Saturday 1 September 2012

Historical research


So what is historical contextual studies?


I will be looking and researching the history of games, from Art movements to designers that sparked them off. Just a few of these movements are called Futurism to Bauhaus. Also architecture is a big part of games, a lot of research goes into games and getting the games contextually right, for example we would not expect too have a game set in Paris with pyramids or the statue of liberty in the city centre.

Semiotics and their importance is another tool i must understand in this topic, semiotics basically means the signs that we see every day and what they mean to us, for example in a driving game based in England the light on green would mean go, however to other countries this semiotic rule does not apply. So semiotics need to be universally understood.

I will be looking at the evolution from board games like Monopoly and Jenga, to vintage video games that inspire people such as Pac-Man and super Mario 64




The industry is called games "design" and we use the word design for a reason.  Within games we see elements of Graphic, product, web, and logo design, which are all placed in the game for a reason.  As well as having all these factors in it is obviously important that these new next Gen. games are aesthetically pleasing.

It has always been my deep belief that architecture and design are myth making acts. - Emilio Ambasz

This to me means that over the years an original prototype has been lost, almost mythical for instance a computer mouse has evolved over years the original years ago has changed so much to the modern day models.

Design is the process by which a designer creates a context to be encountered by a participant from which has meaning. -Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen.

I feel that this quote is the core quote that relates closest to games design, i believe that it talks about everything that we encounter in games, problems that we must overcome as participants.

Design Movements


Futurism


Futurism is a design moment that occurred in the between the years 1909 and 1916. It had one main focus, and that was not too look into the past for inspiration but into the future.
It was a social as well as an artistic movement and it all began in Italy, there were other attempts at futurism from countries such as Russia and England.

As it was looking to the future it was important that contemporary concepts were thought of and designed. Some of these concepts ranged from Speed, violence, industrial artefacts, and of course technology.

All of these factors add up and in the end created the foundations of Futurism.

The founder was a man named Filippo Tomasso Marinetti. An italian writer.  When thinking of futurism he spoke about mens triumph over nature, which contrasted with concepts of popular art at the time. And we can see this triumph over nature in nearly all Science-fiction films to date.



Filippo Tomasso Marinetti

Over the years that futurism was first starting out many different arts expanded and embraced Fillipo's ideas including design, architecture and even film.
Throughout the movement of futurism we see not only mans triumph over nature with films like total recall, to themes where originality was praised and chaos was embraced. We see this type of chaos in films like The day the earth stood still.

These ideas are still being used today to create futuristic films, films like Donnie Darko which embrace chaos this quote from frank to the main character says,
Twenty-eight days,
six hours,
42 minutes,
12 seconds.
That is when the world will end.
Time travel is also featured in this film showing it looking to the future.
In another quote from Donnie Darko Frank the rabbit says, 
A storm is coming, 
A storm that will swallow the children, 
and I will deliver them from the kingdom of pain.
I will deliver the children to their doorsteps.
I will send the monsters back to the underground.
I will send them back to a place where no one can see them.
Except for me.
Because I am Donnie Darko.

Once again linking into the futurism's groups ideology, to embrace chaos!



Donnie Darko


Total Recall






















Surrealism.


Surrealism is an art and design movement that began its life in Paris in the early 1920's, it was founded by a small group of writers and artists who wanted to link into people unconscious minds and "unlock their imagination". 

It was officially founded in 1924 when André Breton wrote Le Manifeste du Surréalisme. Within this manifesto he wrote that artists should seek ways of tapping into their unconcious mind to create new and inspired work.
He believed that the conscious mind suppressed the mind and its power to imagine and create new ideas.  Psychologists such as Sigmund Freud influenced this small group of writers and artists who again believed that the mind was suppressed when conscious.




André Breton

It was initially a literary movement, with writers creating stories and manifesto's, however the founder André Brenton later not only welcomed art but embraced it! Artists such as Joan Miró worked within the field of surrealism but he also helped shape future movements such as 
abstract expressionism in the 1940's.



Joan Miró's work in the 1920's


Art Deco.

The art deco movement began again in the early 1920's when a group of various artists formed what they called a Société des artistes décorateurs which means, the society of decorating artists. And the group of artists that included people such as Hector Guimard and Paul Bellot had one main purpose and goal, and that was too demonstrate on a global scale the evolution of the French decorative arts.
And in 1925 these two artists along with the rest of the society of decorating arts, organised a global art show in Paris that was too show the world French art, and how it has evolved.  This show was called theExposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes which translates as the "international Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Art"

The idea of art deco is to create art from geometrical shapes. This is most apparent in architecture from the early 1920's and 1930's. Most apparent was the use of the ziggurat



A few geometrical shape ideas used in the 1920's and to the present day

What makes the art deco design movement a great one for me is the fact that we still see its influence today in everyday life, weather it be in buildings, paintings or even designs of furniture from IKEA.  A ziggurat is a terraced pyramid, with each story smaller than the one below it. Art Deco skyscrapers may have many rectangles or trapezoids also included. 
The Empire state building in New York was built in 1931 and may be the most iconic use of art deco shapes and ideas in the early years of art deco.

To this day we see art deco in architecture and furniture and even in games such as L.A Noire which is set in the 1940's and has all the early art deco architecture included in the surroundings.





L.A NOIRE 
Empire State building








Typography



Typography is all around us, everything we see and read has been designed in a way to make us feel.  The word typography literally means the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visual.  I think that this sentence sums up entirely what typography is, when we see words or a logo we feel certain emotions and can even pick up on why that specific text has been used.






These are just a couple of examples of the way that words sometimes gives us clues as to what to expect if playing that game, when we see the assassins creed logo the 'A and the S' are bigger than the rest of the text, this to me is a very old type of font, i remember  seeing the beginning and end letters in story books when i was young.  This shows not only that the game content may be set in the past rather than the future but it also shows that typography is subjective, this text may mean something different to me than it will too others because of personal experiences.  I have also chosen to show the BioShock logo and this is because it has a very set design, and that is of the Art Deco era, we can see from the spacing (Kerning) of the letters and the length of the letters is a very stereotypical text from Art Deco, which could lead us to having certain expectations of playing BioShock.

However it is not just games that use typography to label themselves and create emotions with letters.
We can see the logo for the clothing/skating company Vans, this is a great example how type is used to make a company memorable we see two different types of fonts here, we have the brand name Vans in large bold lettering with the 'V' the full length of the word.  Then just below the main type we see 'Since 1966' in an italic type of lettering, this not only gives a contrast of text to the word vans but it is also more personal it almost looks like someone has signed the logo, almost like a signature of approval.
Underneath is the FedEx logo, which to me is one of the best uses of text to tell people universally what your company is about.  FedEx is a courier/delivery service which is recognised around the world, but we see the text is very professional, bold and the kerning of each letter is touching the next letter.  But the subliminal message in this logo is the arrow, there is an arrow between the 'E and the X' which again shows the meaning and gives certain expectations should the consumer choose to use the company.



One of the original typographers was a man named Rudolf Koch, he published a book called The book of signs.  It contained nearly 500 symbols from the earliest settlements and first drawing in the world such as symbols from the middle ages, early christianity and primitive symbols.
Another artist named Eric Gill also helped 
typography to be what it is today, in 1925 he designed his very own typeface called Perpetua, as you can see from the image on the right the text is a lot more advanced than the text and symbols found in The book of signs.       
Even though i appreciate the journey in which typography has been on what i really love is the modern day typefaces, i believe that now with the technology we have we are able to create texts and typefaces and are entering an age where text is more infuencial than it has been in the past.  I have looked at an artist named Craig ward who creates these meaning through the words that he chooses to type and the typeface he used.



The words say you blow me away, it is hard to talk about the kerning and line spacing of this group of text as we see in the middle there is a bullet coming through the words, when shot and killed the person is said to have been 'blown away' which is why the text has been shown like this.  This is the way that typography is heading and it has grown from what it used to be years and years ago.  And this is the future of typography






Bauhaus


Bauhaus,  unlike the other movmemts i have looked at is not actually an art and design movement.  It was a school of art and design thats main focus was on looking to the future which combined arts and crafts along with the fine arts.  It was built in 1919 and was finally closed in 1933, Bauhaus literally means the 'House of construction'.





The school was built just after the futurist movement and it was founded by a man named Walter Groupis, who had a huge influence on the world and culture of art and design.  Over the 14 years the house of construction was occupied in three different locations one in Weimar, one in Dessau and finally in Berlin.

Although there was three different locations the aim for the students was always the same, however especially to the end of the Bauhaus era a lot of teachers fled to teach around the world.  This was because the Nazi regime was growing and through fear teachers fled because of their beliefs, however this helped to spread the ideas and work of Bauhaus around the globe.


Weimar building.
The weimar building was built in 1919 with Walter Groupis being the head of the school, it was a merger between the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts and the Weimar Academy of Fine Art.

Dessau building.
Walter Groupis designed the new Dessau building in 1925, however this new school came with a new director named Hannes Mayer.  In 1929 the school turned its first profit by selling on the students work and ideas, however in the year 1930 Hannes Mayer was fired from his position at the school because of his communist views and ideas.  These ideas would have been amplified by the growing increase of the Nazi regime at this time in Germany.

Berlin building.
The school moved to Berlin in 1932 which at the time was a safe heaven from political parties at the time such as the nazi's.  The inside of the warehouse was painted white and it had skylights to let optimum light in, which is why they had white walls as the light reflects and bounces back around the room making for better working conditions.  Unfortunately the school at the Berlin location did not stay open for long and was closed for the final time in 1933.



Annie Albers.
From a young age she was into her arts and in early life used to paint and take part in the fine arts, in 1922 she attended Bauhaus and began her studies in lessons such as architecture.  In her second year she took up weaving.  Who carried on to create works that are loved around the wold and became the most memorable weaver of all time.



Wassily Kandisnky.
Kandinsky was a teacher at Bauhaus in 1922 he not only taught basic design for beginners but he also taught special lessons on his colour theory with new elements of form psychology. He designed his works with new ways of designing and altering lines, forms and shapes and making them abstract.






Mood boards!







Friday 31 August 2012

Essay plan


Essay Plan.




  • Architecture
  • Locations
  • Origins
  • Specific designers
  • Influences of the movement
  • Inspiration
  • Visual arts such as fashion, architecture, painting, graphic arts and film.
  • Links to other areas of design.
  •  The Chrysler building, designed by William Van Alen





For the past few weeks i have been looking at art and design movements and i have been surprised, by the amount that i have learnt and also the amount of information that has wanted me to research more into art and design movements.  I have found the past lectures on movements such as futurism, bauhaus and art deco fascinating.  I have found myself looking for ways to see each design movement in every day life, and it is these movements and elements of historical design that are inspiring me to get a greater knowledge to help me should a client ask me to help design a futuristic scene in the future for example.


I have found myself liking a lot of the design movements i have seen so far, however Art Deco really stood out to me.  I love the way that the designers used curves and an almost pyramid shape to create some of the worlds most famous landmarks such as the empire state building.  And it is Art Deco that i have chosen to write my historical design essay on.

When researching Art deco i realised that it was not only architecture that was influenced by the movement, but also jewellery, clothing and even interior design.  This is what i liked best about the movement, that it was not just in architecture, that it could be applied across the wide spectrum of design reaching objects like jewellery, another factor that i like is that objects in Art deco do not need to be nessicerally practical as long as the final outcome was aesthetically pleasing it didn't matter, it was appearance over functionality. Also looking back at my two mood boards that i created i really love the Art deco over the futurism image, i find the Art deco mood board to be pretty and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes like it should be where as the futurism image is still good but lacks flow and like the founder of futurism Filippo Tomasso Marinetti said, "futurism should embrace chaos." which is what my mood board looks like and that is not a theme that i would enjoy writing about, which is why futurism was ruled out as an essay at the beginning of the essay process.

I love the way that Art deco in its time was so simplistic with its ideas, the way that ideas only had to be pretty and not functional, and they fact that walking around any city today we see elements of Art deco everywhere and that is the reason i would love to write an essay on Art deco.








The midland hotel in Morecambe, one of Britons finest examples of Art deco architecture still open to date.










Art Deco essay
Andy Elliott

For the past few weeks I have been studying the art deco movement, I have chosen to look at it more in depth because of the way we still see influences of the movement to this day in cities all across the world.  The art deco movement fascinates me and has inspired me too look at the movement in detail.
The art deco movement was first founded in the early 1920's when a group of various artists and designers, from all different areas of design such as architecture, fashion and interior design combined to make create a society named  a Société des artistes décorateurs which basically translates as the society of decorating artists.  This is why the genre of art deco is so large and varied because there is so much influence from all areas art and design.  And this society was driven at the forefront by two French artists named Hector Guimard and Paul Bellot, who had the sole purpose of globalising the French arts and the evolution the country and their arts.  And in the year of 1925 they organised an international show to expose the French arts, the show was called "Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes" ,which translates as The International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts and this was a show that was noticed by designers and artists all over the globe.
One main focus that is at the core of the Art Deco design is the use of geometric shapes and lines.  Colour pallets and the use of bold and use of block colour in geometric shapes again makes the movement special, art deco design was a sign of wealth and well-being which resulted in the expansion and boost in the industry as people were willing to pay more and more money for these giant projects and these bold geometric shapes, to stand out.  The movement spread from just architecture to items such as jewellery and mass production of items such as auto mobiles and cars.  One design that was used the most was a shape named the ziggurat, a geometric design from which the Mayan civilisation had adopted in the construction of their pyramids.

Easily accessible travel that became available in the 1920's gave way to a new species of designers and archaeologists that were now able to travel the world, which in turn allowed us to become influenced with new designs, patters, civilisations and architecture being discovered such as hieroglyphics when excavating Tutankhamen’s grave and the city of Pompeii.  The term art deco was derived years later in a post-world war two world, with both Hector Guimard and Paul Bellot being the main designers held responsible for being influential to the movement. After the sudden boom of explorers in the 1920's it was inevitable that soon after new designs and blueprints for design were created.  In the early 1930's art deco became more mainstream and more available and more of a market for the art deco design.  There was an increase in consumer products being made with the art deco style such as cars, furniture, textiles and even telephones.  However this new design captured the thoughts of designers who had the capabilities to create monumental buildings, amusement parks and even ocean liners such as the "SS Ile de France".  This was a French built ship in a post-world war one world, it was the first ever ocean liner to fully incorporate the art deco designs throughout the ship.  The interior of the ship and especially the living quarters were specifically designed not to reproduce styles and designs of the past but to look to celebrate the styles of the present, which is why the interior was heavily influenced by art deco. As you can see from the image from the SS Ile de France the design in co-operated the simplistic and geometric shapes that was stereotypical of the art deco era.

However the movement was meant for bigger projects than ocean liners, and all across the world to this day we can see influences not in ships, fashion or jewellery but in architecture. To this day we see buildings all over the world however we can see many examples in north America, when looking at art deco architecture we can look at the Bullocks Wilshire building in Los Angeles.  The building was created in 1929 by a father and son architect team named John and Donald Parkinson, and was used as a luxury department store.  It was aimed at clientele in a higher class which is why i believe that it was important that the exterior was designed and built the way it was, at the time art deco design was a sign of luxury and wealth and for this department store to be made with this design in mind really did show the importance of the store.  To this day the building is still in use and is now a national historic landmark and has been used in many films from Aerosmith's love in an elevator music video and even the the final scene in Ghostbusters was filmed on top of the building. I feel that seeing that the fact that the building is being used for high budget and class films to this day is incredible and shows that art deco has stood the test of time as a great movement.

THE CHRYSLER BUILDING


The Chrysler building is one of the world’s most recognisable buildings not just for its stature and location but also for the design of the building.  It was designed and created by William Van Alen, who was born in New York in 1883. Building commenced on September the 19th 1928, the construction of the building was fast and frantic as the designers were in a race to build the world’s tallest building, this was achieved at standing 1,047 feet above the New York streets it became the world’s tallest building, however this was only fact until 1931 when the empire state building was built also in New York leaving the Chrysler building the wold’s tallest for only 11 months.   What really stand out to me are the fact that it was built so fast and the design and beauty of the building was not compromised.  The top of the Chrysler building is the icing on the cake with seven floors of radiating arches each smaller than the one below it with triangle windows around the arches.  These types of windows, the odd shape and the design not for human use and living but for the overall design and aesthetic look of the building.  On the 61st floor graced eagles are placed in each corner, these were made of steel and again shows the influence from other cultures, as this was around the time explorers were documenting their work from all around the world and I believe we see this influence with the eagles and sun shapes from the top of the building they have a very foreign look and design that could be linked to cultures such as Egyptian and Mayan civilisations.
There are links to other areas of design and art movements, such as the art nouveau movement.  Art deco was not the first art and design movement and there have been many since but what links these two is the style, the sleekness and the beauty of the designs.  The art nouveau movement was before the art deco movement and was pre-world war 1 and reigned the art and design world from 1890 to 1910 the term art nouveau literally means new art in French, and it was the group of French artists that defined the art deco movement  and created the society of decorating artists.  Art nouveau was most popular in Europe and especially France and one main designer was a man I have already mentioned he was called Hector Guimard, a main designer for art nouveau who lived and helped create the ideas through into the art deco era and helped spread the ideas and morals throughout the world.  And we see influences of this from all around the world such as the Chrysler building in New York to the Bullocks Wilshire building in Los Angeles and the Midland hotel in Morecambe, proof that the art deco movement really did spread like wild fire across the globe.
The Midland hotel
The midland hotel is based in Morecambe in England; I have chosen to look at this building in detail because of its history and the design.  It was built in 1933 right in the middle of the boom in art deco buildings being created and built; it was built as a take on the streamline modern design of art deco and emphasised curved lines and long horizontal lines which would stretch right around the building still keeping the forms and aesthetics of art deco true to its roots, and more often than not it would use nautical shapes and designs, which could explain as to why ships such as the SS Ile de France and other ships built around this time.  And we can see these generic themes running throughout the midland hotel, such as the large windows in the top of the building to bring in light which contrast with windows further down the building which are smaller and not ergonomically built for people to live with as minimal light will be drawn in through the window, a classic factor of the art deco industry.  In its prime it was a busy building and taken care of however in 1939 the building began too loose popularity and was handed over to the royal navy and then slowly run itself down to the ground.  However it was seen as a remarkable building both in design and meaning to the local community, and was re-opened again in 2008 but with a new splash of colour and re furbished furnishings.  Being true to the art deco era and design the hotel the designers kept true to the art deco roots.

When thinking about an art and design movement to study it was really easy when I see how the art deco movement has changed not only life and the way that we see the world but how it has stood the test of time and we still see influences of the movement still too this day.  Travelling through the city I can see the architecture that has been inspired by artists and designers over 100 years ago.  It was a movement that began in France and with French artists that wanted to showcase their skills to the world which in the end helped shape art and design as we know it.  It was a movement that not only shaped the architectural world but also other areas of art such as fashion, textiles, jewellery and even interior design and the creation of new and exciting auto mobiles.  It was also the interior design that also drew me too the movement just as much as the architecture did.  The bold colours and shapes and the symmetry of the interior design.  The multiple buildings that I have researched have shown me the specific style and beauty of the art deco era and also the simplicity of the design and with art the pieces that are created need to be desirable weather it be abstract, mainstream or post modernism art it always needs to be desirable.  Looking at art deco, the artists and designers surrounding it and the rise and history of the style has shown me that art deco, is desirable.



Bibliography

http://www.allpar.com/history/chrysler-building.html. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6th, 2012, from www.allpar.com.
http://www.arthistory.net/artstyles/artdeco/artdeco1.html. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6th, 2012, from Art history: www.arthistory.net
http://www.brynmawr.edu/cities/archx/05-600/proj/p2/npk/historydeco.htm. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6th, 2012, from www.brynmawr.edu.
http://www.urban75.org/blog/the-art-deco-splendour-of-the-stunning-chrysler-building-new-york-city/. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6th, 2012, from www.urban75.org.
Robinson, M. (2008). Art Deco: The Golden Age of Graphic Art and Illustration. Flame tree publishing.



History of Games and Metal gear

Core games designs mechanics and theories!

Meaningful play.

This is one of the most important mechanics a game needs, without meaningful play there is no point to playing a game or even designing one in the first place.  There is a reason as to why humans have been playing games since we can remember not only in our own individual lives but as the human race and in history.

There was once a man named Johan Huzinga, he was a dutch historian.  He also wrote a book named Homo ludens which translates in english too Man the player!
This book looked at games and what they mean to us as humans, in it he describes how games have been around for thousands of years and how it is human nature and that games make us human he wrote, "Play is older than culture".























It (plays) is a significant function that to say, there is some sense to it. In there is something "at play" which transcends to the immediate needs of life.

When designing a game meaningful play is mechanic that not only needs to be understood by the designers however it must transcend right down to the players, without this games have no overall meaning and are less likely to impress.

Two kinds of meaningful play!

Descriptive - This is easy to understand, basically you get what you give in games. As the player interacts with the game we expect certain events or interactions too take place for example if we shoot a barrel with a gun we as players would expect visual and audible prompts, such as the character shooting the barrel and the barrel exploding, we would expect to hear gun shots and explosions.  If this does not happen then the game has failed the player.
and
Evaluative - This type of meaningful play is slightly harder to understand, this is where we as players take a step back and evaluate the game on a more complicated level than just a like or dislike of the game.


Metal Gear Assignment
For this assignment we have been paired into groups and have been given a specific 8 bit game to research and found out as much as we can about the games history, developer and key features of the game. The game we have been selected to research is Metal Gear for the MSX2.

For our first task we have been asked to timeline the Metal Gear franchise from the release of the first game all the way up to its newest release. Below is a timeline created in Photoshop which shows the timeline of the Metal Gear Solid franchise;