Promotional Design Project - Stage 03

WATERSAVERS STAGE III

Report prepared by Hans Eijdenberg for Box Hill TAFE Centre for Media Design & Arts
Report requested: 26 April 2007
Report due: 17 May 2007


The game's basic concept and story board appeared to be well received by the audience, and generally speaking there seems to be no need to change the concept outline. There is no doubt that the game's story board will need to be tweaked during the final research, writing and illustration stages.

I will be looking at integrating the "can you guess" and "did you know” segments, as I feel that here may be overlap in content in those sections. Once I've completed the writing I'll be in position to review that situation.

Also, I will need to address final delivery of the game - internet or DVD?  I'm confident that the game can happily be part of web based system, however content delivery will depend on the final game structure and other factors that are presently not known to me.    

Combined with being a novice to computer game development, possessing a limited knowledge of Flash software, and not having a degree in cognitive physiology and/or copy writing, I feel that my development methodology will be unorthodox, and at times I will be putting the cart before the horse.

This approach has already reflected in my original presentation, which exceeds the demands of the brief. However, without prior knowledge of correct development strategies, I felt that I could not present a concept  without putting in the extra yards. 


For my next steps propose to commence a skeleton version of the game in Flash, whilst simultaneously developing and refining the written content and illustrations.  This will establish a tone for the graphic user interface, navigation, and help with solving interactivity issues. 


This process will not only involve the client with the development and approval processes of the game, but their involvement during this time will give the client ownership of the game, and save major surprises and/or revisions at the completion stages.

I look forward to commence the next steps of this exiting project. 

Digital Typography

Glossary of Terms

Typography

The study, design and usage of fonts and typefaces. At one point, before digital type, a typographer was a specialist in the field of designing and setting type. With the advent of the digital age of desktop publishing there are few, outside of typeface designers, who call themselves typographers. Indeed, every graphic designer should be able to call themselves a typographer to some degree.

Ascender

A typographic term for the portion of lowercase characters that rises above the main body of the letter. The lowercase letters b, d, f, h, k, l and t have ascenders.

Baseline

The baseline is the imaginary rule where lines of text sit.

Character Space

A character space is a value for spacing between characters set by the font designer.

Counter

The white space enclosed by a letterform, whether wholly enclosed (as in "d" or "o") or partially (as in "c" or "m").

Descender

That portion of a letter that falls below the baseline, as in 'j', 'g', 'q', 'p' and 'y'.

Display Type

Display fonts are those that are designed to be used for on-screen use, rather than for printed reproduction. Fonts such as Verdana and Trebuchet, for example, were specifically designed for use on web sites as they are extremely readable on computer screens.

Em Dash

A long 'hyphen' (although it can also refer to a measurement of space) traditionally being the length of an uppercase letter 'M'. Under desktop publishing, the length can vary from this and is generally the same measurement as the size of the line of type.
Inpage layout packages it is possible to specify, in the preferences, whether to use the traditional typesetters Em size or the digital PostScript measurement.
An Em dash measures 1/6th of 1".

En Dash

Unit of measurement (usually applied to a 'hyphen' style dash) that is half the width of an Em. An En dash measures 1/12th of 1".

Hanging Punctuation

Hanging punctuation "hangs" the quote mark outside the text edge.


Hyphen

A hyphen ( - ) is a punctuation mark. It is used both to join words and to separate syllables. It is often confused with a dash ( –, —, ― ), which is longer. Hyphenation is the use of hyphens.


Justified type

Justified type is when a paragraph of text is set to the full width of the line length, so that it aligns flush on both sides.

Kerning

Kerning is to reduce space between a pair of letters for better visual spacing.

Leading

Leading is the term applied to the spacing between lines of text. It is called leading due to the fact that, in the days of hot-metal typesetting, strips of lead were used to enlarge the space between lines of type.

Ligatures

Two or more characters combined to form a single character or glyph, for example the lower-case 'f' and 'l'. Ligatures are used to combine certain letters so as to avoid an ugly clash between elements of each character. Ligatures are rarely used for headlines.

Line Spacing

The vertical distance between two lines of type, measured from base line to base line. For example, 10/12 indicates 10-point type with 12 points base to base (that is, with 2 points of leading).

Non-breaking Space

A space character which is treated as a letter for word-break purposes. In HTML a non-breaking space is a white-space character that will not condense. It is usually used to hold open table cells and add spacing between words.

Paragraph Formatting

Paragraph formatting is a method of setting up styles in small or large docments to ensure consistency in appearance



Pica

Unit of measurement equivalent to 4,216 mm. There are 6 Picas to 1" (25.4 mm).

Point System

A Point is the smallest of the typographical measuring units. 1 point equals 0,351 mm. There are 12 points in a Pica and 72 ponts to 1". The Point system is the most common form of measurement for setting type. Font sizes and line spaces (leading) are nearly always specified in points. The size of a font is measures from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender.

Serif

A serif font is a typeface that has an extra stroke at the end of the vertical and horizontal strokes of the main letter-form. A font that doesn't have this extra stroke is known as sans-serif.

Examples of serif typefaces include Times, Garamond, Goudy and Palatino. It used to be a commonly accepted wisdom that serif fonts were more readable than sans-serf for large blocks of printed body copy. This theory has been questioned in recent times - but the argument still rages amongst designers.

Sans-serif

Type-styles that lacks the serif stroke at the end of the horizontal or vertical strokes of the main letter-form.


Smart Quotes

Quotation marks, also called quotes or inverted commas, are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same character.


Tracking

Tracking is similar to Kerning, in that it affects the spacing between letters. But, rather then reducing the space between two letter-faces individually, tracking affects a whole word, or sentence, depending on how much text is selected to track.

Tracking is often used by typesetters and DTP operators to get a line of text to fit. By compressing the space between the letters in a word or line of text, a line that is too long to fit in a column of text can be brought back to fit. This is known as 'negative tracking'.

Positive tracking letters is generally frowned upon by typesetters. This stems partially from a misquote attributed to the typographer Frederic Goudy. Upon receiving an award, printed in his famous Blackletter typeface, Goudy is said to have sneered that;'anyone who would letterspace blackletter would steal sheep'. This has since been mistranslated as; 'anyone who would letterspace lowercase would steal sheep".

Whether it is indeed wrong to positively track letters, or not and under what circumstances, is a debate that still rages amongst designers.

Type Alignment

In typesetting and page layout, alignment or range, is the setting of text flow or image placement relative to a page, column (measure), table cell or tab. The type alignment setting is sometimes referred to as text alignment, text justification or type justification.

Wordspace

The space between words, which may be expanded for purposes of justification.

X-Height

In typographical terminology, the x-height of a font is the distance between the baseline of a line of type and the top of the main part of the lower-case letter-faces - apart from the ascenders and descenders. The letter 'x' is obviously used as prime example.


Reference:
http://www.designtalkboard.com/glossary/fonts/n-glossary.php
http://www.redsun.com/type/glossary/c.shtml
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~typo/glossary/alpha-4.htm
http://www.google.com.au/search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_alignment
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typelayout/ss/hangingquotes.h

Print Media Studio 01 - Colour Research

Glossary of Terms

Colour

A colour is a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect.

Hue

A hue is the quality of a colour as determined by its dominant wavelength.

Chroma

A chroma is the degree of a colour's brilliance.

Value

Colour value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a colour.

Saturation

Saturation is the purity or strength of color, due to the absence of black, white or gray.

Tint

A tint (or pastel) is a hue with a white added.

Shade

A shade is a hue with a black added.

Pastel

A pastel (or tint) is a hue with white added.

Tone

A tone is a hue with grey added.

RGB

RGB stands for the colours Red-Green-Blue.

CMYK

CMYK stands for the colours Cyan-Magenta-Yellow and Black.

L/ab

Lab colour is a colour model developed by the International Consortium on Illumination. The Lab model, like other CIE colour models, defines colour values mathematically in a device-independent manner. Lab colour is consistent colour regardless of the device producing it.

Websafe

Web safe colours are colours used in designing web pages, and the methods for describing and specifying those colours.

Hexadecimal

Hexadecimal is a numbering system which uses a base of 16. The first ten digits are 0-9 and the next six are AF.
Hexadecimal numbers are used to colour web pages. For example, the hexadecimal equivalent for the colour white is #FFFFFF.

Pantone matching system

A popular colour matching system used by the printing industry to print spot colours. Most applications that support colour printing allow you to specify colours by indicating the Pantone name or number. This assures that you get the right colour when the file is printed, even though the colour may not look right when displayed on your monitor.

Triadic colour (a Triad)

The triadic colour scheme uses three colors equally spaced around the colour wheel.

Tetradic colour (a Tetrad)

The tetradic (double complementary) scheme is the most varied because it uses two complementary colour pairs.

Complementary colour

The complementary colour scheme consists of two colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel.

Split complementary colour

The split complementary scheme is a variation of the standard complementary scheme. It uses a colour and the two colours adjacent to its complementary.

Analogous colour

The analogous colour scheme uses colours that are adjacent to each other on the colour wheel.

Achromatic colour

A achromatic colour is a colour lacking hue; white or grey or black.

Monochromatic colour

The monochromatic colour scheme uses variations in lightness and saturation of a single colour.

Contrast by extension (or volume)

Contrast of extension is when one colour is extended over a large area, contrasting another colour extended over a very small area.

Additive colour

An additive colour system involves light emitted directly from a source or illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually uses red, green and blue light to produce the other colours

Subtractive colour

Subtractive colour explains the theory of mixing paints, dyes, inks, and natural colorants to create colours which absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others.

Simultaneous contrast

Simultaneous contrast is the phenomenon which occurs when a colour appears to change when seen against a different background.

Luminosity

Luminosity is the brightness of either a light source or a reflective surface.

Inverted colour

An inverted colour is a colour that is on the opposite side of the colour wheel.

Drawing Techniques

Glossary of terms

Graphite

A crystalline form of carbon that was used at first as either a lump or sharpened point set into a metal holder. Although one of the finest lodes of graphite was discovered in 1560 at Borrowdale, England, extraction of the mineral was so highly regulated that its continued high price prevented any widespread usage until the late seventeenth century. In 1662, Friederich Staedtler began to manufacture pencils in Nuremberg. The strokes produced by graphite leave a line that has a relatively dark metallic luster, similar to lead point. The early misidentification of graphite with lead was not to be scientifically disproved until 1779, by which time the misconception that lead and graphite are one and the same had already entered modern-day usage--hence the confused nomenclature of lead pencil.

Form

Form describes volume and mass, or the three-dimensional aspects of objects that take up space. Forms can and should be viewed from many angles. When you hold a baseball, shoe, or small sculpture, you are aware of their curves, angles, indentations, extensions, and edges of their forms.

Shape

An area that stands out from the space next to it or around it because of a defined or implied boundary, or because of differences of value, colour, or texture. Shape: geometric and organic shapes; positive and negative shapes; abstract shapes; and outlined shapes. Shape is an area that is contained within an implied line, or is seen and identified because of color or value changes. Shapes have two dimensions, length and width, and can be geometric or free-form. Design in painting is basically the planned arrangement of shapes in a work of art.

Line

The path of a moving point, that is, a mark made by a tool or instrument as it is drawn across a surface. A line is usually made visible by the fact that it contrasts in value with the surface on which it is drawn. It has length and width, but its width is very tiny compared to its length, and often suggests movement in a drawing or painting.

Shade

The darker value on the surface of an object that gives the illusion that a portion of it is turned away from the source of light.

Perspective

Any graphic system used to create the illusion of three-dimensional images and/or spatial relationships on a two-dimensional surface. There are several types of perspective (linear, atmospheric, and projection system).

Isometric

A mechanical drawing system in which a three dimensional object is presented two-dimensionally; starting with the nearest vertical edge, the horizontal edges of the object are drawn at a thirty-degree angle and all verticals are projected perpendicularly from a horizontal base.

Horizon line

The line in a perspective drawing where the sky meets the ground. A drawing inside a room has an eye level line. The placement of the line on the picture plane depends on the vantage point of the artist. If the artist is low to the ground, the Horizon Line is low on the picture plane an so on.

Tria markers

A tria marker matches a specific Pantone color and has three different polyester nib styles to create with: broad, fine, and ultra-fine.

Vanishing point

In linear perspective, a point at an infinate distance on the Horizon Line at which any two or more lines that represent parallel lines will converge. This principle is based on an optical illusion best illustrated by railroad tracks that appear to converge on the Horizon.

Foreshortening

A drafting illusion in which, depending on the viewer's point of view, an object, or part of an object is distorted to imply the compacting of space.

Ground plane

The Ground Plane is at 90 degrees to the picture plane. (the picture plane is the flat two-dimensional surface on which we draw or project an image in perspective)

Economy of line

To capture the essence of an idea in just a few strokes of the pen. Cartoons are an example of drawing with great economy of line.

Isometric ellipse

The distance across the largest dimension is known as the major axis. This axis would be used to find the outside of a cylinder. The distance across the smallest dimension is known as the minor axis. This axis doubles as the isometric thrust line or the line along which parts would explode.

Isometric grid

A network of evenly spaced lines drawn at 30, 90, and 120 degrees. Paper preprinted with this grid is used to sketch isometric drawings.