interactive design 1 - med m/512 - fall 2005
Philip van Allen - v a n a l l e n @ a r t c e n t e r . e d u
room 228, wednesday 1:00pm-5:00pm
all materials on this web site © copyright 2005, Philip van Allen
 
week 07a - interactive story assignment, research assignment, story space, exercise

final project : 
interactive story : 

 
Create an interactive work 
      where the reader participates
              in the unfolding of a story
  • Proposal due week 09
  • Reseach for Design due week 09
  • Design as Research due week 10
  • Prototype due week 11
  • Project due week 14

The objective of this assignment is explore new interactive techniques and expand your design repertoire. Another objective is to create a portfolio piece that demonstrates your ability to design in unconventional ways.

Design and implement an interactive work that tells a good story through a conversation between the user and the design. The approach is as follows: By interacting with the piece, the user participates in creating a custom story experience for themselves. The story is an integral part of the design and interaction, not separate and enclosed by it. In fact, the story is the design, and emerges out of the interaction between the user and the design. The user's actions have meaningful consequences in the telling of the story--affecting the form, order, and content of the presentation.

You can build a story system where the reader interacts with different elements in each "scene", where the interaction reveals elements of meaning, character, situation, or plot. In addition, the reader can choose a path through scenes, stringing together story fragments and generating a personal version of the story. Whatever the architecture, the story elements connect together to form a fluid and changing design that responds to the user, revealing and carrying the story forward as the user acts.

A linear "turning the pages" tale is not an acceptable solution for this project. In addition, the project must not be a simple transfer of the linear work to interactive form. Instead, it should be a reinvention of the work to fit the affordances and character of interactive media.

For this term's project, we will focus on the adaptation of existing works. In particular, you should look at graphic novels & comics.

The work need not be famous, but it must have depth. A good work is not enough. The piece you select must be adaptable in an interesting and conceptually viable way, so the new version fits well in the interactive medium.

Some relevant links:

Project requirements

You have a great deal of freedom in this assignment, and I am willing to discuss a range of project approaches. The following are requirements:

  • The interactive work should should have at least 4 scenes if each scene has many interactive elements within the scenes, more than 4 scenes if the interactions are simpler.
  • All navigation and other interactions with the user must be incorporated into the design. There may not be separate "interface elements" such as next page arrows or navigation bars. The interface is the design.
  • The project should succeed in the following ways:
    • non-linear story-telling
    • juxtaposition
    • simultaneity
    • showing different perspectives
    • using multiple media
    • adaptation/re-invention of the story for interactive media
    • concepts
    • quality of communication/messaging

Suggestions:

  • Mix different media including graphics, text, animation, and sound into your project.
  • You may use flash or director, though it is quite possible to create an interesting work with HTML pages.
  • Break the story into short fragments that work by themselves, yet gain additional meaning when viewed in different sequences.
  • Some students may want to try making a story based, interactive advertisement

 


interactive story : 
proposal : 

due week 09

The final assignment is to create an interactive story. See below for the brief.

Create a 1-2 page proposal that describes your interactive story project. Include the following:

  • A description of the story itself. If you are adapting an existing story, note the author and the original medium. Also discuss why this story is appropriate for adaptation to the interactive medium.

  • A description of how the story will be interactive.

  • The number of scenes in the interactive story, and what kind of interactions will occur within the scenes.

  • A description of how the user will modify the presentation and move within the story space (i.e. between scenes). Include sketches that document the scenes, the interactions within each scene, and the paths between different scenes.

  • The kinds of media you will use (e.g. text, graphics, video, animation, music, sound efx, etc.)

  • References to existing traditional and interactive works that provide inspiration for your project.

  • The tools you will use to create the story (e.g. Dreamweaver, Flash, Director, etc.).

 

  
research project : 
Part 1: Research for Design - Due week 9

Form a team of 3 or 4 people and find an interactive work to critique. You will present this research and a critique of the work in class. Consider the following topics:

  • description
  • what is the concept behind the project
  • how does the project handle the relationship between linear and interactive
  • how does the interaction facilitate the communication (or not) the meaning of the work
  • how does the interation work?
  • how much can the user affect the experience?
  • what's interesting about the piece
  • what doesn't work so well
  • conclusions

Here are some sources to begin research:

Other links

 

Part 2: Design as Research - Due week 10

Using the concepts of juxtaposition and simultaneity, adapt a small section of a graphic novel for the interactive form. Deconstruct the content and ideas of this work (separating out the text, images, graphics, sounds, etc.), and then reconstruct it (perhaps adding new text, graphics, and/or sound, motion, etc.) so there are two interactive parts displayed at the same time. Each part should be interactive in some way, enabling the user to play with the juxtaposition and simultaneous relationships of the elements in part 1 and part 2.

  • juxtaposition - allow the user to experiment with, and control the combination of elements to evoke new contexts and contrasts
  • simultaneity - present material in a live, multi-channel format, where parts are played back at the same time, but in different combinations each time. this creates an integration of the material, widens the stage, and allows the user to feel the harmonies and dissonances between elements.

This project must be contained within one display "page". Linking to other pages that replace the initial display is not allowed.

Some schematic examples:

1. Text and Sound
2. Images

1. Images & Text 2. Images & Text

1. Text then Image
2. Image then Text

 

 

There are many types of interactions possible. Some examples:

  • scrolling
  • clicking to change audio and/or visuals
  • mousing over to create changes
  • clicking and dragging to move elements

This project should be small and simple--quality is more important than quantity. It may use the material you plan for your final project, but it is not restricted to that material.

 
prototype : 
due week 11

 
why story is important : 

The use of story elements in web sites and other interactive media is an increasingly important design technique for both creative and commercial interactive media. Story can add emotion, interest, humor, and personality to a presentation, whether providing the essential element for interactive entertainment, or making interactive advertising entertaining (more and more a necessity I would argue).

 

  
nonlinear storytelling : 

Story telling in an interactive medium should be different than when using traditional media. Using interactive media to tell a linear story is a bit like pointing a single camera at a theatrical stage and calling it cinema--the result is boring and worse than the original medium.

Each medium has its own techniques and affinities for expression. Telling effective stories in interactive media requires that the story teller adopt a different style, grammar, and language of expression. It means moving away from the traditions of linear storytelling and towards interactive, nonlinear storytelling where the story is told in fragments.

Nonlinear storytelling is not as new and unfamiliar as you might expect. For example, aural story tellers have succeeded for thousands of years by varying how they tell a story based on how they were feeling, who was sitting around the campfire, and what questions were asked during the story. Similarly, jazz performers change their performance while they make it, depending on audience and band members response, and through their improvisations. Sculpture is also a very interactive medium, where the viewer can only fully experience a work by moving around and seeing the sculpture from many perspectives.

 

  
previous projects : 

Here are some examples from previous courses:

Art Center student projects

Santa Monica College student projects

 

  

all materials on this web site © copyright 2005, Philip van Allen

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