Week One
25th-29th September 2006
First days are always a bit of an unknown quantity and I often find they can veer indiscriminately between excitement and that nasty feeling in your gut, as if you've just seen your parents walk out of Ann Summers. However, Monday was remarkably weighted toward the excitement department. I honestly didn't know quite what to expect from the course and the informal but informative discussions about Cyfle in general and the nature of the course were extremely enlightening and stimulating.
The course director was very pleased with the caliber of the trainees and it seems like there's a great mix of different talents and that everybody has something important to offer. I personally am looking forward to creating multimedia content such as video, sound and the like. Having come from a film background I feel that my skills can be used too good effect in this area.
Being from North Wales I was introduced by Iona to the group and she asked that they be nice to me. This was a nice touch and helped to disguise the fact that I am in fact friendless and homeless. However my traveling has set me in good stead for being in this situation, and with luck It’ll be neither before I leave for Thailand!
The two weeks I had booked in Thailand before I knew about the course were concerning me slightly as I think it could be very easy to fall irretrievably behind. Luckily I am able to change the flights and cut short my trip by a week. So I'll be back for the Digital Storytelling, which is a relief as I'm looking forward to that.
Tuesday morning was spent discussing various definitions of Interactive Media. I especially liked the idea of electrifying the thoughts and action centres of peoples minds." We looked at the various uses of Multimedia such as Education, Corporate, Entertainment etc and also at the various ways in which Multimedia is constructed.
In the afternoon we went on to evaluate four websites and analyse them using the following questions:
1. How easy is it to use?
2. What audience is it made for?
3. Is it a commercial/educational/entertainment product?
4. Is it obvious how to use it, even before you click?
5. Can you tell how it was made?
6. What clues are there?
7. Does it contain mostly image/text/sound?
8. Are you satisfied with the way it works?
1. Billy Harvey Music
I found the layout a little haphazard and often confusing and this is a shame as it detracted from an otherwise very impressive site. A huge amount of content and some excellent animation work such as a Billy's lip synching of songs. A great site for fans and well constructed, just let down by the untidy layout.
2. The Badluck'o'Meter
This is great example of the use of Interactive Media in advertisement. The site initially comes across as a flash quiz on the various dangers and hazards that you find in your house. It uses nice 3dMax and Illustrator graphics and is very user friendly and user interactive. It is an excellent piece of Edutainment which makes it an excellent advert for the Insurance agency that have commissioned it.
3. Own You're Own C
Although initially extremely visually appealing and with lots of promise of things to experiment with, I found that after ten minutes of playing around I still had absolutely no idea of what I was supposed to be doing and what the purpose of the site was. It is baffling in the extreme and smacks of the site designers being given too much creative license. A very frustrating site as it seemed to hold a lot of potential. One to explore sure, but you don't feel like doing it for long.
4. Fly Me to the Moon
Again this is a site that promises much but fails to deliver. The initial launch sequence is nicely designed and gives the user the impression that this is an advertisement that they can have some fun with. Unfortunately, the launch sequence is where the fun ends. The user is only given control over movement of the ship, whilst the 'afterburner' effect when clicking the mouse button is laughable in its utter lack of effect. A very disappointing effort that does not reflect well upon its commissioners.
Wednesday was spent learning the basics of Usability and the concept of Heuristics as Developed by Donald Norman and Jacob Nielsen.
These are two insanely clever dudes who's ideas will be discussed in the presentations by Aled and Lyndsey
Again we were given five examples to look at and here's what I thought of each.
1. Special Ten DVD
Special Ten is a DVD magazine that deals with music, video and general entertainment. If is realised monthly and this was issue 8. Interestingly each issue is designed and developed by an entirely different team. This issue was extremely well designed with lots of modern, sharp graphics and good use of audio. Extremely well put together and a delight to use.
2. Eye Toy for Playstation 2
This was the obviously the most enjoyable item to use and me and Tom had loads of fun playing with it. In fact with played with it for far too long, but it's an addictive little monster! Brilliantly designed and very intuitive. Great fun!
3. Go for Gold
What an absolutely awful experience. It was literally painful. Playing this so called 'educational game' would surely scar a child for life. Completely useless menus, comfusing layout, no educational value, terrrible games and appaling graphics. A shocker of the highest order. Avoid at all costs.
4. EuroTalk Learn Italian
Another shocker. This program is meant to teach you italian but it's such a frustrating experience that I can't imagine that anyone would bother. The fact that it wouldn't even install on most peoples PC's probably didnt help. Badly designed and developed.
5. Being John Malkovich DVD
We were running a bit short of time thanks to the Eye Toy addiction so didnt spend to much time with this one. Seemed a nicely presented piece that fitted in with the film. However it seemed to have been adapted from the original vision to incorporate some rather bizarre icons that were garish in comparision to the rest of the DVD menu. Frankly they stood out like Vince Vaughn in a dwarf convention. A shame because the rest of the DVD was well made and nicely designed.
On Friday I flew off to Thailand for the week....
25th-29th September 2006
First days are always a bit of an unknown quantity and I often find they can veer indiscriminately between excitement and that nasty feeling in your gut, as if you've just seen your parents walk out of Ann Summers. However, Monday was remarkably weighted toward the excitement department. I honestly didn't know quite what to expect from the course and the informal but informative discussions about Cyfle in general and the nature of the course were extremely enlightening and stimulating.
The course director was very pleased with the caliber of the trainees and it seems like there's a great mix of different talents and that everybody has something important to offer. I personally am looking forward to creating multimedia content such as video, sound and the like. Having come from a film background I feel that my skills can be used too good effect in this area.
Being from North Wales I was introduced by Iona to the group and she asked that they be nice to me. This was a nice touch and helped to disguise the fact that I am in fact friendless and homeless. However my traveling has set me in good stead for being in this situation, and with luck It’ll be neither before I leave for Thailand!
The two weeks I had booked in Thailand before I knew about the course were concerning me slightly as I think it could be very easy to fall irretrievably behind. Luckily I am able to change the flights and cut short my trip by a week. So I'll be back for the Digital Storytelling, which is a relief as I'm looking forward to that.
Tuesday morning was spent discussing various definitions of Interactive Media. I especially liked the idea of electrifying the thoughts and action centres of peoples minds." We looked at the various uses of Multimedia such as Education, Corporate, Entertainment etc and also at the various ways in which Multimedia is constructed.
In the afternoon we went on to evaluate four websites and analyse them using the following questions:
1. How easy is it to use?
2. What audience is it made for?
3. Is it a commercial/educational/entertainment product?
4. Is it obvious how to use it, even before you click?
5. Can you tell how it was made?
6. What clues are there?
7. Does it contain mostly image/text/sound?
8. Are you satisfied with the way it works?
1. Billy Harvey Music
I found the layout a little haphazard and often confusing and this is a shame as it detracted from an otherwise very impressive site. A huge amount of content and some excellent animation work such as a Billy's lip synching of songs. A great site for fans and well constructed, just let down by the untidy layout.
2. The Badluck'o'Meter
This is great example of the use of Interactive Media in advertisement. The site initially comes across as a flash quiz on the various dangers and hazards that you find in your house. It uses nice 3dMax and Illustrator graphics and is very user friendly and user interactive. It is an excellent piece of Edutainment which makes it an excellent advert for the Insurance agency that have commissioned it.
3. Own You're Own C
Although initially extremely visually appealing and with lots of promise of things to experiment with, I found that after ten minutes of playing around I still had absolutely no idea of what I was supposed to be doing and what the purpose of the site was. It is baffling in the extreme and smacks of the site designers being given too much creative license. A very frustrating site as it seemed to hold a lot of potential. One to explore sure, but you don't feel like doing it for long.
4. Fly Me to the Moon
Again this is a site that promises much but fails to deliver. The initial launch sequence is nicely designed and gives the user the impression that this is an advertisement that they can have some fun with. Unfortunately, the launch sequence is where the fun ends. The user is only given control over movement of the ship, whilst the 'afterburner' effect when clicking the mouse button is laughable in its utter lack of effect. A very disappointing effort that does not reflect well upon its commissioners.
Wednesday was spent learning the basics of Usability and the concept of Heuristics as Developed by Donald Norman and Jacob Nielsen.
These are two insanely clever dudes who's ideas will be discussed in the presentations by Aled and Lyndsey
Again we were given five examples to look at and here's what I thought of each.
1. Special Ten DVD
Special Ten is a DVD magazine that deals with music, video and general entertainment. If is realised monthly and this was issue 8. Interestingly each issue is designed and developed by an entirely different team. This issue was extremely well designed with lots of modern, sharp graphics and good use of audio. Extremely well put together and a delight to use.
2. Eye Toy for Playstation 2
This was the obviously the most enjoyable item to use and me and Tom had loads of fun playing with it. In fact with played with it for far too long, but it's an addictive little monster! Brilliantly designed and very intuitive. Great fun!
3. Go for Gold
What an absolutely awful experience. It was literally painful. Playing this so called 'educational game' would surely scar a child for life. Completely useless menus, comfusing layout, no educational value, terrrible games and appaling graphics. A shocker of the highest order. Avoid at all costs.
4. EuroTalk Learn Italian
Another shocker. This program is meant to teach you italian but it's such a frustrating experience that I can't imagine that anyone would bother. The fact that it wouldn't even install on most peoples PC's probably didnt help. Badly designed and developed.
5. Being John Malkovich DVD
We were running a bit short of time thanks to the Eye Toy addiction so didnt spend to much time with this one. Seemed a nicely presented piece that fitted in with the film. However it seemed to have been adapted from the original vision to incorporate some rather bizarre icons that were garish in comparision to the rest of the DVD menu. Frankly they stood out like Vince Vaughn in a dwarf convention. A shame because the rest of the DVD was well made and nicely designed.
On Friday I flew off to Thailand for the week....
