really appealed to me.

I really enjoyed this lecture, it was extremely thought provoking and I wish I went longer than 30 minutes!

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Let's critique!

When viewing the other group’s presentations I was in awe for most and slightly bored for others. Group 10’s ‘Perfect world’ was one that really stuck in my mind. Using a definition camera, I could not find one flaw in their presentation. Their futuristic idea was that society had destroyed the world to the point, where everyone was ‘going digital’. This meant that the people were now moving towards a simulated life where their life could be anything they wanted. The way they depicted it was extremely professional too. They didn’t tell us that the world they first showed us was a simulated reality and built it up to be a version of Utopia. Although, at the end where the technology crashes, we see the protagonist walks outside and that is when the harsh reality is exposed. It was extremely emotive and exceedingly clever. To be completely honest, I went home and watched it over and over and showed all my friends. It was an incredible presentation.

Group eight’s life extension was also extremely thought provoking. It posed questions such as, “what if we could live forever?” and “who would get this life extension?”. The quality of this piece was high and very polished. The way they depicted their future was through counter arguments between two different characters. The genre was an interview/documentary and I felt that this was appropriate. I felt that the construction of this presentation was effective in conveying the message. I really enjoyed it although; I felt that the ending came too quickly.

Lastly, group eleven depicted a world where everyone had a chip embedded in their hand. They expressed this concept through showing the thoughts of someone who did not receive the chip. The character explained the chip and how people without it were considered outcasts. They were bullied and were treated like dogs. The voice over acting was extremely effective as you could sense the bitterness and hatred towards these chips. Throughout the presentation, they showed hints of computer coding which appeared confusing. Although, they revealed to us at the end that it was the protagonist who was typing in computer code to destroy everyone who possessed a chip. We never found out if he did it as the screen went black as soon as he made the option, which is an element of this presentation that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was extremely thought provoking and initiated conversation amongst peers.

I thoroughly enjoyed all presentations and I felt that critiquing them has provided me with an opportunity to improve myself as a designer.

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FutureEchoesP2-Group07

Teegan Bishop Jase Baum Ashley Bell Kieron Bobak Veez AlKhudairy

Click on the link to watch me!

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How did we go?

Today was the day! It was the day that we presented our futuristic concept. I thought my idea was great until I saw every other group’s presentation. Everyone’s videos were done with high definition cameras and it made me feel like our video was at a disadvantage as their high quality footage made the atmosphere just that little bit better. Unfortunately, I did not have access to these expensive resources and so our presentation was left unnourished. I felt that people enjoyed our presentation, although I am extremely disappointed.

I tried my hardest to make this group work as a team, although I failed miserably. From medical excuses to pure laziness, this group was destined to always be a failure group. I ended up doing the whole project myself by the end because I could not sacrifice my mark because they were lazy.

Each studio I tried and tried to make the group come to a consensus on what we were going to do, but each week without failure, someone would be absent or someone would have a personality clash, leaving us at square one. So therefore, I was left with one decision – do it myself and have something to submit or let the group continue with their ways and not have anything to submit. Of course I chose the first option.

Unfortunately, my group was not the epitome of group work, but I feel that this has been a good learning experience for me. I do not like group work for this reason, but it has made me a better person. I tried my hardest and persevered throughout this semester and next time I will try and approach this sort of team from a different perspective. Hopefully next time I participate in group work, my group will actually want to work as a team.

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At least he apologised... Get better Kieron!

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Various screenshots of the development/feedback stage.

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YAY! Contribution!

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In this studio, we developed a storyboard for our idea. After Glen announced that we were presenting this project on Thursday, I think they all woke up to themselves and realized that we actually did need to do something. Kieron was absent again as he was in a car accident and had car problems, making him unable to attend the studio.

We wrote down a detailed scaffold of what shots we needed and how long they should be. After being so unreliable, they wanted to meet up during the week to record it. Knowing that everyone has never all been present for a team meeting, I knew that this was a solo mission. The team was unfortunately too unreliable and I needed to get this project done otherwise I was going to fail. We could not find a single day where everyone was free and so once I told them that I’d do it myself, they all offered to help out. Jase recorded various voice-overs, Veez recorded keyboard typing and whenever I posted something on the group, they all pitched in.

[teeganbishopinb182]

I Play Games!

Dr Deb Polson spoke to us today on her game design projects. She showed passion as she spoke about her designs; she was fully immersed in her projects. She firstly spoke to us about her Zombie Apocalypse event. It involved players being stuck inside a building for 24 hours, whilst they simulated an apocalyptic scenario. Actors and zombie fanatics dressed up as zombies and tried to attack the “survivors”. The survivors had fully modified nerf guns to help them feel the part. Also, to help create this atmosphere, Deb controlled all access to doors, rooms and sound systems within the State library and the Edge.

She then spoke to us about the Scoot experience. She spoke to us about her motivation which were:

Capt’n Crunch

Blast Theory

Regenesis

LonelyGirl15

Geocaching

Pacmanhattan

She told us how she wanted to disrupt a public place to make someone feel more comfortable and ‘at home’ by using carnival traditions. Her main point throughout this segment was that you have to find something that draws them and connects them.

She then revealed the secret of game design, which was that you have to understand that a game that you have already made can be used for a template for another game. By doing this, you are saving time and making a greater profit without having to do the work again. The bottom line is, develop extremely robust and good databases and codes and reiterate!

Another point that Deb made was that you should never disregard a prototype and instead, should present every prototype because someone might see potential in something that you don't think has potential. More wise words from Deb revealed that you should use Flash for prototypes because it provides rapid and iterative prototyping and gives you access to API’s.

I thoroughly enjoyed Deb’s lecture as she showed passion the whole time and provoked a spark of enthusiasm inside me. I am really looking forward to designing games!

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Just because nobody complains doesn’t mean all parachutes are perfect.

— BENNY HILL

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- Possible endings I came up with whilst travelling on the bus home. 

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Notes from today's studio.

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Does it surprise you? Honestly, it would surprise me if everyone was here.

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You poisoned the idea :/

Today, we expanded on our ideas. This week, Jase was absent. We started by explaining to Veez and Kieron what we had done last week (even though the notes were up on our Facebook group) and then we selected one idea to allow us to ideate. We shared opinions and many of them whilst I tried to keep the team on the right track. I honestly don't think they knew how little time we had.

We tried to brainstorm on how we would present it within four minutes, we searched various missile launched and researched on the symptoms of radiation poisoning. We developed half a storyboard and some dialogue to go over the top.

We then pitched our idea to Glen and Adam. Actually, Veez pitched it for us. Even though he wasn't here for the foundation understanding of the idea, he adopted it as his own and explained it the way that he wanted to see it.

Throughout the whole studio, he was obsessed by this one film clip, which he wanted the idea to revolve around. It was okay, but it wasn’t appealing to anyone else. Glenn then asked us about another idea and he told us that our new idea would be greater.

Therefore, we were back to square one and began to develop a second storyboard. Being practically a skeleton, we still all understood how we were going to present this new idea. The only problem was the ending. How were we going to make it powerful? Fingers crossed!