Kristian's Kraving's

Gamestation Critical Review

Words- 304

Since I’ve got a 100 or so words left for my review I thought it would be good to pay a little review to my time at Gamestation and my friends there.

Served nearly 2 years at a shop that just couldn’t have a better set of people to work with and actually made the job of working enjoyable and something I looked forward to. I could relax, chat and have a laugh all at the same time and had a mental manager and deputy manager that made everyday different. 

I think I scrapped in as the last employee to be taken on but I’m so glad luck was on my side and blessed me with 2 glorious years of experience and real world knowledge. It was a sad day to get the text saying it was game over but the parent company was in dire straights and it really annoys me when decisions are made that don’t invest and don’t plan for the future of the company. It particularly annoys me when CEO’s and people in high positions base decisions on financial gain instead of the interests of the company and for me the words “corporate greed” ring true of not just this company but most of the retailers in the world today, with a sad day as more than half of the 6000 employees of GAME and Gamestation losing there jobs as the parent company GAME Group PLC went into administration.

Something like this provides you with a steel, an edge of resolve that produces a hardened resiliance that means if I want something I know I can get it with hard work and determination and the word No doesn’t knock me back anymore.

So a new CV and its time to get out and about and make a name for myself.

Critical Review- Professional Contexts 2 Web and Motion

Words- 857

Having handed in my motion work today thought it would be worth a critical review of the overall year for both aspects.

Starting with Web we were asked to highlight and redesign a badly functioning or designed website. I’ve wanted to get more involved and in tune with web design this year because it’s definitely the industry for growth and job opportunities and design has a definite expectancy that I should be able to design and code competently to earn a wage.

I got a B for my web grade which I was slightly surprised with because as a first attempt at coding it was a bit confusing to start with and requires and awful lot of planning and just being able to think things through efficiently.

I choose to redesign the Stereophonics website as it seemed slightly lacklustre for such an iconic rock band and although functional left a lot to the imagination. My design addressed the iconic stature of the band and also made coding that little bit easier with a monotone, black and white representation that provided a sense of minimalism with stature and presence.

The design can be seen here

http://krismagraw.tumblr.com/tagged/profcon2

If I had more time I probably would have like to integrate a media player and make the videos live and integrate the interface system for the download section but it was a case of first things first and getting the basics right.

I really enjoyed the challenge and ease at which you could code a full page from copy and pasting aspects but a slight character out of place for both HTML and CSS and everything has a tendency to go wrong.

Even my design suffered from Dreamweaver creating an anomaly with me having to compensate for the menu bar as for some reason the home page menu decided to push further down, despite the full code being copied from the other pages.

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck in so hopefully next year I’ll be a fully fledged competent coder with a decent website of my own to expand on, which should be a lot easier to make after this years course.

I’ll be making it for my self promotion so it will definely help knowing the basics at least and put me in a good position for doing any potential freelance work to build my portfolio.

Motion

We were given the brief based on the Alan Turing Decode/Recode event at Media City. Producing a 30-60 second video for one of several screens at the event.

 I based my video on the prospect of how influential Alan Turing’s revelation of the binary code has allowed for everything technological in the world today and the development of technology through the years. I tried to work with the key defining eras of technology and how each decade has defining features right up to electric cars, Iphone’s etc.

I’ve used final cut in level 4 and due to the similarities After Effects wasn’t as daunting as first feared. I’ve also previously used in the Roses competition brief for a short video which again, helped in breaking it in. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I believe that will come through continuous use and experimenting, the basic function of how I learned Photoshop and to a degree Indesign. The fact that after effect is basically Photoshop for video manipulation of my footage was quite easy and like second nature.

My video worked on a stop motion idea but used a single video with manipulation of time remapping and layering of other footage with use of position alteration that I’ve learned over the past few weeks. The lessons addresses the basic features and consequently I tried to incorporate them all into the video along with working independently to see what designs and aesthetics I could produce.

The video stemmed from an illustration idea that I traced from my research and a collage developed from it. I’ve developed my working style to use as little as possible of the computers and use Photoshop, Illustrator etc to provide the final execution and manipulation of hand made work which reflected in this piece of work.

I think the final video worked well, progressing through a few troubles such as having to convert my video footage and although wasn’t perfectly similar had the core basics of what I initially thought of. I still need to learn a lot more about the use of file formats and will keep working with footage while its fresh in my mind and build my skills with everything after effects.

Overall I don’t know what my final grade will be for the module but a B is a good basis to hope for the same or possibly even better. Despite the grade I’m not too fussed as to what I’d get as I personally believe that experience wise you cant put a grade on that and naturally experience is everything and practise of these programs will ultimately make my skills and efficiency better in the long run so that by graduation I have a much better position for my final degree.  

Alan King-tching

Alan Kitching- The King of screen and relief printing, hence the title

Having already looking into the work of John Spencer who also uses this technique Alan kitching is the undisputed king of this technique and never fails to deliver a different and unique peice of work. I’ve always been exposed to his work from early graphics studies due to his selective use of text and how he selectively layers or positions his work. Everything he does is carefully tracked, co-ordinated but at the same time expansive and fun. The examples shown are just a few from his extensive portfolio of work. His work is amazingly selectively in how he plays with not just words and there meanings but there shapes in each typeface and how he develops his work around these subtle or noticable variations. His trade therefore is ever growing as more and more typefaces are produced to stand out in an ever growing sea of typography. Linking back to my work the main logo and the initial attempts are all based around this style anyway, possibly a subconscious link to his work after having seeing it so many times. The main aspect concerning my work is the idea of age which as proven within the original prints it already promotes so therefore has the main basis fulfilled. The apparent dilemma therefore is how to successfully arrange the words/shapes to produce a striking visual logo. Best get to work.

Were is Chris Ware?

Directed further to research into the work of Chris Ware and his distinctive style. Rather pleased with what Tim and Al showed me today as my original concepts for my logo and the rebrand were based around a prominently retro aesthetic. I think to be fair his signature person definately has a sense of Stewie from Family Guy which could have been a coincidence or purely done for certain purposes.

Collectively however I really like the styling of the work with a clean, simple lines and retro feeling through the typography in particular, predominantly shown within the last example with a specific use of outlines. The 5ive style example also highlights how a message can be prominently promoted without the need to use complete words or phrases with suggestive images recognised to be associated instead used. The other examples show how simple and effective his style really is. His drawings depict a real sense of development and story within a sense of depth with the main example taken from Jimmy Corrigan- The smartest kid in the world. A real headbanger that messes with every rule ever considered the norm. His work however as tim put it ‘is so beautifully illustrated’ with a perfect sense of proportion, scale and depth engaging within every scene.

I think this very specific style of illustration would be more suited to my example considering the uncle joes character that I want to progress, shown further within the second example of his work for the New Yorker. This sense of distinguished regalness and wealth is all depicted within the posture, attire and overall sense of wealth that leaps out from the page. Therefore when developing these characters of uncle joes and sweet this style should hopefully be suitable but its a case of ‘he who dares wins’ so il start experimenting on these soon as i’ve finished the original logo.

End of Year Critical Review….

… considering its been a learning curve, time spent at university has really enabled me to grow as a person and as a designer with the last project enabling me to try and challenge how I work and design. When you consider how longs it actually been, my first day at university is still fresh in my mind as I sat alone in the soft pod, making friends with oliver on my first day. So then I don’t waffle on Il break it down into how I performed within each project and the overall experience of my first year in University.

Initial impressions.

Having only been accepted into Salford I hadn’t exactly done the neccesary research into the universities I applied for. Despite an eventual A* in graphics I was rejected from both UCLAN and Liverpool John Moores, a bit of a knock back of confidence but i think this just spurred me on more whilst in college. Having said that it just shows how much competition there is for places in university and I’ glad I came to Salford because the industrial and frank nature of the town and its people is how I myself act the majority of the time. Everyones so down to earth and just gets on with it and this has reflected in my work. No bulls**t, No fooling around trying to sound clever or look good in a sketchbook, its just good honest graphics, as Tim said ‘if it f**ks up who cares, try it and see what happens” the best statement anyone could follow in a graphic design course. So what about the courses themselves.

Web and Motion

Believe I’ve neglected this lately but overall I’ve particularly enjoyed this area of graphics. In college there wasn’t much scope for trying out website design and promotional videos due to funding issues which meant the Macs didn’t have final cut. Its been a real refreshing aspect to graphic design and considering how the internet has developed from its origins it seems this is obviously the next step in how graphic design develops. My progress has been dramatic in this from starting as a complete novice to having a decent understanding of how to construct and develop layouts, whilst now onto the editorial aspect of images and video. 

Critically I think my final results have defiantly progressed how I firstly communicate a style, visage or representations whilst now expanding this into conceptual ideas of functionality which was defiantly lacking when I first started. Progressively this has become more and more integrated with the rest of my design course and greatly influenced the event brief that I’ve just completed.Helping me to build a better engagement of public relations with my designs and the messages they communicate.

Exploring Graphic Design

At first I was thinking, when the hell did I sign up to this and at first found it useless. However you cant judge a book by its cover which has proven to be true for this course. Initially I didn’t see the point of this but progressing through the teaching of Tamara and Rosie its greatly helped in developing my analytical processes when I view a piece of design or typography and now with the presentations, along with the presentations for our assignments has helped me develop a more substantial confidence when explaining my thought processes and ideas effectively and communicatively.

History has never been a passion of mine, Always found it boring but considering its in a graphical sense, its helped in broadening my knowledge of artists and how they have influences in their own work as well as mine. I’ve never exactly been a fan of essays or written studies which is why I chose Graphic Design but in an ever demanding workplace its an integral part to include in my degree portfolio when looking for the ever important job. Critically I think its beneficial properties for my personally have been boundless. Its helped me to engage better with customers in my part time job and greatly increased my effective selling potential for products and myself so its all worth it in the end.

Graphic Communication

I’l break it down into the assignments to make it that little bit easier.

Assignment 1-Camera Project.

Using an object personal to us. At first I thought the outcome would just reflect how interesting the object was but for a first project it as just what I needed. It challenged the essence of graphic design and what could be classed as graphic design. I was pleased with the final outcome progressing a photographic gallery using a ‘hidden camera’ theme but on reflection it could have been so much more expansive and refeshing. The concept I chose was great and at the time the final visuals brought a full circle to the object, project and final result which was really pleasing.

The project was to question ho we design and how conceptually we think. The idea of yannis’s torch wrapping in paper really hit this home. At first my idea of representing my camera in 30 different ways was merely constrained by the box of what I thought was a representation. The idea that the creases on a piece of paper made by wrapping it round seems stupid and daft but conceptually it was ground breaking and this single handedly kick started the imagination process. So thanks yannis I owe you one.

Assignment 2- Book making

Never really been into the making of books but this proved a really useful assignment to do and showed the craft that went into book making with the seminars with Hannah and Lucy. I cant say I was particularly pleased and excited with doing this project. I would have preferred this to be an optional outcome for a differently structured project but if I’m going to have to design for companies that bore me then I best get learning now. I particularly lacked effort in this project from an initial buzz of excitement which fresh idea of constructivism styling developing in my thoughts. The material ran dry and over the ‘dreaded’ christmas period my enthusiasm and initial ideas phased out with absolutely no motivation on my part. It got to a point were I was so frustrated with the project I just left it for a week to concentrate on others areas of my course. In the end I was just happy to have completed the project and got an Ok grade for it, higher than I was expecting to be honest.

Critically my first error was the subject I choose. It ran dry half way through with no real time to change so I was stuck with a drying project that was going more stale by the day. Not a good thing to be faced with. Reviewing my own performance the amount of potential I had to go at was limited by my own foolishness to try and run a theme throughout the publication. However I thought my innocence was my strongest asset, I went with a specific structure that broke all the rules of grids and made it work the best I could. You only develop when you experiment so thats what I did, it was a challenge and I stuck at it and it meant despite the crap material I worked with the project was still personally successful for myself.

Pow, Crash, Bang- Batman Arkham Asylum Review

Small reference to the awful Batman series with Adam West, embarrassing to say the least.

Since Ive reviewed the Arkham City game coming out I was just thinking if you hadn’t seen the first game you wouldn’t have a clue what I was on about so since the last review was abit jumbled up through my excitement Ill split this down to bit size chunks.

Plot/Story- Based on a completely original story wrote by Emmy Award winner Paul Dini the game is based on the original comic book material which makes an appearance further in the game. Set solely in Arkham Asylum the home of the criminally insane, the game opens with Batman returning the Clown Prince of Crime aka the Joker back to Arkham after a recent breakout. 

Now I bet you didn’t see this coming! The Joker turns the tables on Batman taking control of the asylum and creating one hell of a Batache that sees Batman venturing over all areas of the island playing the Jokers games to stop him front developing a ‘titan’ formula that is set to spread into Gotham turning everyone into rage fuelled monsters for the Jokers own personal army. Might not sound much but it’s certainly a plot for scope and development which the game delivers. Its right up there with the recent Christopher Nolan films for its depth and narrative play, engaging anyone who plays it as Batman has the longest night of his life.

Its worth mentioning however the despite the rather simplistic plot its a very mature title with lots of adult content determining a darker, more sinister style of gameplay.

Character & Design- This really sets out a new standard in video games and brings to life the apparent darkness with the storyline. Each character is fleshed out with subtle details from Harley Quinn in her stockings to Poison Ivy in skimpy underwear it isn’t afraid to show a realistic attempt to how the characters should have always been design compared to lame cartoonist attempts seen in early Batman films. To me it incurs the tone of the original Batman films featuring Micheal Keaton with marks, stains and textures dotted across every inch of a desired character. This is most apparent with Batman himself as his face and overall appearance takes cuts, scratches and a general beating until he looks like he about to be dead and buried.

Interestingly not all the characters are visible with the Riddler providing a secondary gameplay element as you try to complete all his ‘hidden’ riddles. This highlights however just how deep the design of characters go taking into consideration how dark some of the characters truly are. The idea that the Riddle asks you a riddle finishing with dismembering a baby and the joker describing his world as laughing and bleeding in corner exacerbates the sinister tone to these criminals and genuinely delves into how tormented and screwed up these minds can be.

Visual Design/Aesthetic/Presentation- Well as you’d expect from an asylum holding every major criminal and built since the dorn of time it’s not exactly fresh and a lick of paint wont fix that. The styling is tied into the main narrative with deep textured tones and grotty visual integrated into every aspect of the asylum, crumbling walls, broken desks and chairs and dead bodies left with blood soaked walls. Its perfect for the story and develops the sinister dark plot perfectly for the essence of Batman. Sticking with the adult orientated plot and immersing players into visually soaked worlds of grime and delapidated textures perfectly balanced against the lighting and mood transpired within the overall visage of the game  

Music/Soundtrack- Originally developed for the game, its similar in tone to the soundtrack in the recent Batman films from Christopher Nolan. Orchestral and loud with a range of creepy jingles mixed in to form an apprehensive emotion within the gamer. It suits the game perfectly and develops throughout the story and dependant on the situation it builds tension, drama and the sinsiter underpinnings of the game with heart throbbing moments as you take out henchman one by one.

Gameplay- Split into 3 main sections Arkham Asylum provides a collective mix of fighting, stealth and detective work. A simple to use, hard to master fighting system uses just four buttons- strike, counter, jump and stun provided everything you need to unleash your fury onto a group of henchmen beating them senseless with a fantastic range of animations and seamless sequences.

Stealth is also known as Predator mode whereby inmates have guns and obviously Batman doesn’t do guns. So that’s were a utility belt full of gadgets comes in. Its up to a gamer how they choose to do this but the environments designed make this both fun and challenging with the specific challenges set in challenge mode, a subsidiary from the main story. Each environment therefore gives a massive scope to play the game as you choose from silent takedowns to full on glide kicks to the face. its such an intoxicating mix of signature takedowns to a full on backseat approach to stealth combat.

The last section is Detective mode. A secondary, x-ray vision mode for Batman that helps progress the story as you trace fingerprints, alcohol samples etc. to find specific locations. It adds the second dimension and builds up a sense of layering to the game a primarily riddles are only visible within this mode and encourages gameplay to incorporate this. However this was the only aspect I found was lacking as I was constantly required to use this at every opportunity apart from fighting sequences which I felt detracted from the original aesthetics that’s were lovingly created to develops such a visually exciting game. Hopefully it wont be more integral to the next game as this would be a huge disappointment.

Holy Critical Review Batman!!!

Since a PDP session with Tim he asked if I’d just make sure to do at least one, defined critical review of an area Im interested in. Working in a gamestation video games seems more than appropriate.

Cant exactly say Im a nerd at video games but every so often that one game comes along that I just cant stop searching for and heres another Batman; Arkham City, the critically accliamed sequel to one of the most successful superhero games of the last decade, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Whenever a superhero games been released its always ended up as a shameless tie in to a movie, trying to make up those extra pennies for the next shambles of an installment. Not this folks. Batman came along and literally smashed everyone out of the water. Indeed the last game I thought had any deceny was spiderman when they finally started to think ‘outside the box’

Ive always had a liking to Batman, the idea that hes just human, albeit with a multi billion fortune funding every piece of sophisticated kit known to man. But still a couple of bullet holes and he’d fall.

So taking on the success of the first game Batman: Arkham City, is seeming to raise it to the next level. Despite the producers only recently giving us a teaser trailer featuring small aspects of gameplay. Its like the lecture Stuart Nolan gave with his example of work on Grand Theft Auto. Obviously the graphics are suprememly more developed nowadays but the concept still stands. The drip feed of information, a screenshot here, short trailer there, confirmed bit of news here, all adds to the hype and judging by these its not going to disappoint. Now I know you’l have stopped reading after a couple of lines but Im abit of a Batman geek and get excited everytime somethings released to do with it.

Reviewing the original game Arkham Asylum, every serious gamer loved the collective mix of stealth, brutal fighting and detective gameplay used, aswell as the linear gameplay that allowed for exploration but still maintained a structured storyline. Indeed the developers wanted you to explore, with side missions included over every inch of the gameplay and the architecture in every area designed to enhance the players potential. Now Im not exactly into the history of Batman, but for all those super geeks they even included an historical background to flesh out the characters making the whole game much more immersive for the player.

So Arkham City has replicated this but made it much more integated into the gameplay aspect. As you’d guess the location has moved from an island to an entire city encasing all of Batmans foes, a hotbed thats perfect for everything Batman stands for. The plots irrelevant but the whole gameplay seems to have improved and captures the essence of Batman with players even more deeply immersed into the Batman franchise.

So critically how good is this going to be. Well Ive got a few original designs that kicked off the game coming to light.

The designing of the work is iconic and easily distinguishable, demonstrating a minimalist take on the grunge styling that made the first game so iconic and helped determine the atmosphere. Its also mildly styled with the selective colour but overall the visuals demonstrate how select the game will be in how a person might approach it. Do I start with the mission or instead go after a few side missions. Its an expansive open world so the choice is upto the player but critically the game has fundamentally developed on what previously made it award winning which can only be good for ga,es and comic book fans alike.

production, production, production

Very productive PDP session with Tim, talking about how I can challenge my own ‘blunt’ design style. Currently attending to this through the website but I need to continue this within the next project, breaking from my normal stereotypical designs.

Just need to add some critical reviews on here to boost my analytical skills so I think that will be the next aspect to attend to, possibly thinking about reviewing the new Batman: Arkham City game coming out in october.

Irony?

Since we just did a project based around posters I thought id add the worst example of a poster ever, to advertise an art exhibition of all things!

Now unless the creator only had paint to design it with or instead did it as a small joke to show how much better the art and design students are ive no idea but its got to be one of the worst examples of poster design ive ever seen. I dont think theres even one area that i like about this example.

Mmmmm Helvetica Short Review

Having not posted on here for a while I thought about the recent aspects I missed from the last project. Helvetica was something I still remember because of the diverse nature of reactions to it. Typographically speaking helvetica I believe, represents anything a graphic artist could need to start with in the prospect of fonts and typefaces. It provides a basis for manipulation whilst it originality allows it to be suited to most cultural eras of design such as modernism but yet could also be used correctly to provide a historical resonance. Its universal style has become timeless and is used almost as second nature in the world of design as its clean, simple aesthetic represents everything required through its machined production, based on the use of grids provided an emergence of clarity in 1957. In a sense neutralising a typeface style to become a platform. Known as ‘the Swiss typeface’ it replaced nearly every major older typeface in a world of expanding logos thanks to its relationship between the characters and space/background as reviewed by Edward Hoffman within the video and through this standardisation of type it sparked the reaction for a change.

My favourite quote from the film, which everyone has probably heard was from David Carson with his famous saying of “Don’t confuse legibility with communication” highlighting the sense that just because a piece of type is legible it doesn’t necessarily communicate the connotations desired and therefore a piece of type should be manipulated to a point whereby its communicative qualities out way its legibility as this combination therefore make the typography in a visual sense. Adhering to this I will keep this in mind for the next project with the idea of posters as this becomes an important consideration in how I choose to design my advertising poster.