Module Journal: Competitions, Festivals, Exhibitions

Thank goodness I checked the inbox for canvas and noticed Dionysia's reminder to talk about the competition brief. I nearly forgot about this screenshot I took which I wanted to break down to see if I can try to hit the requirements. Opportunity The project seeks to address the issue of the lack of empathy of the public towards poorly designed public and private spaces with regards to people who use wheelchairs. Audience I think the intended audience is basically everyone, so I need to make something that has some level of universal appeal. Impact  I want to make people realise that they often take things for granted in a world designed for them. If it can make one person help hold the door open for the next person behind them, whether they're in a wheelchair or not, I think it would be helpful. Craft Fit, finish, and medium can probably only be judged after I'm actually done with making the project. With the current timeline I'm not super confident, but I...

So I've spent these past few months mostly reading and writing so much in terms of research, and have just realised I've made very little headway in terms of what my game actually will be like. This post will include visual references (because it's a GAME) and thus I guess won't count in the 15 posts and I'll need to make another one. Working Title I've decided to narrow down the focus of my game to just the wheelchair scenario, and thus the current working title is "Chaise La Vie", a probably not grammatically correct play on the French phrase "C'est la vie", translated as "That's life". "Chaise" means Chair, so the working title of my game is Chair Life. I don't have drafts for a logo design yet, but I want to try to incorporate a wheel into it, symbolising how the wheel of life rises and falls and people in privilege might find themselves in a situationally handicapped scenario at times. Visual Style Re...

Since the whole toolkit is actually multiple files and videos, I'll be narrowing down the focus of this blog post to the toolkit manual, which can be found here.  (the link downloads the file). The document first starts off by explaining why inclusive design is so necessary, and how diversity can be seen as a source for making better designs. Designers often use themselves as the starting point when creating their work, excluding the people who don't understand or relate to. To practice inclusive design, one of the first things to realise is that there is no such thing as a "normal" person. The document also emphasises the importance of inclusive design in lowering the barriers to entry for societal participation for more people.  In the next part, the document defines "inclusive design" as "A design methodology that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity". The most important part of inclusive design is to learn from a range...

2017 Winner -  COBALT: Fighting Crime with Design by Mark43 Okay this one is seriously super cool. Police departments have been using poorly-designed, outdated software for records management and input, and Mark43 did a complete rework of the system, greatly reducing the amount of time that police officers need to spend doing paperwork. By trailing police officers for field research and asking them questions on their day-to-day policework, the company managed to optimise the process of writing and submitting reports. COBALT is also used to help dispatchers manage police resources, and police are able to cross-check data more quickly to see past offences. The data that's collected is also organised more clearly, helping researchers find patterns and find ways to improve. Media: Cloud-based subscription of software Interaction: Police can have their paperwork burden reduced, and spend more time focusing on fighting crime Connecting: Police, researchers, beautiful data 2017...

As a part of my efforts to be sensitive about the issues people in wheelchairs face without being condescending, I reached out to a friend who shall not be named about their thoughts on the project. This person is someone who uses an electric wheelchair, who is also disability fit out specialist and interior designer, with specialisation in wayfinding. I'm trying very hard to sidestep the issue of ethics clearance, so I'll avoid any identifying characteristics of this person. Here's a rough transcript of our conversation which I've edited for clarity. Me: So for my uni project, I want to make a desktop game that focuses on letting players have some insight into how life is with different disabilities. The main scenario I'm considering is a game where the user needs to navigate some busy city streets as a wheelchair user, and come across hurdles they might not have considered as an able-bodied person. Some examples I've thought of are things like ramps that are...