General IDAT: Reboot, launch of the IBM Smarter Planet Lab in the Babbage building, stuff to do, and field trip

Yesterday was a historical event for everyone in IDAT as the old Macromedia lab (BGB213) is transformed into the IBM Smarter Planet Lab. The partnership has been so long in the making since the rebrand of the Digital Art & Technology (or as in their words, a 'reboot') course programme, which will become effective in the 2011-2012 academic year. The changes will make Digital Art & Technology future-proof so then fears of stuff becoming obsolete after 4 years can now be put to bed, finally (literally, finally!).

As for other stuff, I've been very busy, which mentions why I haven't done a blog update in weeks. I've been working on a 3D object, a manifesto, and also, I'm now currently working on projects that will last well into March, which includes a large-scale Monopoly game, a bumper video and an amateur movie.

The field trip has been announced to be taking place in the wonderful city of Bristol, to some applause and lament, although it has been a better compromise considering the times of austerity, which kind of narrowed our horizons, although maybe next year would be better in terms of scope. Still, Bristol is set to be a very good small pre-Easter trip whilst Easter will see the Yacht Club do their own Easter trip, mostly to make up for the loss of the Mediterranean trip, which was cancelled due to lack of numbers.

If nothing else, things are going very well, and hopefully, my 1st year would finish with something good to look forward to for next year...

IDAT 107: Know what standards you'd need to go for, not veer off course! And also, about the originality of design

As the marks for my last two assignments came back, I now know about the true meaning of a design theme, like for instance, I know know that the true meaning of a web 2.0 logo is something that is completely lower-case, mine didn't feel that way. Although at least I did something modern, maybe I was a bit too vague about the definition (at least in terms of what trends are being done in the world of web 2.0). It's like saying that if something calls for a Disney theme, I'd have to include something that is Disney. I saw an example of compliance in the shape of an electricity pylon that is within the limits of Walt Disney World; the designers knew that the juxtaposition of WDW with the highway meant that they should captivate it, so they designed it in the shape of the silhouette of Mickey Mouse, which in terms of when doing something Disney in specifications, it always ticks all the boxes!

In addition to standards, originality also has to be considered too. During the 3D design part of the coursework, drawing teapots similar to the famous Utah teapot isn't what many consider in the world to be something that is original, because the idea has already been taken, even though my object originally called for something that resembles some kind of teapot (but with a barrel instead of a spout, and a lot more added to it), I had to take it into account that just that isn't going to get me the high esprit-de-corps of originality, so what I decided to do, is create a more surrealistic object, that captivates the spirit of famous surrealists Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, whilst at the same time takes it to a whole new level, kind of like thinking about the windmills of Don Quijote, but making it more literal, and illustrative of one of my favourite design themes, especially since I've done works of something similar at school, I became enamoured of it, and decided to use it to effect in order to have something that I at least have savoir faire in, rather than vaguely presume that it is surrealisim, as it was demonstrated in the digital signature.

IDAT 106: Large-scale Monopoly-style interactive game and initial ideas

As part of a joint project with the year 2s, we have to produce a large scale interactive version of a popular board game, which incorporates many features whilst at the same time addresses a current situation, where we have an opportunity to change it, be it worldwide or local. For my group, we decided to do a Monopoly-based game where we will set it in our city of Plymouth and use it to brainstorm solutions to the economical problem that the city suffers from, particularly due to the loss of air links owing to a drop in passengers (which later lead to a call to have the runway extended at our local airport), and also because of business going bust with (although in places it's getting better) many places becoming vacant.

This gives us the perfect opportunity to attempt to draw in more commerce to help transform our city through the wonderful medium of IDAT. We are planning to base our game on web technologies and Flash, an interactive platform that is popular for dynamic information and animations, with a view to complete it within 8 weeks before the deadline, which will be due round the spring/summer time.