Desinging To Learn

This week in INTE 6710 "Creative Designs," our class dove into understanding CARP, or contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. There are many other deeply embedded meanings in simple graphics that evoke responses in the viewer, even if subconscious or subliminal. There's color, gestalt, symmetry, asymmetry, texture, scale, etc. All these things we pretty much take for granted in the modern era where we are bombarded with imagery, mostly well done thanks to capitalism. Embedded in the psyche of each person living in the modern world is the "taste" or ability to discern what looks good or what looks bad. Just like listening to music, there are rules to be followed and we all know it when we hear a good tune versus a bad one. We may not be able to describe why the music, or the image or design is out tune, but we know a bad design when we see one. 17 Ways To Make Graphic Designers Cringe   In order to describe visual design to make what works and wh...

INTE 6710 Journal Entry 3 Figure 1 For this journal entry, I wanted to look at an example of a successful info-graphic, somewhat related to the subject matter I chose to explore for an info-graphic of my own. I discovered an info-graphic on Pinterest to create awareness and "call to action" World Backup Day 2012. The Pinterest link can be found here and the website link for the original showing of the info-graphic found here.  I applied the CARP principles, or contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. I "marked up" the info-graphic to indicate where we can see CARP. I then broke the info-graphic out into segments to call attention to how each principle was applied. Fig 1: At the top of the info-graphic we can see alignment and proximity work together to create a text title unit for the info-graphic. This is the largest text on the graphic. Interestingly, in the top corner a logo breaks the alignment and expands off the page. This creates interest ...

INTE 6710 Journal Entry 2 After the "SUCCES" exercise this week, inspired by The "SUCCES" checklist, by Chip & Dan Heath, or "Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story,  I was able to narrow down the catch phrase for the infographic to be "Keep calm and save on (the right way!)," or "Save like a boss avoid data loss." The first phrase, "Keep calm..." seems somewhat trending in social media. Interestingly, the term originated from British propaganda during the beginning of the second world war (hence the crown) often seen. The original phrase was "Keep calm and carry on." The wikipedia entry and original poster can be seen here: KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON . To get some idea of how this propaganda phrase has exploded in social media, just check out this Pinterest search on the phrase . The second phrase, "Save like a boss avoid data loss," is catchy, leet, and rhythmic. There are some ...

So I need to make an info-graphic for a graduate class assignment. I'm also an instructor of CAD and design and I'm shocked at the poor work and saving habits of most students in the labs or classrooms. I'm sure I'm not the only instructor who has had students drop due to "losing data" or computer files. To help remedy this, why not make an info-graphic to post in the labs and classrooms to remind students about the best ways to save and back up their data? After reading week one reading assignments, I was really engaged in the process and analysis of ways to make ideas "stick." The "SUCCES" checklist, by Chip & Dan Heath, or "Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story was a great way to help me think through some "one liners" or catch phrases to introduce the info-graphic to my audience. I used the checklist to create an ideation exercise for myself to present ten different catch phrases and info-g...

For the final learning reflection in Games & Learning course INTE 5320 with Associate Professor Remi Holden I have selected a few things to highlight based on key participation this semester. Works featured include blog posts, annotations via hypothes.is, and affinity space participation and presentation. http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/media/#wallpaper I chose to highlight the Hearthstone play journal blog entry for many reasons, but primarily to share what I learned about crafting a game and the value of affinity spaces to learn how to play a game well, or competitively. I learned that this game is relatively easy to play, however at a certain point the player inevitably hits a brick wall and must turn to affinity spaces to come up with deck crafting strategies. Or, risk being so frustrated the player quits. I made it over the “curve” and turned to affinity spaces to learn how to play the game competitively. The affinity spaces I participated in were both nurturing ...

The affinity space project featuring Unity Community as part of INTE 5320 Games & Learning, UC Denver. Please provide comments here in the blog and hypothes.is for review. Please respond to at least one question from each of the following question sets aligned to the criteria of our affinity space project. A. Observing the affinity space: What observations about game/ing communities and cultures are shared? What does it mean to be an insider? How do you know? And how would you describe this space to an outsider? What are the cultural norms – the means of interaction and discussion – that are prominent in this space? And why? B. Contributing to the affinity space: How did your peer first begin contributing to the affinity space? How did other members of the affinity space respond? How did the nature of your peer’s contributions change over time? And why? What insight about games (and games and learning) did your peer learn through her/his contributions? C. Ref...

The Structure of Unity Community Unity community is an expansive affinity space for members interested in all things Unity. There are approximately 32 threads ranging in topics from “Getting Started” to “Commercial: Job Offering.” The affinity space is so large, I have only focused on a few topics like “Game Design” and “Works in Progress.” I just sort of dived right in to see what sort of things people are posting and talking about without exploring the overall structure. After living in the space for some time, I’m starting to look around and notice some systems in place to better analyze who’s contributing , who’s visiting the space , and how members are measured . At the top of the forums menu there is a button to click “members” which takes the user to a new page that displays members based on number of messages. These members are listed from the most posts to the least. A user can also click on”most likes,” “ most points ,” or “staff members.” All of these categories seem ...