Unit Description Although most interactive multimedia products are non-linear, how the user experiences the product through time (the time-based aspect of viewing) is very important. The designer needs to develop an understanding of time-based communication. The unit provides an initial exploration of pictorial, textual, and aural communication, and an introduction to original content creation. It explores notions of composition, both single frame and time based, the creative use of digital cameras, and the digitisation proces. It examines the development of typography as a major tool for the visual communicator, with its ability to add value to words through the aesthetics of space, structure, shape and significance; and on the synergy between type and image. Syllabus The unit examines how pictures, sound, and text, together with their sequencing and inter-relationships (including the evolution over time, and the use of timing and pace), can communicate the designers’ ideas in a variety of ways. The student will participate in a series of illustrated talks and workshops relating to single image composition, time-based communication, and to the expressive and contextual use of typography in general, and for the screen in particular. They will use a range of software essential for interactive multimedia, in the production of a time-based piece. Learning Outcomes On completion of this unit the student will be able to: - Begin to address the notion of communicating their ideas to an audience. This unit is studio based, with an emphasis on responsive, student-centred experiential learning (including peer group learning). A range of teaching and learning methods are utilised, as identified below. Workshops will provide a technical introduction to a range of software essential for interactive multimedia. Teaching and Learning Methods This unit is studio based, with an emphasis on responsive, student-centred experiential learning (including peer group learning). Assessment The learning outcomes will be assessed through: - the completion and submission of a time based piece for multimedia (weighting 100%). Assessment criteria include: the visual and expressive quality of the work, appropriateness to the medium; progress; and the technical learning and effectiveness. Indicative Reading Adler, P & Winograd, T (eds), Turning Technologies into Tools, Oxford University Press, 1992 Alpers, Svetlana, The Art of Describing, Chicago University Press, 1983 Lackoff, George, Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, University of Chicago Press, 1987 Lackoff, G & Johnson,M, Metaphors We Live By, University of Chicago Press, 1980 Laurel, Brenda (ed), The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, Addison Wesley, 1980 Norman, Don, The Psychology of Every day Things, Basic Books (New York), 1988 Papaneek, V, Design for the Real World, Academy Chicago Publishers, 1985 Sander, M & McCormick, E, Human Factors in Engineering and Design, McGraw-Hill (Singapore), 1992 |